The Sin of Satan

One of the best things about reading my bible is that the more I do it, the more things seem to leap off the page right into my brain. Now, this isn't an everyday occurrence, I'm quite ashamed to admit that I'm not a frequent reader. So please don't think that I'm attempting to prove I'm "Holier than Thou". . . rather, I read something today that I would really like to share.

Going through the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, I came to this little verse that says: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of god. (Verse 18)

Then I read a little further and verse 21 says: "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (emphasis added)

And THEN verse 27-29: "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."

Can I rewrite that, the way I understood it? (Bear with me. My thoughts will be in parenthesis)

Verse 21: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom (science, philosophy, post-modern thought etc,) did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached (that being, the last shall be first, whomever wants to be greatest should be least… etc.) to save those who believe"

And Verses 27-29: "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world (High school drop-outs) to put to shame the wise, (those with Doctorates) and God has chosen the weak things of the world (sick and hurting) to put to shame the things that are mighty (Olympian athletes); and the base(normal, insignificant) things of the world and the things which are despised (people you hate, or the people you wouldn't have picked for your team in P.E.) God has chosen, and the things which are not, (the "things which are not" can be anything, like say, someone who can't talk because they are mute. Technically, their "Voice" is "Not" )to bring to nothing the things that are, (people who CAN speak would find themselves speechless if that mute person "Suddenly" began to speak) that no flesh (human) should glory in His (God's) presence."

That last verse, Verse 29, is what really struck me. I think all of us humans, especially Christians, struggle with the idea of Sin. What is it, exactly? We know that Sin is bad. We know that Sin is something we shouldn't do. We know that Sin separates us from God.

But Why?

Why is God so upset about sin in the first place? Is it really that bad to tell a little white lie? Is it so wrong to sleep with someone if I love them? It's my body anyway, why shouldn't I be able to choose whether or not I want to keep my baby? And for goodness sake, how dare you persecute me because I happen to like the same sex!

These things seem rational to us. Why is that Killjoy God so concerned about it? Why is it SO important for us to follow HIS plan if we want to be saved from Hell?

It's because of Satan.

Now, I'm not giving Satan ALL the power here, and by NO MEANS do I claim that the "Devil made me do it" argument is even liable. As far as I know, the devil can't MAKE you do anything, rather, he can seductively suggest which option to choose, and when we choose poorly, well, that is of our own decision. So when I say that this issue is because of Satan, I only mean to say that the reason we even have sin in the first place is because of Satan. Sure, Adam and Eve (unless you're an evolutionist) sinned in the garden of Eden when they chose to eat from the tree that God told them not to eat of. But wasn't Satan there? In the guise of a serpent? Suggesting that they might become like God if they eat the fruit? Wasn't the whole reason that Satan was trying to subjugate God's plan because HE had already sinned and was cast from heaven?

So what was Satan's Sin?

Pride. Satan had become too proud. Satan began to look at himself and his beauty and glory, and decided that he too, should be worshiped like God. I don't think that Satan really wanted to overthrow God as King (at least in the beginning,) rather, Satan merely wanted worshippers of his own, because he felt he was entitled to such. So God did the only thing God could have done. God stripped Satan of his glory by casting him down. After all, how do you deal with pride except by taking away EVERYTHING that makes one proud? If you are proud of your healthy body, can't it be maimed with cancer? If you are proud of your superior intellect, can't it be brought to shame with dementia?

So herein lays the significance of my musings. Sin is Pride. Pride is Sin. They cannot be separated from each other. They CAN be used as synonyms when referring to that which separates us from God. God's glory is HIS ALONE. Whether Satan wanted to share it or steal it, makes no difference. Satan wanted Glory, and that is not okay. Enter Adam and Eve. What did Satan tell them? Genesis 1 verse 5 says that Satan told them: "For God knows that in the day you eat of it (the fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil."

So Eve took the fruit and she ate it in her pride, that being Satan's pride, thinking she might become like God. To Glory in her flesh. And what happens? As soon they eat, they feel ASHAMED! The opposite of PRIDE is SHAME! God immediately stripped Adam and Eve of the pride they had in their flesh by making them feel ashamed because they were naked.

And so on through the Bible. It was Pride that made Cain kill his Brother Abel, because God chose Abel's sacrifice as a more pleasing sacrifice. There you have murder. David took another man's wife, because as King, in his PRIDE he felt he had the right to do so. Adultery. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery because their PRIDE couldn't see the truth in his dreams. Pick a Sin. I guarantee that you can trace it back to pride.

We lie because the truth in a situation may make us look bad. We engage in premarital sex because we feel we should have the right to express our love in whatever way we feel is correct. We kill our babies because, we're too proud to admit we made a poor decision and so, it is better to be "rid" of the consequences then to deal with them. And of course, how dare you tell someone homosexuality is wrong, regardless of how even the laws of nature, (two boys can't reproduce offspring, regardless of science, the very idea of survival of the fittest contradicts homosexuality) stand against it.

So what does that tell us? We have bought into the "Sin of Satan," that being pride. The bible goes so far to tell us, that we who sin are of "Our Father" the devil, (1 John 3.. just read the whole thing), because we have partaken of HIS sin, the sin of pride. I'm sure, that if Satan had sinned in some other way then we would have also partaken in that other sin as well. (I can't even describe that thought to you, because Satan's only sin is pride, and therefore all of our sin is a derivative of pride, so I can't even think of another way to sin.. For instance, if Satan had sinned by BLARTHKAB (a made up word) then all of our sin would be a derivative of BLARTHKAB also. . .does that make sense?) It is our pride that keeps us from God, because we say that OUR way is better than His, and OUR wants are greater than His wants. For that, God sees us, as we sin, as terrible as Satan, and therefore, those who do NOT submit themselves to God's supreme Lordship are PUNISHED the same way that Satan will be punished. Matthew 25:41 says: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS."

Humans were NEVER supposed to be punished, we were supposed to share in the eternity of God's glory and goodness, but because we BOUGHT INTO the sin of Satan, we have also bought into his punishment. Those who do not choose God's way of forgiveness, that being the death of Jesus on the cross, have counted themselves as TOO PROUD to have to "Believe in such foolishness" (1 Corinthians 1:18.. see above) and therefore have condemned themselves because they chose to rather "Glory in their flesh" (1 Corinthians 1:29) much the same way Satan gloried in his.

Of course, don't take my word for it. By all means please read those verses in their complete context and come to your own conclusion. I just wanted to share mine.