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Author Topic:   Is Something Wrong with Mother Earth?
Abshalom
Inactive Member


Message 17 of 84 (176654)
01-13-2005 5:32 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Lysimachus
01-12-2005 8:43 AM


A Challenge to Lysimachus
The Challenge: Provide one passage in the Bible which clearly attributes the power over weather, earthquakes, natural disasters, or natural phenomena to Satan rather than to the father god of the Hebrew Bible.
You say these natural disasters are the work of Satan rather than the Wrath of God or simply natural phenomena independent of supernatural powers ... prove it in verse.
Some observations with regard to the challenge:
1) The Book of Job is a special case where God appears to have permitted Satan to afflict Job, and that Satan could not have afflicted Job without God's consent. So, don't go to Job for the answer ... Job does not show that Satan has the power over natural phenomena.
2) While the Christian Bible (John 12:31; 2 Chr 4:4; and Eph 6:12) sometimes refers to Satan as the prince of this world (a nomiker that seems to confuse Christians with regard to Satan's inherent powers), the precise powers enjoyed in connection with his royal title are nowhere specified in the Bible. Prove me wrong, Lysimachus, but only by providing verses that specify Satan's precise powers, not generalities and suppositions by daydreaming psuedo-scholars.
3) I'll give you this: Only one passage, Hebrews 2:14, says Satan HAD (past tense) the "power of death," but that refers to Jesus having conquered death as Christ. So, that's no longer a power that Satan enjoys according to your Book.
4) So, who is it, according to the Bible, that has these powers over natural phenomena?
a) God is omnipotent, He can do anything (Gen 17:1, 18:4. Ex 6:3, Job 42:2, Mark 10:27, Luke 1:37, Rev 19:6)
b) God created everything (Gen 1, Prov 26:10, Eph 3:9, Rev 4:11)
c) Oh, by the way, God created evil (Isa 45:7, Amos 3:6, Lam 3:38).
d) God controls the rain (Deut 11:14-17 & 28:12, Job 5:10, Matt 5:54, James 5:17-18)
e) God controls lightening Ps 97:4).
f) God controls thunder, snow, whirlwinds, cold, frost, floods, and clouds, to the extent that He can "make them do whatever He commands upon the face of the earth." (Job 37:2-13, Job 28:10-11, Ps 107:25 & 29, Nahum 1:3-4).
g) God causes hailstones and tempests (Isa 30:30).
h) God causes earthquakes and mountains to be tossed about (Job 9:5 & 28:9, Ps 18:7, 77:16, and 97:3, Isa 2:19, 24:20 &29:6, Jer 10:10, Nahum 1:5, Heb 12:26, Ezek 38:20).
The list goes on, and includes plagues, locusts, famine, and death in general.
Why does He cause cause human suffering, according to the Bible (not according to lame fantasies of the wishful thinkers)? Well, apparently so His great works can be demonstrated to humans (Isa 30:20, Ezek 38:16 & 23, John 9:1-9). (http://home.teleport.com/~packham/disaster.htm << source for most of text above)
Now, what is interesting with regard to all these fantastic theories proposed by Endtimers thus far in the two threads (Is Tsunami the Wrath of God & Is Something Wrong With Mother Earth) is that instead of inflicting death and destruction on the innocent to whisk them up to Paradise as the wackoes are claiming, God supposedly promises the faithful that His imposed natural disasters and evil will not befall them.
The faithful are protected against flood and fire (Isa 43:2), against evil and harm (2 Thess 3:3, 1 Pet 3:13). God is a shield for the faithful (Deut 33:27, 2 Chron 16:9, Ps 3:3, 4:8, 78:53, 91:11, 119:117 & 145:20, Prov 29:25 & 30:5, Dan 6:22, Zeph 3:17).
So, Lysimachus, again, the Challenge:
Provide one verse in the Hebrew or Christian Bible that assigns Satan a precise power over a natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods, or other natural disasters. No personal theories please. No fantastic speculation or pious rants. Just cite the verse.
Regards, Abshalom
This message has been edited by Abshalom, 01-13-2005 17:36 AM
This message has been edited by Abshalom, 01-13-2005 17:56 AM

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Lysimachus, posted 01-12-2005 8:43 AM Lysimachus has not replied

  
Abshalom
Inactive Member


Message 43 of 84 (176955)
01-14-2005 10:40 AM
Reply to: Message 37 by AdminJar
01-14-2005 9:42 AM


Re: Off Topic
Dear AdminJar:
Before you restrict "on topic" only to evidence of something wrong with Mother Earth, let me point out that the OP includes the topic originators claim that it is Satan that is causing the natural phenomena that plague the globe recently.
He also disrupted my thread (Is the Tsunami the Wrath of God?) with this unsubstatiated thesis, and I entered a long challenge in this thread in an attempt to get him to respond in this topic thread where the subject was a part of the OP.
He has yet to respond with any evidence that it is Satan that is the direct perpetrator of what is "wrong with Mother Earth" (specifically those natural phenomena that he attributes to the powers of Satan without any support from his bible).
I ask that you allow this discussion, and that if you think this thread has wandered off topic, you examine my thread for the same offenses.
Thank you, Abshalom

This message is a reply to:
 Message 37 by AdminJar, posted 01-14-2005 9:42 AM AdminJar has not replied

  
Abshalom
Inactive Member


Message 50 of 84 (177021)
01-14-2005 2:00 PM
Reply to: Message 47 by purpledawn
01-14-2005 12:03 PM


Re: Smaller World
Purple: You live in Lafayette, a city on the banks of the Wabash River which right this minute is at a flood stage higher than it's ever been since 1913.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 47 by purpledawn, posted 01-14-2005 12:03 PM purpledawn has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 51 by purpledawn, posted 01-14-2005 4:07 PM Abshalom has replied

  
Abshalom
Inactive Member


Message 52 of 84 (177049)
01-14-2005 4:29 PM
Reply to: Message 51 by purpledawn
01-14-2005 4:07 PM


Re: Smaller World
Purple:
I agree with the basis of your argument. At the same time Noah supposedly was floating around Floodopotamia, the Pharoahs were building some of the first pyramids in the desert just a few hundred miles away.
Regards, Abshalom

This message is a reply to:
 Message 51 by purpledawn, posted 01-14-2005 4:07 PM purpledawn has not replied

  
Abshalom
Inactive Member


Message 83 of 84 (177636)
01-16-2005 7:16 PM
Reply to: Message 82 by Juhrahnimo
01-16-2005 6:52 PM


Re: Body of Evidence
This discussion has shown me the light regarding what's wrong with Mother Earth. It appears She has been thrown off kilter by the immense mass of the lopsided body of "greatest evidence."
Could one of our more mathmatically oriented members put that into an equation for us?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 82 by Juhrahnimo, posted 01-16-2005 6:52 PM Juhrahnimo has not replied

  
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