If you were Satan....

[Athetotheist]

I remember a TV preacher once asking his broadcast audience, "If you were Satan....." I don't remember the rest of the question, but I seem to remember that he was talking about prophecy and arguing that Satan was up to some diabolical mischief ("If you were Satan, isn't that what you would do?").

A lot of detail in Christian scripture about what is to happen before Jesus returns is tied to the activity of "Satan". The appearance of the "antichrist", in particular, is supposed to be part of Satan's last gambit before he goes down to utter defeat.

Since it was asked of me how I would react if I were Satan, I think it's fair for me to answer. I know that "Satan" is supposed to be a being of superhuman intelligence, but I can't help thinking that if such a being actually existed and if I were that being, I could do a lot better.

If I were "Satan", I would scrap the antichrist plan. If it's all laid out in the Bible, then everyone knows what to expect and you've lost the element of surprise. With that one simple deviation from the prophetic scenario, the whole thing would be gummed up. No antichrist, no mark of the beast, no abomination of desolation, no anything I was supposed to do as Satan to set the stage for the return of Jesus. And without those prophetic components in place, Jesus couldn't return to fulfill prophecy. And how could anyone stop me? I wouldn't be taking some action which could be prevented; I would be defeating prophecy by not taking action.

So let me pass the preacher's question on to you. If you were "Satan", what would you do----or not do----to thwart prophecy?

[The Nice Centurion]

[Replying to The Nice Centurion in post #148

LDS do their best this days to get accepted into mainstream christianity.

Their best isn't enough.

I didnt say mainstream christianity is always right, but said that in some certain question mainstream christianity and I tend to have the same opinion.
And it is not yours.

Fair enough, but stating an opinion doesn't justify it.

Fair enough, but that goes for you too!
Your making a question for debate, than only allowing answers that serve your own opinion is senseless.
And when it comes to theorys about unproven beings behaviour, diverging opinios and theorys are natural!
Yes, or No?

The bible teaches that the earth is flat...

That is not true.

The Greatest Trick Satan Ever Pulled Was Convincing the World it were not flat !!!

And I'm accused of not arguing rationally.

As above; Everyone is allowed to have his opinion.
You are not obliged to share it, pal.
(Still your OP is in a context that declares Satan true, which would declare christian mythology true, which in turn would declare bible true, which logically following would declare biblical facts true and that would declare biblical fact of flat earth true. Therefore we should speculate how the disaster of flat earh denying came to be. Satan is a common and welcome suspect!)

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #163]
Yeah, heres a main obstacle that the OP chooses to ignore. Mainstream christianity will never give that prophecy can be thwarted. Yet the OP wants an explanation of how Satan THWARTS PROPHECY IN CONTEXT WITH MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANITY.

This is far from rational. OP accepts only an impossible to give answer. But didnt write so in the OP.

I wasn't asking about "Satan" thwarting prophecy "in context with mainstream Christianity"; if "Satan" were to thwart Christian prophecy, that would invalidate it.

I understand that this is your opinion, but dont you think that you could explain how your revolutionary conclusion masters above obstacles?
Or else believers would be right to just negate your theory as impossible. Unbelievers would see too the problems your unsustained opinion states.

Extraordinary claims need extraordinary substitution.
That goes not only for Jesus resurrection, but also for our friend Satan hypothetically thwarting prophecy.

If I had the opinion that the earth is a cube and were saying; "Now the fact that I say earth is a cube disproves that the earth is flat!" I could get laughed at as long as didnt even try to get ride of cube earth denying counter arguments.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to The Nice Centurion in post #191

Your making a question for debate, than only allowing answers that serve your own opinion is senseless.

My initial question was what you would do to thwart Christian prophecy if you were "Satan". In all the meandering through the Left Behind series, comic book characters, Nephites etc., have you even tried to answer it?

As above; Everyone is allowed to have his opinion.
You are not obliged to share it, pal.
(Still your OP is in a context that declares Satan true, which would declare christian mythology true, which in turn would declare bible true, which logically following would declare biblical facts true and that would declare biblical fact of flat earth true. Therefore we should speculate how the disaster of flat earh denying came to be. Satan is a common and welcome suspect!)

I was assuming that "Satan" existed for the sake of argument.

Or else believers would be right to just negate your theory as impossible.

That seems to be what you're trying to do. You've had "Satan" wanting a comic-book supervillain showdown, inviting his own demise to fool those who think he might not, fooling BoM Nephites in order to fool present-day LDS----you've had him doing just about everything except.....nothing. And you present all of these as "problems", as if any of them would be a more likely course for a dedicated rebel than the course I suggested. And how would believers "negate" my theory as impossible? By simply denying its theoretical possibility? How would that make it theoretically impossible?

Instead of constantly trying to one-up me, how about just answering the initial question?

[William]

[Replying to William in post #141

Well...since you stated "And without those prophetic components in place, Jesus couldn't return to fulfill prophecy." so if Jesus did return, the components must have been in place whether they were understood or not.

Then Jesus not having returned would suggest that the components aren't in place, wouldn't it?

Of course.

But that wouldn't necessarily mean that prophecy has therefore been thwarted, right?

