How Do You Know When The Devil's Playing Tricks?

Each of them in conjunction with Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman collaborate to ensure absolutely everything happens. If something happens you can bet it's the result of the actions of those five.

We all know God cannot be proved by anything other than a divine measuring tool. Do you have one of those? We all know that God cannot be disproved because it is impossible to prove a negative. 

I believe that the God who has revealed himself through the Scriptures of the OT and the NT is God.

Which leaves us with an extremely embarrassing question for the theist doesn't it?

Yeah, so I want to see how a theist wriggles out of this.

Would you be willing to examine this from more of a conceptual framework and not such a literal one? I take a more universal approach to spiritual texts but I can make sense of the questions anyways. Some people get queasy though if answers aren't strictly found in the Bible, but then why ask in the first place..

1. Can you explain how you know when things have been done by god and when things have been done by the devil who has masterfully disguised something to look like it was done by god?

In creation you have two forces (or pairs of forces), opposing forces, and they work together or against one another to enable experience allowing for activity between the two poles or even at two extremes. Without opposing forces which creates contrast and separation there can be no creation. In this realm you have both the negative force and the positive force working and everything in between, and these forces are typically manifested through vessels. Vessels being the souls that inhabit this planet and even those that are foreign to it or outside it which can have influence. 

While not everything in creation is so black and white it's typically easy to see what is positive and what is negative. More so as it relates to us personally though, obviously.

Since the Creator is all encompassing, or rather all of creation comes from out of God and all of creation is within the conscious reality/nature of God everything is a manifestation of that one Source and all created souls and beings become their own mini-creator in the worlds of God. And because of this it is the individual created souls and beings that are mediums for either force. 

Not everything is either caused by some devil or by God, that is not how creation works. Generally speaking it's the vessels that are the conduits for either the positive forces or the negative. 

Whether one takes a literal understanding of what the "devil" represents in scripture or a more figurative application, the devil is usually the representative of the negative forces as a whole not just a singular entity. I know the scriptures paint out a picture there is an actual devil running loose causing problems (which there may be) but there is another way of looking at it and understanding how these forces play out in this realm.

This is a cause and effect creation which means we are responsible for everything that happens on this planet because all things comes through our decisions and actions and desires, not Gods or the devils. I know that is a bit unorthodox but I'm not a fundamentalist anyways, my beliefs are not limited to one source so keep that in mind.

To answer your question more literal, if there was a "devil" masterfully disguising a negative action maybe we wouldn't know, does it really matter? maybe I don't see the point of the question it seems odd. If the devil were to disguise his position maybe we wouldn't know...until the final outcome anyways. But again, this idea that there is some renegade devil that causes all evil is very immature TBH and is not based on reality. 

2. How do you tell the difference between god and the devil in general?

Well as I stated all beings are created from a singular Source and is an expression of that Reality, nothing is outside of that. However, each soul has been given the Divine spark which is the creative abilities and imagination and is free to become what it wants in creation and there are many, many souls and beings on all levels of creation way beyond this one alone. All these beings are channeling their own desires and wishes and they become the conduit of whatever force they want. 

The question changes when you understand the nature of the soul and how the created worlds operate. Basically there is no distinction between the nature of the create soul and that of the Creator, only the perception the individual takes on in a limited state of conscious awareness.

3. Why is it that god had the ability to create the devil, but has not the ability destroy him?

Generally speaking souls are eternal once they are individualized. The soul cannot be destroyed even though there is a verse in the Bible that says it can be. That is untrue though, the actual soul cannot be destroyed just like energy cannot be destroyed. The ego can be destroyed and the bodies that souls inhabit in creation can be terminated but the actual soul is eternal. Once it is individualized/created that's it, it is final. That individualized soul gets to become whatever it wants and represent whatever force it wants, that is point of creation. God experiences everything through all channels, all vessels, the Creator has direct access to your channel of consciousness and experiences right through you, right through your own experiences. This is the investment the Creator has in all of this. 

Did God have the foreknowledge that Satan would be evil? I say the bible says yes. 

God's a dick for creating evil and refusing to rid the world of evil even though it's all his fucking fault.

I get a kick out of when an atheist who denies God criticizes the same God for being unfair. There seems to be a contradiction there. The same person who denies His existence grants it for the purpose of calling Him names. 

I get a kick out of when an atheist who denies God criticizes the same God for being unfair. There seems to be a contradiction there. The same person who denies His existence grants it for the purpose of calling Him names. 

I get a kick out of when someone without an actual response to posed questions conflates a hypothetical question for insults.

Besides inferior opinions, do you have any response to my questions?

If god does exist, how do you tell him apart from the devil?

For people into old goddy god,

1. Can you explain how you know when things have been done by god and when things have been done by the devil who has masterfully disguised something to look like it was done by god?

2. How do you tell the difference between god and the devil in general?

3. Why is it that god had the ability to create the devil, but has not the ability destroy him?

Any good lawyer would.

Yeah, so I want to see how a theist wriggles out of this.

There is no such thing as the devil or fallen angels. Satan in Hebrew means "opposer" or "accuser." The first time the word Satan appears in the Bible is Numbers 22:22

כבוַיִּֽחַר־אַ֣ף אֱלֹהִים֘ כִּֽי־הוֹלֵ֣ךְ הוּא֒ וַיִּתְיַצֵּ֞ב מַלְאַ֧ךְ יְהֹוָ֛ה בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ לְשָׂטָ֣ן ל֑וֹ וְהוּא֙ רֹכֵ֣ב עַל־אֲתֹנ֔וֹ וּשְׁנֵ֥י נְעָרָ֖יו עִמּֽוֹ:

God's wrath flared because he was going, and an angel of the Lord stationed himself on the road to thwart (satan) him, and he was riding on his she-donkey, and his two servants were with him.

Any conclusion drawn on the premise that X cannot proven (i.e. how do you know the devil didn't write the the Bible to deceive you?) is literally an appeal to ignorance. 

This was the best answer so far, and effectively shows how to tell the difference between god and the devil...there is no devil.

Which is why I say your questions are laced with the fallacy.

The fact that a Christian cannot prove that the devil wrote the Bible...

you cannot prove you aren't currently hooked up to some massive energy draining machine from The Matrix should be of no concern to you either! 

 Now if you actually agree with this and are legitimately curious about Christianity, I'm happy to retract my accusation. =)

Hahaha, nice hedge, but the assertive "is literally an appeal to ignorance" was not referencing my questions when I asked where the conclusions were? Come on.

Right, but if I were claiming that I can tell the difference between Neo and Agent Smith and you asked me, how do you know if Neo's not just Agent Smith fuckin' with you, and I'm all like well the Matrix says Neo's Neo and Agent Smith's Agent Smith, this didn't go to any length to distinguish the two characters. This is the problem.

Yeah, I want to know how you attribute the effects you believe are of god's doing exclusively to god, and, if it's the case there is another entity that's made by god, really powerful, eager to go against god, and wont to play tricks on people, how do you exclude the devil's involvement?

From a Christian standpoint, we can close the book on the "the devil is pulling all the strings" theory with Matthew 12:22-28.

The devil is not going to partake in anything that goes against his own house,

Now if you can actually demonstrate through scripture why this theory is worth any more consideration than us being in the Matrix, I'm happy to discuss it further!

Hell, look at it from non-theist standpoint: Why in the world should Harry Potter fans consider for one moment that Voldemort is secretly Harry's twin transsexual counterpart from the 12th dimension? Voldemort is a pretty tricky bastard after-all! 

I would say your tone was insulting for those who revere God