[Vision2020] Satan

[Ralph Nielsen]

Doug,

Thanks for the compliment. So you think I'm being used by God as a  
satan to prevent you from making an ass of yourself. You could be  
right. You badly need to do some serious Bible study.

An excellent book to begin with is: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible  
(with CD-ROM), by John J. Collins. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,  
c2004, ISBN 0-8006-2991-4). Dr. Collins is a charming Irishman who  
writes in plain English. I saw and heard him in 2000 at Gonzaga  
University in Spokane at the PNW regional convention of the Society  
of Biblical Literature. I saw and heard Elaine Pagels in 2005 at the  
huge (8,400 attending) national SBL convention at San Antonio TX.

Ralph


On Feb 26, 2007, at 9:43 AM, heirdoug at netscape.net wrote:

> Mr Nielsen,
>
> I am sorry for misspelling your name. I will remember that in the  
> future. I sometimes get the same thing with being mistaken for an  
> Irishman and not a Scott [sic]. Again I will not let that slip my  
> memory.
>
> I will also try to cite verse and chapter and version for you in  
> the future.
>
> As to your comments about Satan... I was only trying to point out  
> the similarities of your tactics to those of the "Enemy's". Now I  
> don't believe that YOU are the enemy but you ARE being used by him.  
> The fruit has not fallen far from the tree.
>
> Doug!
>
>
> On Feb 25, 2007, at 11:25 PM, heirdoug at netscape.net wrote:
>
>> Dear Blind 2020,
>>
>> It is good to see that Ralph Nielson, The Tar-baby, Art Deco and >
> the newest member of the "we use the scripture for our own ends" >  
> team, Mr. Ancient Faith all have one thing in common. They will >  
> feel right at home with their father who also used the scripture >  
> for his own means... And he saith unto Him, All these things will I  
> > give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. ... [Matthew  
> 4:9 RN]
>
> Dear Heirdoug,
>
> First a couple of corrections. When quoting scriptures, it is  
> customary as well as polite to identify your citations, as I have  
> kindly done above. And my name is not Swedish, but Danish, as in  
> the TV rating service: the Nielsen Ratings.
>
> Now for the devil. An interesting guy. You can trace his evolution  
> from God himself to the archenemy of God. Originally a satan was an  
> angel sent by God to prevent something from happening. Angels have  
> no will of their own, they are operated by God's will.
>
> In the story of Balaam and his ass (you seem to prefer King James'  
> English), God sent a "satan," an angelic adversary to prevent  
> Balaam from going to the land of Moab. Read all about it in Numbers  
> 22:22 ff.). In the Hebrew the angel is called a "satan."
>
> Some centuries later the generic "satan" had evolved into an  
> individual angel called Satan. He appears as a character in the  
> beginning of the poetic drama of Job, where he is God's prosecutor.  
> He appears only two more times in the entire Hebrew Bible: Psalm  
> 109:6b; and Zechariah 3:1-2.
>
> After a few more centuries Satan has evolved into someone who seems  
> to be the Adversary of God himself. This is the devil in the Greek  
> New Testament, whom Doug happily quoted above.
>
> Let me recommend The Origin of Satan, by Elaine Pagels. It's a  
> damned good book.
>
> Ralph
>