Thursday, February 24, 2011

God says we should love our enemies, does God love Satan?

This is the question posed by our five year old during the early morning homeschool hours.  Liberal statists everywhere are going nuts at this point with the knowledge that we talk about God during school hours.  Shocking that we would indoctrinate our children, I know, but this question was a doozy, especially coming from such a young aspiring theologian.  Our son posed the question to their mommy/teacher who in turn shot me an email forwarding the probing doctrinal dilemma. I received the email at lunch.  A perfect time to ponder the deep things and meditate on the depths of God's love.  My mind swirled with weighty thoughts.  Giving an answer to the question was tough enough.  Answering a five year old adds multiple levels of difficulty.  I felt like I a kid snatched away from my flag football game and placed in the pro bowl, the big opponent before me ready to trample me.

I decided to write a response to my wife that I knew was inadequate to read to our son but I hoped it would equip her to handle the answering herself.  Uh, no.  Didn't get off that easy.  She hadn't even read the response by the time I got home and so the ball was back in my court. YAY!  So over dinner we had a string of questions and answers.  That's right, I went catechism style.  I think the boys got it.

Now I'm really afraid. Our boys are five and seven and they are asking us questions that most believers never even consider.  Now I have to figure out how to balance scriptural study with personal discipleship so that I can be ready with answers to their seminary level questions.  Does that balance even exist?  I always feel like I am falling short one way or the other.

Enough of my rambling...help me out folks.  How would you answer a five year old who asks such a question?

God says we should love our enemies, does God love Satan?  Wow, just, wow.

7 comments:

  1. Great question. Here is my thoughts.

    If a child of mine turned on me. Not only rejected me, but declared war against me... I think part of me would still love them.

    Did David love his son Absalom?

    We can also consider the respectful encounters between God and Satan in the book of Job, as well as when Jesus is tempted by Satan.

    Great question though. How did you answer?

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  2. The questions that kids come up with are insane. We were telling our three-year-old about creation and all that and then she asks "well where did God come from?" Trying to explain the eternal presence of God to her sorta just made me feel silly!

    Anyway, I honestly hadn't thought about this, but here are a couple of thoughts off the top of my head: does the fact that we, as humans, are a different creation than the angels, and therefore the relationships between ourselves, and between God and us, is different than among the angels, and God and the angels (including those fallen). A second thought I had was that we are not omniscient, and therefore our enemies, at least as far as we know, still have potential, unlike Satan. A third thought I had was that we are not perfect. God can hate Satan, because in being God's enemy, Satan is the enemy of perfection. The relationship between us and our enemies, on the other hand, is that of sinful people against sinful people.

    So, yeah, no answers, but maybe some stuff worth considering.

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  3. Yeah I'm looking forward to these kinds of questions from lil' Ben when he gets old enough. For now I'll brush up on obscure kids' questions.

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  4. Jon

    Good points. I plan to take it all in and revise/add to the discussion with the fam. Then I'll post an update with my answer.

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  5. Dan

    The little tykes are scandalous sometimes! I keep waiting for them to ask me where Cain got his wife from or something. From your post I gather that it you would stand firm on the ground that God hates Satan. This was my stand a few nights ago when one of my boys said they loved Satan. I didn't understand it at the time but I think it may have come from a desire to love their enemies. And the plot thickens....

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  6. Patrick

    It is truly a joy to be subject to the kindergarten inquisition. You're in for a treat!

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  7. I'm going to put myself out on a limb and say, "Yes," God does love Satan. Satan is, after all, one of God's creations, fallen though he may be.

    I look forward to your follow-up post.

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