The Satan Hypothesis: Is Satan responsible for natural disasters and animal suffering?
“For the [Satan Hypothesis] to work, Satan and his demons must freely alter the physical realm using their own intrinsic powers supplied at their creative inception. In other words, they must be able to ‘push’ physical things around, without requiring God’s direct authority and supernatural power.” - Ken Coulson
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Interesting piece, but it’s not clear what he’s rejecting here… and he doesn’t seem to advocate an alternative either.
The SH he starts out with is….
The Satan Hypothesis (SH), “is the view that so-called natural evil, the evil suffered by sentient beings that is not caused by human agency, is caused by angelic agency, specifically that of Satan and other fallen angels” (Dunnington 2018, p. 266).
Later adds…
Those drawn to this view do not necessarily buy into a complete libertarian view of free will, defaulting instead to a more Augustinian view that sets the locus of evil in the autonomous nature of angelic beings
But then somehow ends up at…
Quite simply, if Satan and his cohort could really alter the physical universe in ways that the SH demands, then absolute statements of Scripture that are explicit about God’s control over nature (Hebrews 1:3) would prove false
And…
For the SH to work, Satan and his demons must freely alter the physical realm using their own intrinsic powers supplied at their creative inception. In other words, they must be able to ‘push’ physical things around, without requiring God’s direct authority and supernatural power.
Also he makes some really big assumptions about ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural.’ There seem to be some problems there.
It’s not clear me what Coulson is reacting to and what he thinks is a better view. Maybe there’s a good bit more context in other things he’s written. … but I’m understanding better why the folks at AiG find his work difficult.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
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