Thursday, October 2, 2008

Christians and Satan

A blog reader wrote:

"I am not here to comment anything. I am just here to share with you something which you will never believe. We had a healing session during the Africa Pastor stay here. One of the person heal was a medical Doctor who was also diagnosed with cancer. Imangie a Medical Doctor herself had given hope on her condition came by faith to receive healing AND WAS HEALED COMPLETELY INSTANTLY!!!

Well I just like to share with you this is because I really felt that you are really been blind by the Satan.

In the bible [John 10:10 state :- The thieft (which is Satan) comes only to STEAL & KILL & DESTROY; I (which is Jesus) had come that they may have life, and have it to the full.]

Anyway sister, I do not know you but I pray that you will open up your heart to Jesus and allow him to come and touch you. Sister, I am not here to convert you or anything.

That's all I want to share. But before I end I would like to tell you that not because satan is more powerful then God, so all this happen. It is because we had all fallshort to the glory of God & allow satan to come into our life.

Sister, I encourage you to give yourself a chance to encounter Jesus."

Here is my response:

I'd love to have the name of the doctor who was cured and see all her medical records. "Cured instantly" is not possible.

I, too, was "cured" twice and both times, extensive tests (including surgery and PET/CT scans) showed that I had no more cancer in my body. Each time, the cancer came back, but it took months to do so. You'd have to run tests to see if the cancer is truly gone before you can make that medical judgement and even then, there's no guarantee that the cancer won't come back. So there's no such thing as "cured instantly".

Unlike the doctor you mention, I have not given up hope on my condition. There is always hope. I'll die when I die and not before. Until then, there will always be hope. That has nothing to do with God. That has to do with me and my faith in the possibility of good things happening, no matter what.

I'm quite disturbed by what you say about Satan. You say that I do not believe in Jesus or God because I've been blinded by Satan. First of all, the logical progression of what you say suggests that if Satan can actually prevent me from accepting Jesus, then Satan is indeed more powerful than God.

Second, attributing my lack of belief in God to Satan's power takes away the free will that God supposedly gave mankind. If God gave me free will, then I can't say it's Satan's fault that I commit sin or don't believe in God. It's my own choice. The Bible is full of such contradictions that I don't think can or need to be reconciled in order to believe or not believe in God. Why? Because I believe the Bible was written by men - men with flaws and their own self-serving agendas.

I don't believe in Satan. I'm more willing to believe in the existence of God than in the existence of Satan. That is, I'm more willing to believe in the existence of a benevolent, loving being, than in an evil one.

I've seen manifestations of evil in the world, but I don't believe evil is as powerful as the good in humanity. And I'm constantly disappointed and surprised that anybody who would believe in the existence of an all-loving, all-powerful God would allow such darkness to enter their minds and hearts.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shin,

As you would probably know by all my posts I read your blog "religiously" and am really disappointed anytime I read a Christian expressing their beliefs as this guy has, and moreover try to force those beliefs down your throat.

Firstly, I would like to say that I believe he is incredibly insensitive to share with you a story of some person that 'supposedly' had cancer and 'supposedly' was cured by some African priest/pastor or whatever. I wrote on your blog a couple of days ago that "faith is more than just getting delivered something and in return you believe" - and I stand by that - is this guy saying open yourself up to God so you have a chance to be healed? No way, wrong wrong wrong - believe in God because he will give you something in return - bad reason !!

Secondly, his focus on Satan - and that you have been blinded by Satan - well blah blah blah. Does Satan and/or hell exist -> IRRELEVANT, not important. I choose to focus on my faith and the good in it - my faith is a positve thing and not a reaction to something negative. I choose to focus on being a good person who is genuine. I choose to focus on being a great dad and husband. I choose NOT to focus on hiding behind Jesus for fear of Satan or fear of what it may or may not blind me from - do I believe in the existence of Satan - > NO. Do I believe in the bad side of people - yeah but we do that ourselves, just like we do the good things too. We are not PUPPETS to any being. I believe my faith helps ME move through life as a better person - faith doesn't pull any strings.

Shin, I would love you to learn about Jesus and believe in him.....but that is your choice

I think you are a fantastic women, and an amazing mother from everything you have written - whether or not you believe in God makes little difference to me......

Keep strong

Dan

Shin said...

Dan,

Thank you so much for your comment. Thank you for talking about your faith so openly, intelligently, and with generosity of heart.

What you have to say about your basis of faith is reassuring. Although you and I disagree about God and religion, I think the saying, "What unites is greater than what divides us," applies here.

Thanks for showing me that Christians, even Catholics, can be open-minded and non-judgemental! ; )

Leighbee said...

I for one would like to give Dan a big "pat on the back"! A super post giving an open and honest opinion and view - to be commended.

I am interested to learn what makes people "decide" whether they "do" or whether they "don't" believe in God etc?

I had a "stange" situation happen to me after Harriet died.....I am not sure how it affected my beliefs but I can imagine how many would have been "converted" as a result of this story....

Harriet died on a Thursday night/Friday morning.....On the following Sunday my Parents kindly offered to cook us dinner. I felt "stiffled" in the house....my brain fogged and my heart in agony so excused my self and headed outside.....For some reason I was compelled to walk to my parents home towns "Parish Church". I didn't frequent it but knew I had to go there....I walked the mile plus like a "woman possessed". Arriving at the church a short while later I headed to the huge oak door and listened (like a rude eaves dropper!) to the service inside.....as I put my ear to the door I heard the Vicar say "And today we send our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of a little girl who so sadly passed away in her sleep...." he then proceeded to express how as a man of the cloth he did not have the answers etc etc etc until I finally "lost the plot" and like a completely insane and possessed woman flung the door open shouting "she was MY baby..." - In hind sight it reminds me of a comedy sketch and I am amazed I acted in this manner! The Vicar rather sensibly diverted the course of the service and requested a Hymn to be sung whilst he came to me and introduced me to the bereavement counsellor!
I know what happened to us was horrific a real tragedy as sadly many others suffer....I don't know if I believe in God (as Graham says - we have to - because he is the only 'being" who can look after our daughter better than we can) BUT I DO know that I was "sent" to that Church that day by "something" an unconscious mind, telepathy, God or just my own self indestruction mode deciding I needed a crutch!

Shin said...

Leighbee,

That's an amazing story. It's rather difficult to chalk that one up to coincidence. I think there must've been an angel, God, or something out there in the universe looking after you that night.

There's something reassuring about what Graham says about Harriet... that only God could look after her better than you and Graham could. I know that sounds silly coming from somebody who doesn't believe in God or religion, but as I've always said, faith and love are just not matters of logic or reason.

Anonymous said...

This is the divine power of God. He cares and loves us for God is LOVE.

Anonymous said...

Shin,

The most important thing is to believe in yourself. You will get through it with your strong determination. :D

Anonymous said...

If shin is still alive now, I would have answered her questions point by point..

http://nanaymiriam.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F611E16212BF9756!294.entry