If God is all powerful, why doesn't he take out Satan? Is it that he can't or that he won't?

Question

If God is real, and Satan is real, why does God allow him to exist?

Monica K. So God could take him out but he won't. So God is complicite in Satan's activities. I knew it.

From the answers so far it seems that God could have saved humanity from Satan, but chose not to.......yet.
My, what a compassionate and loving God we have. I am sure all of us would do the same for our children.

Contributor: And you believe all that. Wow!

Answer 1

Because theoretically tlife is a balance of good and evil/ black and white... Without a balance the world would not make it. Everything relies on this balance

Answer 2

If God can't or won't "take him out", I think the only answer left is that we're looking at it wrong. Elaine Pagels, in her book, "The Origin of Satan", gives an in-depth analysis of the devil, going through a number of "us against them" documents that see Satan in different ways, attaching him to their own enemy as a ruling, if evil, power, or describing him as "the" Satan, meaning one of many possible agents sent to test man.

We see an evolution of sorts from the Old to the New Testament and beyond in extra-biblical texts, but we end up seeing the same theme throughout history, where sometimes he is caricatured a little too personally (was it Dante that started this?). I believe it's wise to size Satan up first as to who he is before we question God as to whether he should be eliminated. Pagels of course leave that part for us to decide.

Don't know if that provides another angle for you or if this is just another "I don't know" response. The book has had me questioning as to whether Satan is portrayed accurately by the Christian world, so maybe this will also be a starting point for you.

Answer 3

Have you ever played chess? A master sets up a strategy and, if he's really good the opponent doesn't realize what he's doing until it's too late. Imagine a chess board that encompasses billions of pieces, each with a specific play. Until all the pieces are in place the goal can not be accomplished. God could take out Satan but His plan is designed to complete everything, no loose strings for man to have to deal with. Taking out Satan before that plan is competed would be like turning over the chess board in the middle of the game and breaking pieces that are priceless and can not be replaced.

Answer 4

God is real Satan is not. It is nice to think there is something out there doing worse things than mankind but there is not. The only thing to have rebelled, or turned their back on God is us. The very few references to Satan in scripture very closely link him to temptations. Think of Eve in the Garden and Jesus in the Desert. Our continued selfishness, self-centered behavior, and temptation to be the God of our own lives are the exactly the qualities that make us Satan. No snake to blame but ourselves and I am glad God has allowed us to exist.

Answer 5

Satan was originally an angel of God. Satan CHOSE separation from God, embracing evil. God's infinite capacity for mercy and forgiveness cannot be understood by humans.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae, said:
"An angel or any other rational creature considered in his own nature, can sin; and to whatever creature it belongs not to sin, such creature has it as a gift of grace, and not from the condition of nature. The reason of this is, because sinning is nothing else than a deviation from that rectitude which an act ought to have; whether we speak of sin in nature, art, or morals. That act alone, the rule of which is the very virtue of the agent, can never fall short of rectitude. Were the craftsman's hand the rule itself engraving, he could not engrave the wood otherwise than rightly; but if the rightness of engraving be judged by another rule, then the engraving may be right or faulty."

Peace,
Mon :-)

Answer 6

Satan is a fallen, condemned, went astray-against God angle. God gave Satan the ability to tread the earth seeking people he could trick and prevent from going to Heaven. Satan will have his final day. Satan will be thrown back to hell and there he will stay in torment forever. Read the Bible and you will find that Satan knows his time is short. He knows what is going to happen to him. He knows, full well, that he is forever doomed.

Answer 7

When God creates, he creates fo eternity.

God has never been known to destroy the spiritual essence of any individual, whether good or evil.

The problem of Satan and evil will be satisfactorily resolved in God's good time. We have his word on it.

Until then, the only thing will die is the flesh ... at least until Christ comes again.

Answer 8

God set a time for everything. He's revealed to us the things that will happen before. Most of that is in Revelation. It's all about that timing that He has.

Answer 9

God wants to prove to Satan that he can't fight God. he is just and wants to prove it to satan, not just easily destroy him in seconds.

Answer 10

The reason for this might be seen from the issue of suffering in the world.

God allows suffering in the world for many reasons.

First suffering can be a test of faith such as described in

1Pe 1:7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Second, suffering can be a sanctifying experience. Joseph saw how an apparent evil towards him was meant for a greater good by God:

Gen 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Third, suffering could be a chastisement as the result of sin in a person’s life. Chastisement does not mean complete and total rejection by God, only that our souls may be cleansed from the malady of sin. Paul spoke of this chastisement:

1Co 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1Co 11:30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
1Co 11:31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Yet, not all illnesses or sickness is the result of sin. Christ clearly said as much:

Joh 9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
Joh 9:2 And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Jesus did not imply that the man or his parents had not sinned. He meant that the man’s blindness was not a direct result of sin in their lives. God had allowed this man to be born blind in order that the man might become a means of displaying the mighty works of God. Before the man was born, the Lord Jesus knew He would give sight to those blind eyes.

Fourth, suffering can sometimes be considered a means by which we display the sympathy of Christ in a practical manner, thus proving our faith through works. The Apostle Paul notes:

Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

The afflictions endured by Paul in his flesh were for the sake of Christ's body, namely, the church. The sufferings of non-believing people are, in one sense, purposeless. There is no high dignity attached to these sufferings. They are only a foretaste of the torment of hell to be endured forever. But the suffering of the believer is not the same. When believers suffer for Christ, Christ in a very real way suffers with them.

Fifth, suffering can be a means by which we are tempered (strengthened) for the eventualities to come. Christ, when speaking to Peter of his eventual death stated:

Joh 21:18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

Like the old saying, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”, suffering can build us up so that we are better prepared for the future and its travails.

Sixth, suffering can be used as a witness to others of God’s grace. Our attitude towards an illness, accident, etc. and our reception of the same speak volumes when our spoken testimony is rejected.

Seventh, suffering is sometimes a means of weaning us from the things of this world to cause us to draw nearer to God. Suffering should be a means of educating us to the prospect of heaven. This earthly world is not the home of the believer. We are pilgrims and strangers whose citizenship is in another place. Our minds should be focused on things invisible and not in the temporal things of this life.

We must remember that with the fall of mankind in Eden sin entered the world, corrupting earth and all its inhabitants. Thus we have sin directly causing suffering when sinful people commit sinful acts. We have sin causing suffering indirectly by the deteriorating earth and all its natural disasters.

Some people argue that since God made everything, He made evil too. But an omnipotent God could not have created a morally free creature incapable of choosing evil. That does not mean God made evil. Yes, God is the author of everything in the created universe.

But evil is not a thing or a substance; it is a privation or lack in things (blindness is lack of sight, pain is lack of health, hate or murder is lack of love). Therefore God did not create evil.

Christ told us that we would suffer in this world:
Joh 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

But why doesn’t God just stop evil actions that cause innocent people to suffer?

Why doesn’t God intervene to stop evil if He is all-loving and all-powerful? Why doesn’t He stop the drunk driver’s car that is going to crash into a bus? Why doesn’t He deflect the murderer’s bullets? The person asking doesn’t really want God to stop all their evil actions. They don’t want to be invisibly gagged every time they’re about to say something hurtful; they don’t want to stub their toe when they try to kick the dog. They just think it would be good if God stopped certain evil acts or just the evil acts of others. But that would make life impossible. There would be no freedoms, no regularity and no personal responsibility.

Having said that, never forget that God is not indifferent to our sufferings. God restrains sin and sinners so that we can appreciate mercy and grace in light of sin.