BleepingComputer.com: What Would Happen If Satan Apologised?

The answer to your question is that forgiveness is not available for fallen angels according to the Bible. They made their choice already. God's forgiveness is only available to mankind, and humans, like the angels, have the free will to make a choice. Satan's fall came when his pride made him want to be God. This is not unlike humans who want to be god of their lives.

One phrase that is being thrown around is "apologizing to God." According to the Bible, saying you are sorry is not what God requires for salvation. God has already forgiven your sins, the only action needed to be right with God is to accept His forgiveness by belief in Him. Belief comes through realizing we all are sinners and fall short of God's standards. That Jesus Christ, God's Son and gift to us, took the sins of the world upon Him and sacrificed Himself so we may be forgiven of our transgressions. True belief brings change in the way you perceive the world because the Holy Spirit becomes your internal guide. Though you will still sin, you have the power to no longer be a slave to the sinful things you used to enjoy and often will have guilt from it. Believers must often ask for God's forgiveness because of the constant struggle of human's sin nature and what He wants for you(which is really your best interests).

Hope this helps you understand the Chritian philosophy and I will gladly entertain anymore questions on this subject.

Another common question is "what happens to children or those who are mentally handicapped? Will the go to hell because the did not make a choice?"
The answer to this is that each person has an age of accountability. This means if you live to be a certain age, you come to a realization of what is right or wrong. Some people never reach this age and do not have the knowledge of good and evil, and will not be held responsible for their sins.
The original sin was not adultery, murder, sexual deviants, or the host of others commonly cited. It was Adam and Eve disobeying God's one rule: eating of the tree of good and evil. Eve was deceived by Satan. He convinced her that she would not surely die if she tasted the fruit, but that it would make her like God. So, when Eve gave the fruit to Adam and he bit into it, his eyes were suddenly opened to what was good and evil. At that point the age of innocence went out the window and Adam became accountable for his sins,
the first being disobeying God's one rule.

Touche.

Universal questions are easy, but these bleeping computers are a real mystery.

This post has been edited by scarnge: 03 April 2007 - 08:24 PM

[quote name='scarnge' post='488454' date='Apr 3 2007, 08:20 PM']Another common question is "what happens to children or those who are mentally handicapped? Will the go to hell because the did not make a choice?"
The answer to this is that each person has an age of accountability. This means if you live to be a certain age, you come to a realization of what is right or wrong. Some people never reach this age and do not have the knowledge of good and evil, and will not be held responsible for their sins.
The original sin was not adultery, murder, sexual deviants, or the host of others commonly cited. It was Adam and Eve disobeying God's one rule: eating of the tree of good and evil. Eve was deceived by Satan. He convinced her that she would not surely die if she tasted the fruit, but that it would make her like God. So, when Eve gave the fruit to Adam and he bit into it, his eyes were suddenly opened to what was good and evil. At that point the age of innocence went out the window and Adam became accountable for his sins,
the first being disobeying God's one rule.

Touche.[/quote]
huh? your gona have to make your point clearer about what it is you are saying about "mentally handicapped" i am unable to visualise the context of your reference.

I reserve judgment, but for others sake could you make your point clearer.

Why would people ask "what happens to children or those who are mentally handicapped?"? I have never even considered this question and i do not understand your point with reference to people with learning difficulties at all!

[quote name='kboaz2001' post='487825' date='Apr 3 2007, 05:27 AM']Hypothethically speaking, Satan could possibly could apologize to God, but according to the scriptures, Satan will fight God to the very end. Just read through the book of Revelation and you will see this.[/quote]mmm, well something i have noticed is that people answer this question with reasons as to why it wont happen...what would happen if Satan apologised? Satan will fight God to the end....that hardly answers the question, but it can imply a-lot about the depths with which a person thinks.

In reply to a similer answer i asked:[quote name='nn23' post='466154' date='Mar 4 2007, 10:09 PM']I am interested in what happened imbetween that question, and the really quite simple and inexplicative answer that it "just has no chance of happening"...why?

And anything from anyone else who follows any other religions. The point of this topic is not just about resolution, i am simply interested in the reasons and justifications that we use for our views.[/quote]


[quote name='scarnge' post='488445' date='Apr 3 2007, 07:58 PM']The answer to your question is that forgiveness is not available for fallen angels according to the Bible.[/quote]Is this not a little discriminitive?
[quote name='scarnge' post='488445' date='Apr 3 2007, 07:58 PM']They made their choice already. God's forgiveness is only available to mankind, and humans, like the angels, have the free will to make a choice. Satan's fall came when his pride made him want to be God. This is not unlike humans who want to be god of their lives.[/quote]
Like the other answer, there is the same issue, i am not asking if Satan would apologise. I am asking what you think would happen if he did.

"But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Matthew 6:15.

Yes, perhaps forgiveness is only available to mankind, but again, does this not prove to be a little discriminitive?

Discrimination is what lies benieth prejudice in the world today, who knows, perhaps this "original discrimination" is the root of all the evils that come with discriminations that people use to justify their actions today

Perhaps God was setting a bit of a bad example by only making forgiveness available to man?

[quote name='scarnge' post='488445' date='Apr 3 2007, 07:58 PM']One phrase that is being thrown around is "apologizing to God." According to the Bible, saying you are sorry is not what God requires for salvation.
God has already forgiven your sins, the only action needed to be right with God is to accept His forgiveness by belief in Him. Belief comes through realizing we all are sinners and fall short of God's standards.[/quote]mmm, and what would happen if Satan did this?

