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When Lucifer defied God he must have thought he stood a chance of winning. Did he? And if not how is it he didn't realize that?

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Short answer: Pride, and shortsightedness. – RCIX Mar 12 '12 at 11:27
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Other short answer: it's from Paradise Lost, not the bible. – Affable Geek Mar 12 '12 at 13:12
@affable geek - Are you saying it's not part of christian canon? I would imagine most christians would disagree with that notion. – pguardiario Mar 12 '12 at 13:29
Do you mean the cherubim Lucifer or the fallen angel Satan, the devil? – user1054 Mar 12 '12 at 13:41
Indeed, I am saying its not in the canon. Find it. I'll even give you two hints: Isaiah 14 & Ezekiel 28 are the two "reference" texts, and they are themselves highly debated. When you read the reference texts, you'll probably be wondering how Christians concocted the whole Lucifer narrative. The answer is John Milton's Paradise Lost, not the Bible. Lucifer is more an artifact of the Middle Ages than of the Ancient World. – Affable Geek Mar 12 '12 at 14:43
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closed as not constructive by wax eagle♦ Mar 12 '12 at 20:16

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1 Answer

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It may be that Satan has always defied God, or (and) that he believes his own lies. The Bible doesn't touch the subject directly.

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Per scripture, the devil did not always defy God. Some time after his creation and before the creation of mankind, Satan rebelled against God. Before this per Job 38:4-7, the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy at the creation of the world. – user1054 Mar 12 '12 at 19:21
Thank you for the correction. – Hammer Mar 12 '12 at 19:53
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This whole question about Satan making a choice "before the creation of mankind" requires the existence of Time which does not exist outside our earthly perspective and is not something humans are able to reference, hence anything related to Time can not be part of our understanding of what choosing based on future outcome is like. – Hammer Mar 12 '12 at 20:05
completely agree. Some could say, "Why ask such things that are not answerable? Worry about those that are answerable." However, Satan must have some sort of chance else he wouldn't battle with him. – user1054 Mar 12 '12 at 20:12

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