Sebastian Gloom

The Enemy

     “But, but...” For the first time in his life Benson was lost for words. “But how can you fight God? I mean, he’s God! He's all powerful, all knowing...”

     “He is neither of those things,” said Paul. “If you read the Bible there are many occasions where He doesn't know something or can’t do something, starting right back at Genesis. After eating the apple, Adam and Eve hid themselves from God. God had to go looking for them. Then when Cain kills Abel, God asked Cain where Abel is. Why would He need to ask if He knows everything?”

     “Maybe God knew and was just playing with Cain. Making him squirm.”

     “Maybe, but there are plenty of other examples. The story of Job. It starts with God asking Lucifer what he's been up to lately. Lucifer said something like ‘Here and there, doing this and that’. He didn't say ‘You know fully well what I've been doing because You know everything’. Then there's Numbers 22,9. Balaam and some Moabite officials spent a night waiting for God, who duly popped down for a visit. God had to ask Balaam who the people with him are. Genesis 32, 22 to 30. Jacob wrestled with God in human form and wins. God had to ask him who he was. That’s God being neither all knowing nor all powerful.”

     “Wait a minute,” said Benson. “Jacob wrestled with an angel.”

     “That's what it says in modern versions of the bible,” agreed Paul, “but if you look in earlier versions it says that he fought God Himself.”

     “He’s right,” said Gloom. “I have several old Bibles. I'll show you when we get back.”

     “There's plenty of other examples of God not knowing things,” said Paul. “I can give you a complete list if you like. We've made quite a study of it. And there are plenty of examples of His power being limited as well. God made Adam from dust, for example, but He needed one of Adam's ribs to make Eve. Why not make her from dust too? Then the flood. He had to get Noah to save some animals to repopulate the world. Why not just create more animals the way He did the first time? While we're on the subject of the flood, the fact that He felt it was necessary to wipe out most of mankind tells us that mankind hadn't turned out the way He intended. That tells us that He can't foresee the future. He doesn't know what's going to happen.”

     “But there are plenty of places in the Bible where it does say that God is all knowing, all powerful.”

     “Yes, and the fact that the Bible contradicts itself is also very telling. A perfect God could produce a perfect Bible, don’t you think? The important thing is to focus on the facts, not the propaganda.”

     “But even if He isn't literally all powerful, He's still very, very powerful,” Benson maintained. “I mean, He created the whole world! The world’s twelve thousand miles across. If you include Heaven, Hell, the spheres within which the sun and planets revolve and all the rest, the entire universe is thought to be twenty thousand miles across! How can we fight someone capable of creating all that?”

     “He created the world once, but we don't think He could do it again. If He could, He would have done so when mankind went astray. He would have wiped the slate clean and started all over again from scratch. Instead, He told Noah to build an ark and save the animals. He went to great lengths to avoid having to create another world, to save the one He had. We don't think He's anywhere near all powerful. In fact, compared with the power He had at the beginning of time, it may be that He’s nearly spent.”

     “Lucifer and his legions couldn't defeat God," the manservant pointed out. "And they presumably had the advantage of surprise. God's expecting him to try again. He's on his guard now.”