If God is all-knowing, why did he create Satan?
353160
Eternity gets boring with no one to fight with.  ;)\n\nBut seriously, an interesting book on the subject is The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels.  It tells of how the view of Satan has changed from the Old Testament view of a divine agent into what most people recognize as Satan today and how that view may have been shaped by sociological factors.
677669
Well, if God is the Creator of everything that is and everything that will be.....the Alpha and the Omega (and everything in between!)\n\nThen it stands to reason that God also created evil, as well as good.\n\nThe answer to your question is yes....evil CAN exist in the presence of God.\n\nIf you need proof, then read in the Bible the book of JOB. In the book of JOB, Satan goes up to God and they both start "placing bets" on poor, defensless Job.\n\nFor further proof, you will find a passage in the New Testament where Jesus is wandering alone and he is being tempted by Satan three times (supposedly, Satan is in the guise of a woman for one of those occasions?)\n\nSo, if Satan (who is supposed to be the embodiment of pure evil) can be in the presence of both God and Jesus, then that right there should answer your question.
63591
actually Heaven always existed, that's where God lived, and he has always existed.  Hell was created when Lucifer (The Devil) was not content with his position (it went God - Jesus - Lucifer).  Lucifer wanted more, God said no, Lucifer got mad, God created Hell and said "You wan't to rule?  Rule that" or something to that effect ('that' being Hell, a pit of fire and damnation).
479305
If I understand you correctly, you want to know why Satan would choose to blow his citizenship in heaven?\n\nI think pride blinded him.  He didn't know about hell.  Hell wasn't a reality until the first betrayal so far as I know.
1095686
The plan of God is inevitable.  Satan could not stop it, he tried his best to stop it.  But, Satan is still here trying to keep any souls he can from receiving God's salvation.  Satan is very successful at this!  I hope more people learn of God's sacrifice and accept his salvation.
695833
What a good question.\n\nYes, the God that Christians worship (I assume that's the one you're asking about) isthought to by them to be the creator of everything, the source of all things.  \n\nPersonally, I believe the first responder is incorrect in his understanding of Isaiah 45:7. "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things."  -- You have to understand the context of Isaiah's writing to understand the meaning of the text.  I think everyone on here would agree that pulling verses out randomly from the Bible, or any other religious text, in order to support your hypothesis is dangerous.  In the text above, Isaiah is known to be speaking to the prevading rulers - the Persians.  They believed in duality - two gods, one good and one bad - a kind of yin/yang.  Isaiah uses his text to emphasize that God in one - there are no other gods, and that he is the sole creator.   God has no opposite.  \n\nMost people feel that evil is simply the corruption of good - in other words, it doesn't exist in and of itself, but only when someone or something goes against what is good.  Since God is, by definition, good and perfect, you could extrapolate that to mean that evil is the corruption of God's will and law - i.e. going against God.\n\nThis is exemplified by Satan - an angel, beloved by God, who chose to disobey him.  Satan is not the creator of evil, just the prime example of it.
271459
Simple answer... Satan.... He knows that the people who follow god are doing what they are supposed to. He wants everyone and everything in the world to be misrable like him. People who are not strong he tempts and gets them to sin. So blame Satan.
1147939
If God created us, why can't he created other things, after all he created angels, demons and other things.
488502
Right.  He creates evil and then sits back and does nothing.  Pretty strange for an all-loving, all-powerful God isn't it??
1086768
You've forgotten that God exists outside of Time.  He never sees the "past" or the "future". . . all times are the present for Him.  In a sense, He doesn't know what you're going to do until you actually do it, but He isn't looking into the future. . . He knows what you'll be doing next week because He's watching you do it right now.  Satan is the same way.  God created him with free will, but God didn't know what he would choose to do with that free will until he actually did it.  There was no intrinsic necessity that Satan become evil- he could have chosen to remain in heaven as an angel, if he'd wanted to.  Apparently God thought it was worth the risk, and He still seems to think so.  Perfect love can never be wrong about the end to be attained, and perfect wisdom can never be wrong about the methods best suited to reach that end.  God can do anything which is not intrinsically self-contradictory. . . . but it may well be that allowing some creatures to choose evil is a completely unavoidable price to pay if you're going to have creatures with the free will to choose good.
