Satan and demons

My opponent defines demons as “fallen angels” we should first biblically define what an angel is. It contradicts itself. Angels are physical, personal beings; carrying God's Name; channels through which God's Spirit works to; execute His will; in accordance with His character and purpose; and thereby manifesting Him. “Angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” (Psalms 103:20). The Angels are much more than simple messengers; they are the ones who carry out God’s commands. Can angels sin? My opponent has the burden to first show that angels can sin, then show that they were cast to earth and became “demons.” It is not enough to simply assert that is the definition of demon (a fallen angel) they must biblically show why this is the case and if it is even possible for an angel to “fall.” Now that we have established these parameters, I will present a case as to why angels cannot sin in a very simple syllogism. P1. Sin brings death. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The meaning here seems rather self evident, the price of sin is death. The fall of man in Genesis also points to this same conclusion, people’s lives became difficult because of sin. P2. Angels cannot die. Luke 20:34-36 “And Jesus said unto them, The sons of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they that are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: for neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” The phrase “neither can they die anymore” in Greek is oute gar apothanein eti dunantai. This translation is correct. In verse 35, Jesus refers to beings in “that world.” This is a reference to Heaven. Matthew 30 has a similar passage, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” The phrase “that world” is a reference to heaven, thus, heavenly beings such as the angels, cannot die. C. Angels cannot sin. By the two above premises, Angels cannot sin as this would directly contradict their nature, which is impossible. Now for Satan. The word “satan” in the bible Satan is a Hebrew word meaning “adversary.” Devil is a translation of the Greek word diabolos which means “an enemy, a liar, or a false accuser.” Since a word and its definition are congruent, you should be able to replace the word “adversary” with the word satan and still have the sentence keep its meaning. You are only replacing the definition with the word itself. The sentence “he moves at a speed faster than a walk, never having both or all the feet on the ground at the same time” is basically the same as the sentence “he goes on a run.” The same should hold true with the bible. The Biblical usage of these words will show us that they can simply be used as adjectives, describing ordinary people. While of course the passages I provide are going to be in English, so we can read them. 1 Kings 11:14 “The Lord stirred up an adversary (same Hebrew word elsewhere translated "satan") unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite” (Parentheses added by me). 1 Kings 11: 23, 25 "And God stirred up another adversary (another satan)...Rezon...he was an adversary (a satan) to Israel" The same Hebrew word is translated as adversary and also as Satan. The exact word, the exact spelling. But, in these cases, we can see that God was not bringing a supernatural being to oppose be an adversary to Solomon. He stirred up ordinary men (Rezon and Hadad the Edomite). For a further example, look at Matthew 22, 23. Peter was attempting to convince Jesus to not go to Jerusalem to die on the cross. Jesus turned and said “Get thee behind me, Satan...thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Peter was quite bluntly called a satan. Jesus was not speaking to an Angel or monster he was speaking to Peter, who was being Jesus’ adversary. In 2 Samuel 24: 1 “The Lord...moved David against Israel" and then later in 1 Chronicles 21: 1 “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David.” The only logical conclusion we can make here based upon our prior assumptions is that “The Lord” was acting as “Satan” or in other words “an adversary” to David. This is not outside the scope of God’s characteristics; the entire Book of Job highlights this quite well. It is the same way with the word devil. “"Have not I chosen you twelve (disciples), and one of you is a devil?” He was speaking of Judas Iscariot, a mortal man. The word devil here simply refers to a wicked man. 1 Tim.3:11 is another example, the wives of church elders could not be “slanderers” the original Greek word here, was diabolos, the same word translated as devil elsewhere. Paul warns Titus that these women should not be “false accusers” or “devils.” (Tit. 2:3). “In the last days...men shall be...false accusers (devils)" (2 Timothy 3:1,3). This is not saying people will turn into supernatural creatures, but rather they will become increasingly wicked. You may then argue that the Bible speaks as if Satan was a person. But, this is simply the use of the literary device personification. Even a brief reading of the bible shows it uses personification (speaking as if abstract ideas are people.) See Proverbs 9:1, or Rom. 6:23. Sin is often personified as a master (Rom. 5:21; 6:6; 17; 7:3). Why could the devil not be same way? Paul talks of man having two beings within us (Rom. 7:15-21): the man of the flesh fights with the man of the spirit. There are not two literal persons fighting within us. The sinful part of man’s nature is personified as “the evil one” (Mt. 6:13). The same Greek phrase is translated as “wicked person” in 1 Cor. 5:13. This shows when a person gives way to sin, he becomes an ‘evil one’ or “devil.” I have shown that Angels cannot sin and thus Satan cannot exist. Then, I showed that regardless of the nature of Angels the bible does not speak of the devil or of satan in a manner that means satan is an independent personal being. Thus, we can assume that demons, who are followers of the devil, do not exist as personal beings either. But, to make this more clear, let us briefly continue. God is the source of all power. “The Lord He is God; there is none else beside Him” Deut.4:35. There is one God. If there is only one god, only that god has power over good and evil (Job 1:21; 2:10; Is.45:5-7, 22). God is responsible in the sense that he permits, both good and evil. So now, how is the concept of a demon even intelligible in the sense that these demons somehow have power? For if these demons have power over evil, they are like gods themselves, and thus, there is more than one god, which is completely contradictory to the idea of monotheism. The demons people believe in today are nothing more than false idols. 1 Cor. 10:20, 28 details how idols and demons are effectively the same exact thing. “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with demons.” We should notice the phrase “they sacrifice to demons, and not to God” the demons were NOT god, and as there is only one god, it logically follows that demons have no real power. This point is shown quite bluntly in 1 Cor 8:4. "As concerning ...those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol (equivalent to a demon) is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one." Demons do not exist. There is only one God or power in the world. God is the cause of all things, good and evil. The passages you mention mostly speak about Jesus driving the demons out. But, casting a demon out of someone is basically saying they are cured of a mental disease or physical illness. I do not have the room to explain this in more detail, but I hope all the above will suffice, at least for now.