If Heaven is so Great...

[Mike Tang 1991]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

 

[Aunty Jane]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

Could it be that giving his intelligent creation free will sometimes makes them abuse the privilege if they get it into their heads that they want the kind of freedom that God never granted?

This all started with just one rebellious angel who wanted something he was not entitled to.....and it eventually spread to a whole lot of them.
This tells us a few things about what abuse of free will can do....
1) That because God does not force his creatures to serve him, but rewards those who do...that we can use it to serve our Creator, or we can use it selfishly to serve our own interests.
The other two thirds of the angels are content to remain in the service of their God and Creator, whom they had happily served for eons of time before humans put in an appearance....and still do.

2) It tells us a lot about the influence that others can have on us if we choose the wrong company and listen to the complaints of the discontented.

3) That we should appreciate what we have rather than imagining that we deserve more.

Since heaven, like the garden of Eden was all they had ever known, what did they have to compare it to? It wasn't that heaven wasn't good, but that stolen freedom appeared to be better, but only in their imagination......"the grass is greener" kind of mentality I guess.

 

[quietthinker]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

It is the character of God which is in the spotlight ie, what is God really like?
The Jesus event answers this question more than adequately.

The misrepresentations Lucifer spread and is still spreading is totally nullified when Jesus submitted to the representatives of his system.
The objectives and characters of both sides became publicly visible to the watching Universe and those who will sing:-

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Revelation 15:3-4


And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:15

 

[GISMYS_7]

The one really "bad apple" satan who thought he could take God's place lead 1/3 of the easily fooled angels in a rebellion that will cost them eternity in the lake of fire!! And you???

 

[Desire Of All Nations]

The Bible teaches that Lucifer and the angels he deceived went to Heaven so they could take God's place there, so yeah, Heaven is that good. You should also consider the fact that 2/3 of the angels stayed loyal to God.

 

[Cassandra]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

'I don't know that they knew they'd be kicked out. We have no record of that occurring before this.

 

[Ronald David Bruno]

I would go as far to say that there are 200 million bad angels. That means 400 million good ones.
Why the exact fraction of 1/3.
Can you imagine any circumstance in which an exact fraction of people broke off from a group that large?
If you believe God is SOVEREIGN, and we do, then we must realize that He has been, is and always will be in control. He allows evil for a purpose.
He put the Tree of Knowledge Of Good and Evil in the Garden. Evil already existed. He knew Lucifer would fall and exactly how many angels would follow. He allowed Satan into the Garden for a purpose.
The knowledge of good could not really be known or appreciated without knowing evil. It was all part of His plan.
People have been taught and believe that this was an accident ... or God took a chance, hoping for the best ... come on.
We know love, mercy, forgiveness, faith, goodness, joy, hope, trust, and patience because we have experienced and learned what it is like to be without these attributes. We know Jesus, who came to die so that we may live. We know death so that we can know life
I would say God purposed for all of it to happen.
He set it up so that when Lucifer found out that God was going to create a universe, earth with all kts beauty and givebit to man, whobwas to be made in His image, that he would love him, that man would allowed to procreate, multiply and fill the earth with his offspring and to top it off, the angels were to watch over us and serve us too ... wow, Lucifer and 1/3 of the angels went ballistic. He must have made him and exactly 1/3 of the angels specifically with this pride that when challenged would rebel, insite jealous envy and hate ... evil. OR He just released that precise amount from their attachment and loyalty to Him for His purpose IN ORDER to follow Lucifer who became Satan.
Doesn't it also seem odd that Satan cannot do anything unless he has God's permission? Has that ever happened in history with our enemies? Do they ask permission before they can kill, pillage and plunder? People, mobs and nations don't ask permission before they war but the real war is in the spiritual realm behind the scenes and these wars must be ordained by God before they are enacted.
Even what appears to be the smallest insignificant battle between just two people happens under His watch. He knows when a sparrow falls so how much more does He love us. This will ruffle some feathers out there ... so let it be.

 

[liafailrock]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

I don't think it's a heaven issue. It's a submission issue. People can have a miserable vacation in the Bahamas if things bother them while they are there and otherwise complain all their lives. That said, heaven is not the goal. The first resurrection is and participation in the Kingdom. That requires submission again.

 

[Davy]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

Really not the way to look at it.

Satan believed he could overthrow God.

And Heaven then was upon this ancient earth. That's kind of what picture we are shown in Genesis 2 with God's Garden of Eden still on earth in that chapter, and then He removed His Eden from this earth after Adam and Eve sinned. That is why in final, at the end of Revelation, we are shown its return back to this earth, along with God's River of the waters of life that also was shown in Genesis 2.

