Do you believe in a literal devil?

[Sand Dancer]

I personally do not believe there is a literal devil; although I have heard it said that the devil is in the detail.

That's why I don't have much attention to detail.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

What post am I replying to? You don't know, do you, because I didn't quote it. I just read two posts that have absolutely no context because they did not quote.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

That strikes me as more convenient than helpful. How, for example, does such a view enrich one's understanding of the Balaam story or, for that matter, the entire book of Job?

By understanding that Job is a fictitious story that is designed to teach. Stories quite commonly will insert characters as a literary device.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

By understanding that Job is a fictitious story that is designed to teach. Stories quite commonly will insert characters as a literary device.

Well said.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I believe in a literary devil -- I've read thousands of books he (and once in a while she) appears in. But then again, orcs, gremlins and puppeteers have all appeared in books, too, and never, ever been reified.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

By understanding that Job is a fictitious story that is designed to teach. Stories quite commonly will insert characters as a literary device.

Which makes them literary, not literal.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Which makes them literary, not literal.

Yes.

 

[Ebionite]

I have no basis. So far as i know, the titles of Devil and Lucifer are exclusively Christian in origin. It just seems as though these names are interchangeable with Satan. Now that you brought it to my attention, perhaps i have been mistaken about this.

The name of Lucifer (morning star) is in the KJV in relation to the king of Babylon, and the morning star was referred to by Peter:

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
2 Peter 1:19

The name of Lucifer is also recited as part of the Catholic Exultset.