(April 25, 2015 at 2:25 am)robvalue Wrote: But if satan was fooling you, you would still be convinced you could back up your story with scripture. Isn't false confidence part of being deceived? Everyone else has the same confidence you do, and would similarly say they can show they're not being fooled. I respect that you admit it is a possibility, though.
If you bring satan deceiving people into the equation, you undermine yourself just as much as anyone else.
If the God of the bible exist then he has a position. And he would have the power to protect his position while still allowing Satan and humankind to control the earth and its temporary destiny. But I do not think that this god would allow Satan to meddle with anything that protects gods positions and his truths. In all of my crisis of faith, I find it so interesting that the bible has been changed more recently with translations into modern languages. But when you look at the older manuscripts, like the masoretic texts or the dead sea scrolls, there are relatively minor differences. Those are a 1000 years separated! I understand thats possible but it seems improbable.
My point is, IF this god of the bible exist, it seems that his communication piece with mankind has been preserved. IF satan exists, he could still mine those scriptures to assist in skewing the truths about life. I think it starts in Genesis 3. God told Adam and Eve that they would CERTAINLY die if they ate of the tree. Satan said, you will certainly NOT die. A very simple separation in teaching, however, practically every religion in the world teaches that you do not actually die after death. IMHO, if someone wants to claim that they are not guided by satans lies then it starts at the very first one.
One other thing that you might find amusing... in revelation 17 there is a woman described that is a protitute. She is decked out in the nicest clothes and jewelry. She is also drunk with power and is responsible for the blood of many people. Also, a scripture says that she is sitting on the waters that mean the people of the world. We believe that this woman is religion, but mostly false christianity. And the woman sits on top of a wild beast that JW's believe is ruling powers. I always loved this bit of scripture because it does kind of illustrate religion the past 2000 years. Religion hasn't exactly been the ruling power but it has had huge sway. And just looking at Popes, they haven't exactly been modest? But the best part is that the wild beast eventually devours the woman. So JW's believe that religion will be eradicated by the ruling powers at some point
