2.1.20 Does The Devil Induce Sin

Q. Does in your opinion the devil induce people to sin?

A. In my opinion, the devil does not make people sin. The devil tempts people to try to get them to sin, but the devil does not make people sin.

Q. Was Israel warned about the danger of the devil seeking to get them to sin?

A. I'm not aware of a verse that says they were.

Q. Were they warned about giving in to the lusts of their evil heart and their own imaginations?

A. Yes, they were. Other questions?

Q. In the context of Ananias and Sapphira, it talks about Satan filling the heart and the idea being conceived in the heart, and it was Duncan in his talk who spoke about conception as having origin within the person. What's your comment in the context Satan being an external force, the opponent, adversary, and this thing coming from Ananias' own thinking?

A. Okay, the text is Acts 5: 3 & 5, and as Mr. Heaster pointed out in verse 3, Peter tells Ananias that Satan has filled his heart, yet in verse 5, it says that he has conceived evil in his own heart. I would reconcile that by saying that Ananias himself conceived the idea and after he conceived the idea of evil, then the devil filled his heart subsequent to that. That's how I would reconcile that.