5. 2012 – 上帝爱撒旦吗？

l 人物 – 当迦勒大约 5 岁时。

l 事件 – 有一天，迦勒从幼稚园回家后问我上帝是否爱撒旦。我对这个问题感到惊讶，因为这是我以前没有考虑过的问题。他看起来有点难过，所以我决定不直接立即回答这个问题，而是进一步挖掘一下。我问他是什么促使他提出这个问题。起初，他只说他很好奇。经过进一步追问后，我问他今天过得如何。他告诉我幼稚园有一个他觉得很烦人的孩子。他们经常口头交锋，他真的不喜欢这个孩子。我当时明白为什么迦勒问上帝是否爱撒旦。我们一直在阅读圣经，谈论上帝是爱。因此，迦勒的问题实际上是关于他是否需要爱一个他不喜欢的、令人讨厌的人。如果你遇到像撒旦这样令人讨厌的人（从迦勒的角度来看），你是否需要爱他？你是否需要成为他的朋友？如果上帝不需要爱撒旦因为撒旦是上帝的敌人，那么迦勒也不需要。现在我更好地理解了情况，我们首先讨论了爱的定义。经过一番讨论后，我们得出了爱是寻求某人最佳利益的定义。然后，我们谈到上帝命令我们甚至爱我们的敌人（马太福音5:43-44）。然后我们通过例子来谈论这样做会是什么样子。例如，上帝会希望我们伤害或害我们的敌人（比如那个令人讨厌的孩子），当然不会。迦勒问，这是否意味着我必须与敌人成为朋友？如果有一个人正在积极尝试杀害你、伤害你，你会和那个人做朋友吗？迦勒说不会。你还能寻求那个人的最佳利益，即不想对他报复，或为他祈祷吗？迦勒说可以。然后我们回到上帝这里。我们得出结论，追求最佳利益，上帝最终决定了最佳利益的样子。因此，上帝可以爱撒旦（寻求他的最佳利益），因为上帝确定了什么是最佳利益，然后寻求撒旦在神眼中看为最佳的利益。上帝也不必爱撒旦。尽管上帝命令我们爱我们的敌人，但上帝并不必这样做，因为他是上帝。

5.   2012 – Does God love Satan?

a.   Who – when Caleb is about 5 years old.

b.   What – One day, after Caleb came home from kindergarten, he asked me if God loves Satan. I was surprised at the question and that was not a question that I have pondered before. He looked a little sad so I thought I would dig a little more instead of answering the question directly and right away. I asked him what prompted him to ask the question. Initially, he just said he was curious. After prompting him a bit more, I asked him how his day went. He told me that there was this kid at kindergarten that he finds annoying. They would have verbal jousts and he really does not like this kid. I realized then why Caleb asked whether God loves Satan. We have been reading the Bible and talking about God is love. Therefore, Caleb’s question is really about whether he needs to love someone he does not like, who is annoying. If you encounter someone like Satan, as annoying as Satan (from Caleb’s perspective), do you have to love him? Do you have to be his friend? If God does not have to love Satan because Satan is God’s enemy, then Caleb doesn’t have to either. Now that I understand better the situation, we first talked about definition of love. After a quick discussion, we arrived at the definition that love is seeking someone’s best interest. Then, we talked about God’s command for us to love even our enemies (Matt 5:43-44). We then talked through examples of what that would look like. For instance, would God want us to wish harm or hurt our enemies (say the annoying kid), no, of course not. Caleb asked, does it mean I have to be friends with an enemy? If there is a person who is actively trying to kill you, hurt you, are you going to be friends with that person? Caleb says no. Can you still seek that person’s best interest, in the sense of not wanting to hurt him back, or pray for the person? Caleb says yes. We then circled back to God. We arrived at the conclusion that in seeking the best interest, God ultimately decides what best interest looks like. Therefore, God can love Satan (seeking his best interest), since God determines what best interest looks like and then seeks Satan’s best interest in what he determines. God also does not have to love Satan. Just because God commands us to love our enemies, God does not have to. There are many things that God commands us to do but he does not have to do because he is God.