Q365 : If Satan is so smart, how can he be so dumb?

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Q365 : If Satan is so smart, how can he be so dumb?

My question is (I'm sure you've heard this before) if Satan knows the Bible so well, wouldn't he realize his fate is set in stone regardless of what he does now? Why go to all the trouble at this point to mount a world-wide rebellion against God knowing that it is doomed to failure?

I know you've mentioned something about how sin can cloud your judgment but as an intelligent being it just seems so contradictory that he would put forth all of this effort to bring down Christians and Israel in the last days with nothing to gain.

Is it just that he wants to hurt God as much as possible on his way out?

A365 : by Tony Garland

It is my belief that Satan truly believes in the hopeless project he is embarked upon—and has done so since the very first seeds of pride sprung forth within his frame.

13 For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. (Isaiah 14:13-14)

It is easy to think of intellect and intelligence as capabilities endowed by God upon His creatures which, once given, can function independently of God. But Scripture tells us otherwise: the basis of wisdom (the sane and profitable use of intelligence) is founded upon a right-relationship with God—the acceptance of His reality and submission to His will (Ex. 20:20; Job 28:28; Ps. 111:10; Pr. 1:7; 2:5; 9:10; 15:33; Isa. 11:2).

When great intellect refuses to submit to God, brilliance often degenerates into manifest insanity. What could be more insane that to imagine a mere creature could be like the Creator?! (Isa. 14:14).

Or that mere creatures could go to war against God—not once, but twice?! (Rev. 16:14; 20:7-8).

This is part of what Jesus had in view when He stated: 25 I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from [the] wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes (Mat. 11:25). Simplicity and purity of heart bring about true wisdom. Impurity of heart and sophistry degenerate into depravity and insanity.

Exhibit A: the growing cultural insanity present among us today—as the culture embraces Satanic influence.

. . . observe the biblical figure of Satan: brilliant and knowledgeable, but brought by his sinful hatred into a hopelessly stupid project, the project of trying to overthrow the kingdom of the living God. The interplay of his brilliance and stupidity is exceedingly difficult to describe, except by the narratives of Scripture and history. But it rings true. We have all known brilliant people who have in this way made fools of themselves. Satan is like them, to the nth degree, and non-Christians in general are like him in turn.1

Exhibit B: The insanity of otherwise-brilliant atheists in their attempt to explain away evidence of God:

Consider the 'Boltzmann brain' phenomenon, for example, over which quantum cosmologists have been greatly exercised. Within inflationary cosmology, it is theoretically possible for a fully functioning human brain to pop spontaneously into existence, due to thermal fluctuations in the quantum vacuum, and then disappear again. Such an entity has been called a 'Boltzmann brain.' Under standard conditions for bubble-universe generation in inflationary cosmology, Boltzmann brains would be expected to arise as often, or more often, than normal occurrences in our universe. Indeed, calculations based upon some inflationary cosmological models lead to a situation in which these free-floating Boltzmann brains infinitely outnumber normal brains in people like us [emphasis added].2


Endnotes:

1.Ref-1344, 205
2.Ref-1231, loc. 8511


Sources:

Ref-1231Steven C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2009). ISBN:978-0-06-189421-3a.
Ref-1344John M. Frame, Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1995). ISBN:978-0-87552-245-6b.


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