enigma said:
In Genesis 2 the serpent came into play in the garden of eden to tempt Eve. Why is he bad? God created everything and had given his stamp of approval!
And if the serpent is bad, or evil, how did he get so. Did he lie to Eve? How was evil created. Are there examples in the bible?
Thanks
It's not the serpent that’s evil, but the one that was using the serpent. Satan was the one who was using the serpent to get them to sin.
Satan through the serpent made it appear as if God was not being totally honest with them; he made it seem like God was preventing them from having something that would be good for them. He fooled them into believing that if they wanted to be like God, they would have to eat of the tree that God told them not to eat from. The fact of the matter is that they were already in a limited way like God.
Satan did not want them to become fully what God had made them to be; had they eaten of the tree of life, they would have become one with the Triune God.
The Bible says that evil or iniquity was found in Satan; he corrupted himself, because of his splendor, which God gave him....he allowed his greatness to go to his head, so to speak.
The prophets Ezekiel was inspired to write this about Satan. It may seem as if he is writing about a man, but in reality he is writing about Satan, the one using the king of Tyre.
Ezekiel 28:11-15 (ASV)
11 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared.
14 Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee.
He (Satan) aloud his beauty to go to his head
Ezekiel 28:17 (ASV)
17 Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I have cast thee to the ground; I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Satan was the one who wanted to be like God
Isaiah 14:12-15 (Darby)
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground, that didst prostrate the nations!
13 And thou that didst say in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of ‡God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High:
15 none the less art thou brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.
