Are God and Satan allies?

[Claire Evans]

We have the story of Job:

"One day when the sons of God came before Jehovah, Satan came with them. Jehovah said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Satan answered, "From going back and forth on the earth, and walking up and down on it." And Jehovah said to Satan, "Have you seen my servant Job? For there is no man like him on the ea rth, blameless and upright, who reveres God and avoids evil." Satan answered, "But is it for nothing that Job reveres God? Have you not yourself made a hedge all about him, about his household, and about all that he has? You have blessed whatever he does, and his possessions have greatly increased. But just put out your hand now and take away all he has; he certainly will curse you to your face." Then Jehovah said to Satan, "See, everything that he has is in your power; only do not lay hands on Job himself." So Satan left the presence of Jehovah."

Clearly Satan and God are allies in this story.

Then we have Jesus who said in John 8:44

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

Clearly Jesus is not being portrayed as being an ally of Satan. If they were, God would be giving Satan the power to deceive because that is what He would have wanted. This is not in accordance with the gospels. The Lord's Prayer goes, "Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil."

This means that God would never use Satan to tempt us and will not purposely put evil in our way because Jesus is asking Him to deliver us from evil.

How do we reconcile this? It's clear that it's because Jews do not believe the devil is evil. To Jews, he is merely a "prosecuting attorney", there only to make people's lives miserable to lead us to God.
We also know that Satan is an omniscient being who is omnipresent. Yet Jews reject this outright. They see that as a negation of monotheism.

There is a incongruity between the Satan in the New Testament and Satan in the OT. Is it because the God in the OT is not the Father of Jesus?

[OnceConvinced]

Why must you assume God created the flaws in the earth?

So we have God and Satan building the universe together. God's trying to build it nicely and Satan's trying to sabotage it all? That would mean anything God created was not really perfect if Satan could come along and mess it up in some way.

Kind of reminds me of Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You have the Planet of Magrathea which is a planet building factory and they are manufacturing the earth. You have a whole bunch of Magratheans building different parts of the earth. You have Slartibartfast designing things like the coast lines of Norway. So in your scenario there's also some evil guy who's trying to sabotage the whole thing.

[Tired of the Nonsense]

[Replying to Tired of the Nonsense]

"According to the doctrine of the Mormon church Jesus and Satan are brothers, sons of the God Elohim."

Thank you for that information, I had no idea.

They built a beautiful temple close-by.
I am not likely to join.

Many Mormons complain that referring to Jesus and Satan as brother and sister is only a half truth, since ALL the angels and demons are sons of Elohim. They typically leave out the part that Elohim's thousands of children were produced by unions with his hundreds of wives, however.

[Tired of the Nonsense]

[Replying to Tired of the Nonsense]

"According to the doctrine of the Mormon church Jesus and Satan are brothers, sons of the God Elohim."

Thank you for that information, I had no idea.

They built a beautiful temple close-by.
I am not likely to join.

Many Mormons complain that referring to Jesus and Satan as brother and sister is only a half truth, since ALL the angels and demons are sons of Elohim. They typically leave out the part that Elohim's thousands of children were produced by unions with his hundreds of wives, however.

Oops! Obviously Jesus and Satan cannot be brother and sister. Clearly I meant brothers. What is not clear to me is whether Mormons believe that women can be angels or demons. Although I must confess, the more of Mormon theology I am exposed to, the more confused I become.