Who is responsible for the bad things that happen? God or Satan?

Answer 1

A little of both.

In ancient Jewish tradition Satan is simply an angel doing the work that God assigned to Satan to do.

The word Satan means challenger. With the idea of Satan challenging us, or tempting if you will. This description sees Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. This idea of Satan works closely with God as an integral part of Gods plan for us. His job is to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it becomes clear to us that there can be only one meaningful or logical choice.

Contrast this to Christianity, which sees Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered polytheistic or setting up the devil to be an equally powerful polarity to god or a demigod.

Oddly, proof for The Christian satan/devil mythology is supposedly found in the ancient Jewish texts that were borrowed to create the bible. One can’t help but wonder how Christians came up with such a fantastically different interpretation of Gods assistant Satan in their theology.

Other hints about Satan’s role in human relations can be seen if you look at the name Lucifer. It’s meaning in the original tongue translates as Light bearer or light bringer. Essentially the bringer of enlightenment. The temptations of the Satan idea bring all of us eventually into Gods light. Hardly the Evil entity of Christian mythology.

Love and blessings
don

Answer 2

Trick question!

How about "MAN"??? God gives is free will. It always irks me when people cry out "How can God let this happen!??". The answer is that we have free will. So the question becomes how can WE let it happen!

But I was of the understanding that Satan - being a fallen angel - is BELOW God, and as such Satan can do NOTHING that God does not allow!

But I will throw another twist at you...

Define "bad". We do NOT have the "big picture" that God does. Often what seems bad at the time turns out to be a blessing.

An example...

A man's son is working on a roof and falls off the roof - breaking his leg. This would be seen as "Bad".

A week later, the military comes into town and rounds up all able bodied youth for unannounced military service!

Of course the man's son is left - for now - because he would be useles in combat!

So was the broken leg "Bad" or "Good"???

My divorce many years ago looked "bad", but the truth is my marriage was "bad", and the divorce was actually God's anwser to my prayers! My life is so much better now you would not believe it.

God did not force me to marry my ex. I was the author of my own misfortune. Then again, after all was said an done, I learned more on that marraige than I would have likely learned in 2 life times! SO... was it really "bad" in the end?

Now I could liken my ex to Satan's sister.... lol ;)

Answer 3

We would be so spoiled if God let us have our way all the time. We would start believing that we were responsible for all the good things that happen and we would forget God. God must allow Satan to mess with us every once in a while so that we know who to thank when he brings us out. That's why it is better to humble yourself than to let GOD DO IT! It is just like with children you have to have some kind of discipline or you end up with a brat. We are God's children. He does it because He loves us.

Answer 4

Governments are largely responsible for the bad things that happen around the world. After all, private citizens and businesses generally do not wage full scale wars on foreign countries or peoples.

It is estimated that governments around the world killed about 170 million of their OWN PEOPLE in the 20th Century alone - not including war casualties. Far more than any other unnatural cause of death such as disasters, plagues, etc.

Answer 5

In the beginning God completely sustained His creation without blemish. That’s why it was perfect. He held every atom together in a perfect state. He kept the planets in their orbits. He kept animals from tripping and breaking their necks. He did not allow people to suffer and die.
Deuteronomy 8:4 gives us a little glimpse of how things might have been in the original creation. “Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” God is omnipotent and perfectly capable of sustaining and protecting his creation.
When Adam sinned, however, the Lord cursed the universe. In essence there was a change and along with that change God seemingly took away a little bit of his sustaining power and allowed things like suffering and death into His creation. Now He permits bad things to happen—and this is a reminder that sin has consequences and that the world needs a Savior. Romans 8:22 says, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

God took pleasure in all of His creation ("http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=revelation+4:11&version=NKJV"), but He loved people most of all. He allowed the created universe to deteriorate so we would see the consequences of our sin. If we did not see the consequences of our sin, we would never see that we need salvation from our sin, and we would never accept His offer of mercy for our sin. Most people easily recognize that there is a problem in the world. This can be used to show them that there is one who has overcome this problem of death and suffering—Jesus Christ.

Answer 6

I would say 90% of bad things that happen to us are self-inflicted. The remaining 10% you can attribute to bad luck. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time or something to that effect.
People get into trouble because of poor discipline. We get sick because we overeat or eat unhealthy food. We get into financial difficulties because of bad habits.
The list is endless.
Dr. M. Scott Peck, says in his best selling book, 'The Road Less Travelled,' that the more discipline you have the more problems you solve. Total discipline, he adds solves all problems.
Have a great day

Answer 7

Oh, you know it's Snoop Goddy God. He made Satan knowing what he would do. No, but seriously it's actually nobody since the universe is ruled by the laws of physics.

Answer 8

Well since neither God nor Satan exist, I chose "Man".

You do something bad, you are responsible.

Answer 9

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BAD THINGS THAT OCCURE BECAUSE WE KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG. THEREFORE WE CAN NOT PENALIZE ANYONE SPIRIT FOR OUR LACK OF DISCIPLINE. THE SATANIC SPIRIT WITHIN A HUMAN BEING CAN ALLOW FOR DISTRUCTION TO OCCUR HOWEVER, STILL WE WERE ALL BORN WITH A HEART AND LIFE HAS CREATED US TO BE THE WAY WE ARE TODAY. wITH THAT BEING SAID IT'S OUR FAULT NOT GODS NOR SATANS.

Answer 10

Man is responsible for bad things that happen.