The whole story of God vs Satan makes no sense.
I have to agree because of the misconception or rather flat false teachings of the Bible...However, from my studies, it makes sense if the truth is being relayed from the Bible.
1.If God were indeed all powerful, then he could destroy Satan forever or at least make him impotent and powerless. This way Satan would have no influence on people, less would go to hell, and thus less suffering. People could still do what they wanted, but would simply be influenced less by Satan and thus less prone to doing what Satan wants them to do.
It would be a bliss if the good for nothing devil wouldn't exist at present!...The scriptures do tell of his upcoming death/destruction tho...At Genesis 3:15, God did give the first prophecy regarding the destruction of Satan...Also, Satan was cast out of heaven years ago (Revelation 12:7-9) to earth along with his demons. This restricted them from being able to go to and fro from earth to heaven. So, according to the Bible we have to put up with him and his demons. Explains a lot of the evil that occurs on this planet now, and as to why it has escalated. Right now, satan and the demons have free will just like we do. So, the influence that satan and the demons have is temporary. Important to note that it is influence that they have. They cannot make us choose what they want us to do. The Bible does guarantee his and the demons destruction, you can count on that.
2. What's the point of Hell being about torture? God sent Satan to hell to suffer, yet still allows him to have all sorts of powers of influences over humanity? Makes no sense. Why is hell even about suffering and torture? Why would an omnipotent/all knowing/ all moral God have an aptitude for revenge or retribution or even punishment?
Well from what I can tell, the Bible doesn't teach that God will torture people. He merely will destroy them. I agree, if God were to torture people for eternity, that wouldn't be so loving. God even says He wishes no one to be destroyed.However, He does have high standards that are expected for his creatures to follow. So, thru disobedience death occurs. I would hate to live in a world that didn't have laws or principles to live by. It would be utter chaos.
Why not simply separate the people who don't want to be with him from the people that do, without subjecting the people who don't want to be with him to eternal torture and suffering in fire and brimstone??
This is exactly what is going on now. The Bible teaches that a separation of the sheep from the goats would occur in the last days. And no worries as to suffering eternal torture...The bible doesn't teach that...Jesus said that these goats along with the devil and the demons would be destroyed, not tortured forever. Remember what Genesis stated as to what Adam and Eve could do and not do?...Genesis 2:15-17 recorded God's instructions to Adam and Eve there. Notice that Adam and Eve were not told that if they disobeyed they would be punished by eternal torture...It simply states that they would die. It would have been very unloving for God to have led them to believe that only death would occur yet an eternal punishment in a burning fire was the reality. Take one of my children for ex. If I were to give him some rules to abide by and tell him that a certain punishment would be given if he broke those rules, then by all means I should stick to what I vowed as a loving father. It would be utter evil for me to give that child a complete different punishment if he broke that rule. Especially if it involved torturing the child for ever...A loving father would not do that.
3. Why is Satan the bad guy and God the good guy? It seems to me like it should be in reverse. Calculate all of the people that God killed in the Bible and those that Satan Killed.
I see where that would be detrimental to God's personality...However, from what I'm reading in the Bible, it is saying that the devil is responsible for way way more deaths than God. Not only that, but those deaths initiated by the devil were innocent people. whereas, deaths by God were just. Here are a few scriptures on this. They refer to who is in power of the world, which is the devil, not God:
2 Cor. 4:4
1 John 5:19
Ephesians 2:2
Rev. 12:9
John 14:30
This is one of the many deceits that the devil has used over the centuries to mislead people into believing that God is responsible for all of these deaths. He's not, it's the devil who is behind it.
But only because God (being his arrogant and prideful self) made a bet with Satan.
Honestly, I read it the other way around...It was the devil whom approached God as to whether Job would remain faithful under test. (Job 1:6,7)...It was the devils arrogance and pride that brought this account up. God, granted the devil the right to put Job thru a battery of evils. One thing was limited tho, and that was that the devil could not take Job's life. Anyway, Job proved faithful in that story.
So what's the deal here? God made humans because he was prideful and wanted to be worshiped, he reigned with an iron fist and destroyed anyone who disagreed with him or challenged him. Lucifer (Satan) decided that he didn't like God having all of the power and thought he should have some as well, and so he attempted a Coup d'état, but God
defeated him and threw him down to hell to suffer. Lucifer simply didn't believe in God having all of the power, yet
Not quite, I've covered most of this in the above post...Just like to add, that "lucifer" is not found in the Bible as the personal name of the devil. He is merely referred to as devil/satan. Mans original purpose was really simply and a wonderful prospect of peace and harmony with all of God's creation...Genesis 2:28-30