[The Nice Centurion]

[Replying to The Nice Centurion in post #191

Your making a question for debate, than only allowing answers that serve your own opinion is senseless.

My initial question was what you would do to thwart Christian prophecy if you were "Satan". In all the meandering through the Left Behind series, comic book characters, Nephites etc., have you even tried to answer it?

Yes, my above answer was essentially: "If I were Satan and would want to thwart christian prophecy, I would try to do things exactly reverse to christian prophecy!".

As above; Everyone is allowed to have his opinion.
You are not obliged to share it, pal.
(Still your OP is in a context that declares Satan true, which would declare christian mythology true, which in turn would declare bible true, which logically following would declare biblical facts true and that would declare biblical fact of flat earth true. Therefore we should speculate how the disaster of flat earh denying came to be. Satan is a common and welcome suspect!)

I was assuming that "Satan" existed for the sake of argument.

In your OP you give reason to suspect that it might be so for you. Sure.
But in either case Satan would come not without his mythological environment.
If you assume Snow White is real for the sake of argument, everybody would see that it logically follows for your sake of argument to also include the 7 Dwarfs, the wood, the Witch . . .

Or else believers would be right to just negate your theory as impossible.

That seems to be what you're trying to do. You've had "Satan" wanting a comic-book supervillain showdown, inviting his own demise to fool those who think he might not, fooling BoM Nephites in order to fool present-day LDS----you've had him doing just about everything except.....nothing. And you present all of these as "problems", as if any of them would be a more likely course for a dedicated rebel than the course I suggested. And how would believers "negate" my theory as impossible? By simply denying its theoretical possibility? How would that make it theoretically impossible?

Jehovahs Witness already did in this very thread.

For believers their mythology automatically includes the theoretical impossibility of prophecys.
THATS WHAT MAKES THEM PROPHECYS.
When confronting believers it would be better for your success to first argue/give reasons for the theoretical possibility before asking about the thereafter.

Instead of constantly trying to one-up me, how about just answering the initial question?

I have and you did not like my answer, for reasons unknown to me either, or cause you allow only an answer where Satan stays inactive - Your Opinion.

[The Nice Centurion]

[Replying to William in post #141

Well...since you stated "And without those prophetic components in place, Jesus couldn't return to fulfill prophecy." so if Jesus did return, the components must have been in place whether they were understood or not.

Then Jesus not having returned would suggest that the components aren't in place, wouldn't it?

Of course.

But that wouldn't necessarily mean that prophecy has therefore been thwarted, right?

Right! But the OP wouldnt want to hear any of this.

[1213]

The bible teaches that the earth is flat...

That is not true.

The Greatest Trick Satan Ever Pulled Was Convincing the World it were not flat !!!

Why do you think so?

[The Nice Centurion]

I don't believe prophecy can be twarted.

What you may or may not believe is irrelevant in a sub-forum dedicated to debate. Evidence is what is needed here. Your claim of what you believe is evidence only that you claim to believe something. It isn't evidence that your belief is valid. In fact, it is perfectly useless here.


Tcg

But we have no evidence if prophecy is ever real.

So its impossible to prove if or not prophecy can be thwarted.

One can theorize, hypothetice, tell his opinion, tell his belief, tell what mainstream belief says about it . . .

But thats about all.

[Athetotheist]

[Replying to William in post #141

Well...since you stated "And without those prophetic components in place, Jesus couldn't return to fulfill prophecy." so if Jesus did return, the components must have been in place whether they were understood or not.

Then Jesus not having returned would suggest that the components aren't in place, wouldn't it?

Of course.

But that wouldn't necessarily mean that prophecy has therefore been thwarted, right?

Right! But the OP wouldnt want to hear any of this.

If "Satan" refused to carry out his role in prophecy, it would be thwarted whether believers were willing to accept that or not. That seems to be what you don't want to hear.

You yourself have acknowleged that Jesus is technically late in returning, so if----as Christian prophecy says----his return is supposed to follow the appearance of the antichrist, a refusal by "Satan" to send an antichrist would be a logical conclusion as to the cause of Jesus being late in returning.

[The Nice Centurion]

[Replying to William in post #141

Well...since you stated "And without those prophetic components in place, Jesus couldn't return to fulfill prophecy." so if Jesus did return, the components must have been in place whether they were understood or not.

Then Jesus not having returned would suggest that the components aren't in place, wouldn't it?

Of course.

But that wouldn't necessarily mean that prophecy has therefore been thwarted, right?

Right! But the OP wouldnt want to hear any of this.

If "Satan" refused to carry out his role in prophecy, it would be thwarted whether believers were willing to accept that or not. That seems to be what you don't want to hear.

You yourself have acknowleged that Jesus is technically late in returning, so if----as Christian prophecy says----his return is supposed to follow the appearance of the antichrist, a refusal by "Satan" to send an antichrist would be a logical conclusion as to the cause of Jesus being late in returning.

So do you therefore logically conclude that in this way Satan has already thwarted Christs Second Coming prophecy?

If not; How much time more must pass until he has?

And why do you not comment on my answer to your OP question?

[The Nice Centurion]

Here come some threads we will need to study while futher debating here;

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