NICE ONE for the incite guys
nn23

nn23, isn't it discriminative that my dog doesn't have opposable thumbs?

I'm not poking fun, I am just pointing out that different creatures have different things going for them. Angels have no free will, in that they cannot make a choice and be forgiven down the road. God created them to serve him, if they refuse, they are discarded. If I owned a dog/cat that attacked me viciously and bit me, I would kill it. They will never reform, just as the fallen angels lack the same capacity.

Thus, in the same vein, Satan will never reform, he lacks the capacity.

Humans have free will, we can be shown our errors and choose to reform if so inclined.

However, I respect you and your question.

If Satan were somehow willing to give up his drive and ambition for glory, and submit himself to the will of God, he would apologize. This would still leave the 1/3 of all Watcher Angels who followed Satan (Demons) to bring evil on the world.

If said Demons repented, then those that push evil onto the world would cease. But man would still be imperfect, and continue to sin. Satan did not make people evil, God allowed people to be evil if they chose. Satan was not the Quince (Apple) of Knowledge, he only persuaded man to imbibe. Thus man knew the difference between good and evil. So good and evil exist without Satan.

So....some of the prophecies would change, but humans would still have to choose to follow God. Those who choose not to obey God will die, just as they always would (IMO eternal torture is a myth, there is only eternal death or eternal life). Thus, God's grand design would not change at all, because we would still have the opportunity to be with Him, which is what He wants anyway; Eternal Love and Companionship.

Respectfully,
bg04

nn23

I think you are correct, there is obviously discrimination if forgiveness is only available to mankind. Angels can hardly be compared to dogs after all. To answer your question, maybe Satan already apologized and was turned away. In that case, we already have the answer to your question, nothing would happen.
But even if he was forgiven, no worries. I'm sure there would be someone (thing?) to take his place.

Yes, to describe my understanding, where there are the dualities of thought and judgment there also lies good and evil.

nn23, are 'thought' and 'judgement' on similar planes of duality of 'good' and 'evil'? I would say not. Good and evil, by definition are the antithesis to one another; whereas thought and judgement are no juxtaposed against one another. I would say a majority of thoughts include judgement.

You seem to be implying that judgement is evil?


starfirefive, I was not comparing the beings, but rather attempting to show that all creatures have certain capacities. As we have not created them, we are in no position to declare what beings deserve what capacities.

How can it be discriminitive if we are the only creatures aware of the pursuit of forgiveness from God? I have yet to hear from an Angel how unfair this is. Humans are the only beings I have come into contact with who actively seek salvation.

I was not able to read through the entire thread, but as far as people being genuine about forgiveness and mentally handicapped people and people unable to make decisions and such, I say this as an answer....

God is SO merciful and faithful. Do not underestimate the grace of God. He gave salvation as a gift, unmerited, He gave it freely...

The Bible says mercy TRIUMPHS over judgment. That is good news.

[quote name='blueandgold04' post='517589' date='May 9 2007, 12:39 PM']nn23, are 'thought' and 'judgement' on similar planes of duality of 'good' and 'evil'? I would say not. Good and evil, by definition are the antithesis to one another; whereas thought and judgement are no juxtaposed against one another. I would say a majority of thoughts include judgement.

You seem to be implying that judgement is evil?[/quote]
The duality of our thoughts create judgment.

Good and evil can only come into being when there is a percieved duality for them to exist within.

Who is it that makes this perception?...does the "i" have a duality?

Thinking that i imply that judgment is evil is merely a dualism of thought.

What is this duality?

I would think that there are a number of factors involved in making a judgement. Duality = Things Are vs. Things Aren't. Beyond that I think 'dualism' fails to accomodate the range of processes necessary for the creation of a judgement. And I think, on the whole, judgements are beneficial to success as a Human Being.

So good and evil are only a perception? There are no established good practices and none of the same for evil?

[quote name='blueandgold04' post='517731' date='May 9 2007, 04:15 PM']What is this duality?[/quote]
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism[/url]

[quote name='blueandgold04' post='517731' date='May 9 2007, 04:15 PM']I would think that there are a number of factors involved in making a judgement. Duality = Things Are vs. Things Aren't. Beyond that I think 'dualism' fails to accomodate the range of processes necessary for the creation of a judgement. And I think, on the whole, judgements are beneficial to success as a Human Being.[/quote]
Yes you are correct, there are a number of facters involved, but these facters all require the division between the subject and the object....duality.

[quote name='blueandgold04' post='517731' date='May 9 2007, 04:15 PM']So good and evil are only a perception?[/quote]
yes

[quote name='blueandgold04' post='517731' date='May 9 2007, 04:15 PM']There are no established good practices and none of the same for evil?[/quote]
Oh there are plenty of established good and evil practices, but they are concepts created by the dualistic nature of our perception.

This post has been edited by nn23: 09 May 2007 - 05:08 PM

As neither God or Satan exist I'm supprised by the amount of posts this topic has had.

[quote name='bilko' post='523249' date='May 17 2007, 01:06 PM']As neither God or Satan exist I'm supprised by the amount of posts this topic has had.[/quote]

God knows, you may be right.



The devil, you say!