This is going to be part one in a three part post on Chaos, Chance, and Choice.
Does Satan really look like a guy with a plan? Heavenly Father has a plan. Satan has been trying longer than anyone of us can remember to upset this plan. Since before this Earth was formed, Satan has been actively seeking to take Heavenly Father’s plan and turn it on its head. He has had various times of seeming success. He rules from the rivers to the ends of the earth — The Savior refers to him as the Prince of this World. However, he has one weakness — he is not God.
God has told us that he will loose. Heavenly Father’s Plan is going to happen as it is planned to happen.
In the recent movie, Batman: The Dark Knight, [if you haven't heard of it, I'll assume that means you live in a cave with no access to the Internet -- wait, how are you reading this?] the Joker is the symbol for the adversary of us all. He is a type for Satan.
“If you’re good at something never do it for free,” says the Joker — as if he cares about money. ”You can buy anything in this world with money“, says our Adversary — as if he cares what we buy or for how much. He only cares that we sell ourselves.
As Alfred points out:
“Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Satan has no real objective. His objective is an anti-objective. He wants only to stop Heavenly Father’s plan. He cares for little else. That is why he is miserable.
The Joker’s role and Satan’s role are quite the same. That is to push and tempt us to see how long it takes until a person breaks. As the Joker puts it:
“Their morals, their code — it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. You’ll see — I’ll show you. When the chips are down, these civilized people, they’ll eat each other.”
This resonates with an older speech made by the tempter when speaking to the Divine Council:
“Doth Job fear God for nought?
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”
Satan just wants to try and prove deep down, we’re all as ugly as he is. Heavenly Father allows him to try and to tempt us — to see if we will break like Harvey Dent, or if we will endure and be incorruptible like Batman.
“You have these rules. And you think they’ll save you.” The Joker believes the only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. Our Heavenly Father knows that compliance to Divine Law is the key to our progression. His “rules” will save us.
What is going to happen when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
