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Spiritual Blindness
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2 Corinthians 4:4
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.Luke 23:34
34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.- Joined
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Scripture references that the Lord put on my heart.
Ephesians 6:12
English Standard Version
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Very refreshing to have a thread start with actual words and not just a link. Back in the old days on the FFF we typed out on the keyboard five miles both ways to start a thread. O for the old paths, bless Gawd.
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In this passage, was the apostle Paul intimating that Satan is omnipresent like Jehovah is, so that he could blind mutliple people at the same time
OR
was the apositle Paul saying that there are only a few non beleivers so few that Satan would be able to get to them all - one at a time?
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I don't think so. Honestly, we give Satan too much credit.
Satan is greatly assisted by human nature. All he has to do to blind the unbelieving world is start some lies (he's the father of lies), put them in the minds of a few and let humans do the rest. No omnipresence needed... not much work to do.
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Since "no omnipresence is needed" and it was a case of "a few" being lied to and apparently spreading the lies, then this passage must have been talking about one locale at one specific time ("the god of this world has blindED the minds of the unbelievers").
Also, since he just told some lies and relied on others believing those lies - rather than "blinding their minds", what was the lie or lies that he told?
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It started in one locale: the Garden of Eden.
Two lies come to mind:
"You surely won't die..."
and
"You will become as gods knowing good and evil..."
These two lies form the basis of all lies that blind men.
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“The devil is called the god of this age in no other way than Baal was called the god of those who worshipped him or the dog the god of Egypt.”—Jean Calvin
As abcaines just replied, the propaganda of the devil (and the lie told in the garden “yea hath God said?”) is ever present and pervasive in humanity working to confirm unbelievers in their persistence of unbelief.
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It seems like one of his favorite methods is to cast doubt on God’s word. “Did God really say?” Once that train gets rolling it can cover a lot of ground and do incredible damage.
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So basically, what y'all are saying is that the telling of lies, the casting of doubt upon God's word and propogandizing from Satan is what The Apostle meant when he said that Satan "blinds the minds of the unbelievers".
NOT that Satan targets individual people to keep individual people from seeing the light of the Gospel of Christ.
Is that right?
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So basically, what y'all are saying is that the telling of lies, the casting of doubt upon God's word and propogandizing from Satan is what The Apostle meant when he said that Satan "blinds the minds of the unbelievers".
NOT that Satan targets individual people to keep individual people from seeing the light of the Gospel of Christ.
Is that right?
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Pretty much.
There is more that can be said but for now, that's a pretty sound conclusion.
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Sin is an inside job and it’s effective in its results throughout the entirety of the human race. As a result, the “god” who currently rules this world has an abundance of eager and willing adherents. Flip Wilson said “the devil made me do it”, that makes for good comedy but bad theology. That doesn’t mean the devil isn’t personally and currently active, just that he is not omnipresent.
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So in conclusion,
even though that passage said "the god of this world"
it really should have read:
"In their case the eager and willing adherents of the god of this world, through their lies, have blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." ?
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So in conclusion,
even though that passage said "the god of this world"
it really should have read:
"In their case the eager and willing adherents of the god of this world, through their lies, have blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." ?
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I wouldn't go rewriting the Word just to make someone from a couple millennia down the road more comfortable with the wording. Using context, Applying the principle of the passage is what we're called to do.
If the wording isn't to your liking, look into the original language and extrapolate what it says for yourself.
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I was just repeating what Y'ALL said. If anyone "reworded" the Bible it was you, not me.
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No. It's worded just right. The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
Omnipresence has nothing to do with it.
Matthew Henry:
2. The god of this world hath blinded their minds, v. 4. They are under the influence and power of the devil, who is here called the god of this world, and elsewhere the prince of this world, because of the great interest he has in this world, the homage that is paid to him by multitudes in this world, and the great sway that, by divine permission, he bears in the world, and in the hearts of his subjects, or rather slaves. And as he is the prince of darkness, and ruler of the darkness of this world, so he darkens the understandings of men, and increases their prejudices, and supports his interest by keeping them in the dark, blinding their minds with ignorance, and error, and prejudices, that they should not behold the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.
Something else to consider, are the lying wonders Satan performed before the Gospel age. I think it's rather naive to think that the mythologies of ancient peoples and the gods they worshipped were just made up. Paul said that the things the Gentiles sacrifice to idols, they sacrifice to devils. 1 Cor. 10:20. Augustine wrote in The City of God, that we know the names of devils by the names of the idols and pagan gods.And Paul said that when the man of sin is revealed in the end time, that those lying wonders would resume.
The original wording accurately reflects the meaning. It needs no tweaking.
The grammar of "has" + "blinded" indicates that this happened in the past and continues on.
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"No. It's worded just right. The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not."
How? Exacly how, does Satan blind the minds of them which believe not - through influence? is that what you are saying?
What does Mr Henry mean when he says that "he darkens the understandings of men and increases their prejudices and supports his interest by keeping them in the dark, blinding their minds with ignorance . . "
Is he saying that Satan doesn't actively do that but that, that is the result of what happens when his slaves, the multitudes of the world, pay hommage to him?
What y'all are saying (I think) is that it isn't necessary for the devil to be in multiple places at the same time to blind the minds of people the world over BECAUSE the lies that he has told in the past and the great love that the multidudes have for him, will cause them not to believe - on their own; that he blinds them through influence not through personal action.
Is that right?
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No. Satan is the active one.
2 Timothy 2:26 - And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
I listed one or two of his ways. He's subtle and cunning, and is a deceiver. But the thing he likes to exploit most is the fear of death.
Hebrews 2:15 - And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.