Locked into hell...
Tik Tok video
My paraphrase from the Tik Tok video in italics...
1. Did the demons make a bad decision to reject God?
Yes.
God is the author of life, and the author of meaningful, peaceful, joyful, life, beyond just mere existence. For any finite creation, opposing God is a bad decision. Anything with goodness that God has created is a finite version, in a limited sense (not divine) of his infinite goodness. Humanity and fallen angels are tainted through likely separate falls, while God's obedient angels, although finite, are not tainted by any kind of fall.
2. Demons are you suffering because you rejected God?
Yes.
Cited
There are those who believe that Satan is presently bound in the pit. The Bible does say that he will be there some day. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time (Revelation 20:1-3).
There are various biblical debates on the present context of where Satanic beings operate. It is difficult from metaphorical, eschatological, biblical language, for example in Revelation 20, to solve this issue conclusively. It seems to me that Satan and at least some of his demons are suffering in opposition to God, while working within spiritual realms to influence humanity against the biblical, Kingdom of God.
However, even as unregenerate persons have not experienced the spiritual realms as have finite angelic beings; clearly for one example, not all scholarship is from regenerate believers. There are non-Christian scholars that can properly understand New Testament writings and theology without having saving faith.
It seems to me, for the unregenerate, it is more likely that the gospel sounds like it could be true, than actual belief in the God of the gospel is taking place. But in the end there is no real trusting belief in the Lord.
3. Demon/fallen angel would you change your decision to reject God, if you could?
No
Their nature as opposed to God is locked in. This will keep them ontologically (nature and existence) opposing God, even if at least some of these entities might intellectually acknowledge rejecting God as a bad decision. Whatever type of free will demonic/fallen angels have, it works within a corrupted nature that is locked in rejecting God.
Locked into hell...
Cited
Summary
Satan presently dwells in the heavenly realm. The Bible teaches that he does have access to the LORD. Whether he has already been thrown out of heaven or whether this judgment is still future is an area in which Bible students disagree.
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Regeneration
Titus 3
Edited
'by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit' from the New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Strong's 3824
Strong's Concordance paliggenesia: regeneration, renewal
Original Word: παλιγγενεσία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: paliggenesia
Phonetic Spelling: (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee'-ah)
Short Definition: a new birth, regeneration
Definition: a new birth, regeneration, renewal.
From Titus 3: 5
The main text of Strong's presents: Spiritual rebirth (figurative), spiritual regeneration (figurative). (72).
Greek scholar Bauer documents this as:
The rebirth of the redeemed person. (606). The regeneration and rebirth via the Holy Spirit. (606).
John 3
Again from my PhD, Herman Bavinck (1918)(2006) equates the term regeneration with rebirth. Bavinck (1918)(2006: 46). In the Gospel of John 3, Jesus Christ does not literally speak of a person being born a second time, but literally insists that a person be reborn and spiritually transformed from above.
John 3: 3
γεννηθῇ be born
ἄνωθεν from above
Strong's 1080
Strong's Concordance gennaó: to beget, to bring forth
Original Word: γεννάω
Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: gennaó
Phonetic Spelling: (ghen-nah'-o)
Definition: to beget, to bring forth Usage: I beget (of the male), (of the female) I bring forth, give birth to.
Strong's 509
Strong's Concordance anóthen: from above
Original Word: ἄνωθεν
Part of Speech: Adverb Transliteration: anóthen
Phonetic Spelling: (an'-o-then)
Definition: from above
Usage: (a) from above, from heaven, (b) from the beginning, from their origin (source), from of old, (c) again, anew.
1 Peter 1
ἀναγεννήσας having begotten again
Strong's 313
Strong's Concordance anagennaó: to beget again
Original Word: ἀναγεννάω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: anagennaó
Phonetic Spelling: (an-ag-en-nah'-o)
Definition: to beget again
Usage: I beget again, beget into a new life.
The website lists this as aorist, participle, active, and nominative, masculine, singular.
Bauer documents ἀναγεννάω (page 51), defined as beget again, be born again, figurative of spiritual rebirth of Christians. (51). This is the context of 1 Peter 1: 3, born again. (51).
Biblically and theologically, the new birth, to beget again, being born again equates to regeneration.
As human beings need to be regenerated by God to be saved, this means that those that God does not regenerate are not saved. In the Tik Tok video, the priest states it is human beings' own fault (outside of Christ) they are damned. As secondary causes they embrace a rejection of God in sin and evil. However, God is still the primary cause in their damnation, but with holy motives.
Bibliography
Don Stewart has written over twenty books on the subject of evidences for the Christian faith. These include, The Basic Bible Study Series, You Be the Judge, 10 Reasons To Trust the Bible, and The Coming Temple. In the last fifteen years, he has spoken in over thirty countries proclaiming the message that the Christian faith is both reasonable and intelligent.
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