 

[Webers_Home]

.
If God is as omniscient as people say; then He already knew well in advance
that Satan would rebel; yet went ahead and created him anyway.

The same can be said of mankind. Adam's fall didn't take God by surprise,
nor did God's regret for creating mankind, viz: He knew He'd regret it.

God also knew in advance that He would be destroying a major portion of
mankind in a global deluge and that He would be incinerating Sodom and
Gomorrah, and also knew in advance that a very large percentage of
mankind would end up terminated by a mode of death akin to a foundry
worker falling into a kettle of molten iron, yet God proceeded to create
mankind anyway; knowing the amount of death and suffering that would
result from His decision.
_

 

[bbyrd009]

Why the exact fraction of 1/3

"heart, mind, and gut" come to mind

 

[Ronald David Bruno]

"heart, mind, and gut" come to mind

It was a rhetorical question.

 

[Hidden In Him]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

Ok, here's a question for you: How does a "Christian" imply that the God of the Christians is a liar and a fraud?

 

[quietthinker]

.
If God is as omniscient as people say; then He already knew well in advance
that Satan would rebel; yet went ahead and created him anyway.

The same can be said of mankind. Adam's fall didn't take God by surprise,
nor did God's regret for creating mankind, viz: He knew He'd regret it.

God also knew in advance that He would be destroying a major portion of
mankind in a global deluge and that He would be incinerating Sodom and
Gomorrah, and also knew in advance that a very large percentage of
mankind would end up terminated by a mode of death akin to a foundry
worker falling into a kettle of molten iron, yet God proceeded to create
mankind anyway; knowing the amount of death and suffering that would
result from His decision.
_

The amount of suffering experienced by God in this process is not even on our radars and frankly, unable to be comprehended by mere mortals.
At the appointed time when Jesus see's the innumerable throng gathered in his Fathers mansions, any regret (if ever there was any) will evaporate like dew in the rising Sun.

In the end, at the finality of this Universal 'exercise' (sorry for the understatement) 'he will see the travail of his soul and be satisfied' Isaiah 53:11

 

[bbyrd009]

It was a rhetorical question.

was it?

 

[Mike Tang 1991]

Ok, here's a question for you: How does a "Christian" imply that the God of the Christians is a liar and a fraud?

Who said that

 

[Lambano]

I don't think it's a heaven issue. It's a submission issue.

Bingo. It's about power. It's about who gets to be on top. Who calls the shots. Sheesh, you see this in almost every human institution also.

' Tis better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven
-John Milton, Paradise Lost

 

[dev553344]

...why did 33% (one in THREE) of the angels rebel against God ???

This wasn't just "one bad apple".... this was an ENTIRE group of then that REBELLED against God and tried to overthrow Him... DESPITE --->KNOWING<--- they would lose.

They KNEW they would lose (obviously)... but STILL rebelled against God anyways...

Just how BAD must Heaven be for so many to rebel against God ???

Could it be that Heaven isn't as great/desirable as we ASSUME it is ??

I don't think that speaks of heaven but rather the nature of Lucifer and the fallen angels. There are brutes and sexual predators that we see on earth and the fallen are more of the same. They follow darkness which is rebelling against God which is what got them cast out of heaven. It's not because heaven isn't great.

 

[Davy]

.
If God is as omniscient as people say; then He already knew well in advance
that Satan would rebel; yet went ahead and created him anyway.
....

That idea isn't really written in God's Word. It's faulty reasoning.

Per Ezekiel 28, a parable about God having originally created Satan perfect in his ways, that shows simply that God created Satan to be a 'good' cherub to guard His Throne. Satan on his own chose to rebel in coveting God's Throne for himself. And that was the very first sin against God, ever (1 John 3:8).

Thus the matter involves the idea of 'free will'. God gave the angels, including Satan, free love to love Him, or not. Same with us today, God has given us free will to love Him and His Son, or not. We, nor Satan or his angels that rebelled with him, can pin that act of rebellion back on God, just because He created Satan.

The thing to remember is that loving The Father and Son 'without'... free will, means it's not real love. We would just be robots, saying, "I love ya, I love ya, I love ya". God doesn't want us to be like robots, He wants our real love towards Him and The Son. Because He created Satan also in the beginning with that free will to love Him, or not, that is HOW Satan was able to rebel against Him in that time of old.

And this present world is for the purpose of sending His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all those who believe on Him, sifting out His sheep from the goats who reject Him. Those who still reject Him are thus cast into the fire, and in God's future Kingdom He is going to make our minds and hearts anew in joy. There won't... be a rebellion a second time.

 

[Ronald David Bruno]

was it?

I don't know why God chose 1/3 of the angels to follow Satan, I just know that He ordained it; hence the question to lead people to that conclusion.
Satan does need help to accomplish his tasks.