Satans Lie

one

The Serpent’s Pitch

The third chapter of Genesis begins by talking about the most clever, most sinister of God’s creatures: the Serpent.

This serpent, as we know from elsewhere in Scripture, is the form the Devil assumed to tempt Eve.

Before the human race fell, a contingent of angels had already rebelled against God. Now their leader comes to the new couple and tempts them to also defy God.

What does the Devil say?

He doesn’t just tell her to eat the forbidden fruit. He tells Eve that God was lying when He told her not to eat it.

“God knows,” said the devil, “that you won’t die – but rather you will become like gods yourselves!”

He not only tempts her to the fruit, he reframes who God is and the whole meaning of the commandment.

Lawyers will say that whoever succeeds in framing the issue will win the case. Satan reframed the whole idea of God, and the whole idea of a moral law. And he won. He got Eve to break the commandment.

two

Father or Tyrant?

A Father loves His Children and He’s responsible for them. So when a dad tells his kids to do something or not to do something, it’s interpreted in light of that relationship.

Fathers don’t give rules that are designed to thwart their kids’ development. I’ve never been to a soccer game where the dads were all yelling for their kids to miss, or trip and fall, or forbidding them from playing defense. Dads may get too eager at the soccer game, but it’s because they really want their kids to do well.

So when the Devil says that God is trying to prevent Adam and Eve from doing well, what he’s really saying is that God isn’t their Father. He’s saying, “This commandment isn’t God trying to help you do well, and be happy, and avoid catastrophe. This commandment is God trying to prevent you from thriving. He’s trying to prevent you from doing your best and being all you can be.”

In other words, Satan is presenting God not as a Father, but as a Tyrant and a commandment issued by a tyrant is always an instrument of oppression and repression.

Now, once you accept the Serpent’s model of God as a Tyrant, you can no longer follow God’s law out of loving obedience and trust. There are only two options when it comes to a Tyrant's Commandment: Rebel in the name of human freedom and human progress or submit out of a fear of external punishment and a desire for external reward.

Interestingly, apart from Christianity, these are the two primary approaches in the world today: rebellion, otherwise known as secularism – those who want nothing to do with religion; or slavish submission known as Islam.

three

Rebellion

If God is a tyrant, then His moral law is just what the Serpent says it is: an abuse of power, meant to keep His subjects in line. The law exists to keep the powerful in power, and to prevent those under the law from exploring the full range of human potential.

That's how secular people see God, and by extension, the Church. They’re people who see God and the Church as pure corrupt authority, who try to maintain their power by imposing arbitrary restrictions on the rest of humanity. The implication is that it’s our duty to rebel, in the name of human freedom and human progress. But of course, if God is Our Father, and if the Church faithfully communicates His message, then the moral law exists to show us what is and what isn’t compatible with our nature and our happiness. In which case, to break God’s law in the name of human freedom is like if my kids decide to break my rules by eating yellow snow, holding forks in electric outlets, and playing frisbee in the middle of the highway. They can celebrate progress all they want, but if they do those things, they don’t just break a law, they break themselves…Which, of course, was why I gave them those rules in the first place.

So too, secularism can celebrate human freedom and progress all it wants but if people break God’s moral laws, they’re going to have an awfully hard time.

four

Submission

Of course, secular rebellion isn’t the only possible response to a Tyrant. Some people prefer to placate a tyrant, to just do what He says, that way He won’t punish you, and he might even give you a nice reward.

Nobody loves a tyrant. Nobody really can love a tyrant. But some people are willing to submit to a tyrant.

As a matter of fact, the word “Islam” means “Submission.” The Koran states very clearly that God is not a Father, “For Allah cannot have a son – too holy is he!” So if his law is not the instruction of a Father, it is for them at least a law to be obeyed because… if they don’t!

We don’t want our Christianity to be anything like Islam. Our God is our Father. We obey Him not out of fear but because we love Him, and because we trust that He wants our good and gave us His law to protect us from destroying ourselves and others. And so we can reach the heights of excellence, virtue, and joy in our being. We can delight in intimacy with God for all eternity.

Apart from Christianity, Islam and Secularism are the two dominant worldviews on the planet. Most people would probably think that Islam and Secularism are opposites. But actually, they each spring from a common lie that God is not your Father.

five

Overcoming Satan’s Lie

Satan spreads a lie: God is not your Father. He’s your master. You can’t trust Him.

So why should we trust God?

During the Vietnam War two buddies were on patrol when an enemy grenade dropped in front of them. One of the men threw himself on the grenade and it went off, killing him but saving his buddy. His buddy made it through the war and when he got back to America he went to the home of the mother of his friend. And they talked for a long time. Toward the end of the conversation, before he left, he turned to the mother and he asked her, “Do you think he loved me?”

She blurted out, “Jesus Christ, he died for you.”

Well, that answers our question, doesn’t it? Why should we trust God? Jesus Christ, he died for you.