110802
WELL HE CREATED THE DEVIL AS A CHALLENGE.... GOD BELIEVES THAT A PERSON SHUD BE PAYED ACCORDING TO WHAT HE DOES IN HIS LIFE...IF HE FOLLOWS THE DEVIL MEANS HE CHOSE THE WORNG PATH...AND IF HE FOLLOWS GOD...HE FOLLOWED THE RIGHT PATH AND WILL BE REWARED A PLACE IN HEAVEN...OTHERWISE...HELL!....THIS IS GOD'S WAY TO TEST HIS MEN.....IF THERE WAS NO DEVIL...THERE WUD BE NO BAD IN THE WORLD... BUT THATS NOT Y WE R CREATED....LIFE IS A TEST.... AN EPISODE OF EXAMINATION......... AND THE RESULTS WILL DETERMINE OUR FINAL DESTINY!
1082991
Satan is a far better teacher than god too.  Satan taught me addition, subtraction, etc. algebra, geometry, calculus.  Satan explained why 1+3 = 4.  God just said it is because he says it is.
1147274
A better question: Since Satan is so smart, would he REALLY make it so that "his work" can be picked out so easily? Satan could be GOD for all humans know; don't you think that would be the more ingenious move?
44608
God did not create evil. Satan was one of Gods angels, but he started to envy the things of God. Satan wanted to be God. \nGod did not create anything wicked.\nDeuteronomy 32:4- The Rock, perfect is his activity, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice, righteous and upright he is.\nPsalms 5:4- For you are not a God taking delight in wickedness; No one bad may reside for any time with you.\nSatan is the ruler of the world.\nJohn 14:30- I shall not speak much with you anymore , for the ruler of the world is coming. And he has no hold on me.\nJob is a great book to read about Satan roving on the earth. \nGod is not to blame for all the wickedness in the world. He gave us a perfect start, but some people chose to ignore Gods requirements.\nEcclesiates 7:29- See! This only I have found, that the true God made mankind upright, but they themselves have sought out many plans.
752543
God only put us here to be toys of amusement for him. He enjoys watching people suffer. Just think about it for a minute...supposedly he is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-...whatever. Yet he allows this world to be infested with disease, famine, war, death, and horrors beyond imagination. Now, how can you call a god who does all these things loving and expect him to do anything for you. People who always turn to god to help them in their struggles are just trying to find someone else to fix their mistakes. They can't handle the fact that their god probably doesn't like them. God allows all these atrocities on earth to occur and doesn't lift a finger. The question you should really be asking is "Why do I worship a god that does not care?" God did not give us free will. And as far as free will in the respect to god goes, if it had not been for Satan, we would all be wandering around in complete servitude without even realizing we were slaves. By tempting Eve to eat that apple, if you believe the story, he gave us the ability to realize our slavery. Furthermore, anyone who says that we have free will given by god should examine their religion further. How can it be free will when he says that to disobey him will result in a tormenting eternity of fire and brimstone? Are these really choices...slavery or fire? I will thank God for nothing. My thanks go to the god of the underworld for giving me the knowledge to know these lies as they are.
6705
First of all, I don’t think there is a God or a Devil. But I guess just like some people believe that God made everything he must have made the Devil, or the bad things in life, too. I guess the Devil would be everything bad we do so we could blame someone other than ourselves or, in the religious perspective, God. I really depends what your concept of the Devil and God is to you. It also depends on what religion you practice and believe in too because if your religion descends from Christianity then The Devil is a liar and wants to make you doubt your religion. \n\nThis is what I think. If you have any other questions, if you want to enlighten me, or if you want to just want to say how stupid I am you can email me to \n\ngbrl_question@yahoo.com
345143
Sometimes I wonder why He would want to mess up his creation too!  But seriously, I think God created man and then woman to worship Him--he couldn't worship himself but his creation could by loving him with all of their heart, soul and mind.  He created us out of love and to love Him.  He chose to create us and He knows us before we are even born.