Why didn't God kill the Devil?

This is a serious question..I'm an atheist, but lets pretend God does exist for a minute. God is supposed to be good and Satan is supposed to be evil. In the bible God kills evil humans en masse on multiple occasions. So why not Satan?

He didn't want to.

Because he doesn't like you, OP. That's why. He specifically let the devil live just to make people like you ask stupid questions like that and keep doubting His existence. 👆

So just to be clear you feel it is a stupid question to ask why a supposedly good deity didn't kill the ultimate evil. I just wanted to actually type that out because maybe if you see someone else say it you will see how bizarre it is.

Ah, I'm going to mention that the Bible really doesn't paint there being a single 'ultimate evil.'

The modern conception of the devil is a mashing together of multiple figures. There's Satan, who's talking with god friendly-like in Job. Then in Revelation, there's a giant dragon, who's not the figure from Job. Then in Eden, there's a snake who's not either of them and gets cursed for good.

Really, it's a variety of figures who got lumped together. The snake? Never caused trouble again, so was successfully dealt with, and yadda yadda.

Okay maybe there isn't a single ultimate evil, but at least one version is presented as evil.

Originally posted by Surtur
Okay maybe there isn't a single ultimate evil, but at least one version is presented as evil.

You could say the devil is a title more than a person. According to the christian mythology there are a number of spiritual creatures, false deities and witches that manifest themselves over creation. Some of them are set against God and their chief could be likened to the devil. They are not supposedly organized through history, but at the End of Time they will form a coalition to oppose God frontally.

Assumedly God doesn't destroy these entities for the same reason he doesn't wipe out every evil man. As part of God's creation these supernatural entities can be redeemed (I mean those that don't oppose God but share a supernatural origin with those that do).

Originally posted by Surtur
This is a serious question..I'm an atheist, but lets pretend God does exist for a minute. God is supposed to be good and Satan is supposed to be evil. In the bible God kills evil humans en masse on multiple occasions. So why not Satan?

My opinion is that Satan, at the time, Lucifer, was given so much power by God he could not be killed.

Hence the war in heaven, and trying to throw him out.

The bible even speaks of them being thrown in a lake of fire for all eternity, noting about being killed.

the devil was an angel so there might be that

or maybe god is good, devil is bad and both need to exsist so balance is obtained

Originally posted by Genesis-Soldier
the devil was an angel so there might be that

or maybe god is good, devil is bad and both need to exsist so balance is obtained

Pretty sure the latter explanation is not canon for Christianity.

Freedom of choice. He uses evil to see who will choose him over evil.

Its very simple. This question is something a five year old would ask.

There are several theories on why God didn't just kill Satan. You can just do a google search and you'll see that. The following articles are pretty interesting regarding that question:

http://www.miqteens.com/article-blog/id/51/why-didn't-god-just-destroy-satan-and-his-angels

http://www.gotquestions.org/God-vs-Satan.html

God already has a plan set aside for Satan's punishment which is described in great detail in Revelation 20. Which is in article below if you don't have a Bible handy. Make sure you read the King James Version of the Bible. All the other interpretations can't be trusted:

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Revelation-Chapter-20/

In a nutshell, when Christ returns Satan (and all of his demonic brethren, I assume) will be locked-up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years while Christ and His elect rule a renewed Earth. AT the end of the 1,000 year reign he will be let loose on humanity for a short time after which he will finally be thrown into the lake of fire with the antichrist (the beast of Revelation) and the false prophet where he will burn forever (he's immortal, afterall).

I'm still kinda thinking that the current pope is either the antichrist or the false prophet described in Revelation because he was calling for a world-government (ruled by a human or humans, not Christ) and he continually deceives over a billion people.

perhaps god just keeps him around for the faithful to blame for their own misdeeds and avoid personal responsibility.

Originally posted by Bentley
You could say the devil is a title more than a person. According to the christian mythology there are a number of spiritual creatures, false deities and witches that manifest themselves over creation. Some of them are set against God and their chief could be likened to the devil. They are not supposedly organized through history, but at the End of Time they will form a coalition to oppose God frontally.

Assumedly God doesn't destroy these entities for the same reason he doesn't wipe out every evil man. As part of God's creation these supernatural entities can be redeemed (I mean those that don't oppose God but share a supernatural origin with those that do).

The problem is God has in the past wiped out every evil man. Story of Noah, for one. Story of Sodom and Gamorrah has an entire city of supposedly evil people wiped out, but with Noah they were one dude short of total genocide.

Why could Satan be redeemed, but those people could not?

Originally posted by long pig
Freedom of choice. He uses evil to see who will choose him over evil.

Its very simple. This question is something a five year old would ask.

If it's so simple a 5 yr. old would ask then how come you failed to grasp it or the answer?

God has killed evil people before, en masse even. Explain to me why you now pull the bs "choice of freedom" card. Since surely you know the stories I mentioned they are famous, so how do you then reconcile your "well, it's freedom" thing when before it wasn't a freedom thing.

Because that would ruin poker night.

Originally posted by Time-Immemorial
My opinion is that Satan, at the time, Lucifer, was given so much power by God he could not be killed.

Hence the war in heaven, and trying to throw him out.

The bible even speaks of them being thrown in a lake of fire for all eternity, noting about being killed.

But then you realize God is now not anywhere near omnipotent if your theory is true, right? He's powerful, but not all powerful.

Originally posted by Surtur
But then you realize God is now not anywhere near omnipotent if your theory is true, right? He's powerful, but not all powerful.

Its is my belief that when God creates an immortal he endows it with his holy spirit to sustain it, so if he had to destroy it, it would be destroying a part of himself. However he is powerful enough to subdue him and in prison him.

People underestimate how powerful Lucifer was. He was Gods second most powerful creation besides Metatron.

Actually, archangel Michael is more poweful than Satan/Lucifer, imo. I'm pretty sure he's the one who defeated Lucifer in one-on-one combat when the rebellious angels rebelled. I've never heard of the other angel you speak ok. I didn't read about him anywhere in the bible.

this is becoming another vs thread, isnt it?

Originally posted by Time-Immemorial
Its is my belief that when God creates an immortal he endows it with his holy spirit to sustain it, so if he had to destroy it, it would be destroying a part of himself. However he is powerful enough to subdue him and in prison him.

People underestimate how powerful Lucifer was. He was Gods second most powerful creation besides Metatron.

I get what you are saying, but you realize that still technically boils down to "Guy is not omnipotent". Since if he was he'd be able to do anything, including creating other beings without having to destroy a part of himself to get rid of them.