Can we find good in Satan?

BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

SHOULD WE thank Satan for being here?

This thought occurred to me Sunday when the preacher was discussing how the prophet Job found himself in a tug-of-war between Satan and God.

Now, I know that it is dangerous to write about religion, but I often feel that there are biblical questions that need answering, so I ask them.

As I have often said, everybody has the answers until someone asks the question. Then it becomes really easy to figure out who knows the facts and who is blowing hot air.

OK! I’m asking the question: Should we thank Satan for being here?

At first, this sounds like a really ridiculous—maybe even sacrilegious—question, but when you think about the Bible’s explanation concerning mankind’s beginning, the answer becomes a bit more complex than we first imagine.

The book of Genesis says that God created man and woman, who we know as Adam and Eve. It also says that they were given domain over the Garden of Eden and that, in the beginning, they were without sin. This, most Christians seem to believe, means that they were not sexually active (original sin).

Then along came Satan disguised as a serpent and he persuaded Eve (who then convinced Adam) to take a bite of the forbidden fruit that grew on the Tree of Knowledge.

When they sank their teeth into that fruit they realized that they were naked and ran off and hid from God. It was apparently then, only after the first man and woman ate that fruit, that they began having sex and having children (Genesis Chapter 4).

According to the Bible, God also told Adam and Eve that because they had disobeyed Him they would now grow old and die and not live forever.

So, if Satan had not slithered into the picture, would Adam and Eve, who George Burns said were “15, maybe 16 tops,” have just remained celibate teenagers for all eternity?

If they had, there would be no us, no future generations, no 7 billion people running around all over the Earth.

Instead, there would only have been Adam and Eve sitting around the Garden of Eden playing with the animals. Both would have been 20,000 or so years of age by now but, as the infomercials declare, looking like they were still 16.

This brings up another question. God was really upset because Adam and Eve ate fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, so did He intend humans to be ignorant like the animals? Did He believe that knowledge was bad, maybe even evil?

That’s the way it appears to me.

Anyway, as I sat there in church I began to wonder if we are here only because the satanic serpent tempted Eve.

That might not have been a bad thing. If there had been only Adam and Eve in this world, then there would have been nobody to call us during supper and ask us who we are going to vote for in the coming election or disturb us in the bathroom to ask if we want our credit-card rate lowered.

Of course, if Satan had not tempted Eve, an even bigger question presents itself: Could two attractive teenagers have remained abstinent for 20,000 years?

I hear you. Such things are not meant for us to know.

Sometimes the Bible sure is confusing.

Donnie Johnston:

djohnston@freelancestar.com

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