Let's talk about Satan

[rusra02]

Do you believe Satan is a very real deity, or is Satan just a symbol? It seems to me that monotheism would require the latter, but what's your viewpoint?

Feel free to include other "dark lords" and religious text if you want.

Satan is referred as "the god of this system of things" at 2 Corinthians 4:4. Jesus called him the ruler of this world. At John 14:30 Jesus said; "the ruler of the world is coming, and he has no hold on me." I believe Satan is an apostate angel who rebelled against the true God. Jesus said about Satan; "That one was a murderer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie." (John 8:44) Satan's destruction is certain, according to the Bible.(Hebrews 2:14)

 

[Onyx]

Satan is referred as "the god of this system of things" at 2 Corinthians 4:4. Jesus called him the ruler of this world. At John 14:30 Jesus said; "the ruler of the world is coming, and he has no hold on me." I believe Satan is an apostate angel who rebelled against the true God. Jesus said about Satan; "That one was a murderer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie." (John 8:44) Satan's destruction is certain, according to the Bible.(Hebrews 2:14)

Thank you for sharing your views.

 

[Tumah]

Out of curiousity. Does the absence of a verse saying X, indicates that X is not true?

Nope.

By the way, I believe He at least observed the first Sabbath.

Well, that's nice. I'm not sure why you initially states it as fact. But its still nice of you to share your beliefs.

He used that as an example for the next ones, for Thor sake.

Which incidentally explains why you'll never find a Jew creating light or animals on a Saturday.

 

[RedDragon94]

Do you believe Satan is a very real deity, or is Satan just a symbol? It seems to me that monotheism would require the latter, but what's your viewpoint?

Feel free to include other "dark lords" and religious text if you want.

I think the Devil is basically a symbol of temptation and sin. Which can manifest in anyone who doesn't adhere to morality. The Devil never makes anyone do anything bad because he is only a symbol, whereas God is the all. Also, whenever one sins they want to, it's in their nature to. Not saying that we're naturally sinful, I'm saying that nature predisposes a person to sin sometimes. But it is within a person to resist their unhealthy desires.

Based upon that definition of the Devil I also think that some Satanists may actually be God-fearing and they don't know it.

 

[Onyx]

I think the Devil is basically a symbol of temptation and sin. Which can manifest in anyone who doesn't adhere to morality. The Devil never makes anyone do anything bad because he is only a symbol, whereas God is the all. Also, whenever one sins they want to, it's in their nature to. Not saying that we're naturally sinful, I'm saying that nature predisposes a person to sin sometimes. But it is within a person to resist their unhealthy desires.

Based upon that definition of the Devil I also think that some Satanists may actually be God-fearing and they don't know it.

Thank you for your insight, am I safe in assuming that the burden of responsibility has been placed into the hands of the individual, rather than the creator(s) of that individual?

 

[Forever_Catholic]

Not a deity nor a symbol. Just an angel doing his job like all the others.

Was an angel until he was booted out of heaven for his pride and refusal to serve God. The lower-ranking angels who sided with him got booted out at the same time. Now they're all known as demons, and Satan is chief among them.

He no longer has assigned duties. He's his own boss for now, and does as he pleases, which is mainly to lead as many human souls to everlasting condemnation as he can.

 

[Onyx]

He no longer has assigned duties. He's his own boss for now, and does as he pleases, which is mainly to lead as many human souls to everlasting condemnation as he can.

What would be Satan's purpose in doing such a thing?

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

Do you believe Satan is a very real deity, or is Satan just a symbol? It seems to me that monotheism would require the latter, but what's your viewpoint?

Feel free to include other "dark lords" and religious text if you want.

A fallen angel who tempts and accuses

 

[RedDragon94]

Thank you for your insight, am I safe in assuming that the burden of responsibility has been placed into the hands of the individual, rather than the creator(s) of that individual?

Have you seen my custom title?

 

[Forever_Catholic]

What would be Satan's purpose in doing such a thing?

He hates God and he hates every human soul because each one was created in the image of God. Everything about him is like a negative image of God. Everything is in reverse. As people often say, "God hates sin, but loves the sinner." Satan loves sin, but hates the sinner.

Satan is already damned. He and all the demons will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, and cannot be forgiven to escape that because the will of angels and former angels was fixed once their choices were made. Their will does not change like ours can. His only consolation will be to torment human souls in hell, which is why he wants as many of us as possible to go there. That is his purpose.

 

[Tumah]

Was an angel until he was booted out of heaven for his pride and refusal to serve God. The lower-ranking angels who sided with him got booted out at the same time. Now they're all known as demons, and Satan is chief among them.

He no longer has assigned duties. He's his own boss for now, and does as he pleases, which is mainly to lead as many human souls to everlasting condemnation as he can.

I'm not a Catholic. Why are you telling me this?

 

[Forever_Catholic]

I'm not a Catholic. Why are you telling me this?

Because Satan is who he is, There is not one Satan for Judaism and another for Christianity.

 

[arthra]

Do you believe Satan is a very real deity, or is Satan just a symbol? It seems to me that monotheism would require the latter, but what's your viewpoint?
Feel free to include other "dark lords" and religious text if you want.

For Baha'is "Satan" has no ontological reality... but is a representation of the lower nature of man.

"The reality underlying this is that the evil spirit, Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower nature of man...."

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 512)

"Regarding your question relative to the condition of those people who are described in the Gospel as being possessed of devils; this should be interpreted figuratively; devil or Satan is symbolic of evil and dark forces yielding to temptation."

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 513)

 

[Tumah]

Because Satan is who he is, There is not one Satan for Judaism and another for Christianity.

I agree that he is what he is, but what you believe he is and what I believe he is, are completely dissimilar. I think that's made clear from my subsequent post on satan.
And since I didn't ask what Catholics think satan is, I ask again, why are you telling me this?
If you were intending to debate the subject, I suggest you bring sources of which we share common ground in. Otherwise, kindly keep your unsolicited opinions out of my alert box.

 

[Forever_Catholic]

I agree that he is what he is, but what you believe he is and what I believe he is, are completely dissimilar.

Are you just now noticing in these forums that there are posts expressing dissimilar beliefs and unsolicited opinions? If there weren't, there would be no point in having a forum.

And we do share a great common ground. I would have accepted you in it.

 

[Tumah]

Are you just now noticing in these forums that there are posts expressing dissimilar beliefs and unsolicited opinions? If there weren't, there would be no point in having a forum.

I am not telling you not to post your unsolicited opinions. I am telling you not to send them to my alert box. This thread is about various religions' beliefs about satan. So absolutely go ahead and post that here.
But there is no reason to tag me about it, because I didn't ask you nor care to hear about it. If you want to debate about it, that's fine, this is a debate forum. Bring sources that we can agree on and we'll get started. Otherwise, how would you like it if I started randomly tagging you in posts about my beliefs?

And we do share a great common ground. I would have accepted you in it.

We share very little common ground. Some superficial things like the names of personalities in Tanach and some odds and ends. Nothing of quality.

 

[Kemosloby]

Satan is the angel who initiated the cause and effect scenario of sin.

 

[hispanicmormon]

In Mormonism he is the spirit brother of Jesus who wanted to be the Messiah and when God chose Jesus instead of him he rebelled and vowed to be evil.

 

[Robert Vincelette]

While I cannot know the almost mechanical details about evil as an entity from beyond the physical world I think it manifests itself most successfully in socially acceptable forms: capitalism which is license to practice a psychopath life style such as selling junk food and cigarettes as though nothing is wrong with doing so because Satan teaches you deny responsibility with such rationalizations as "I was just following orders" of the marketplace, or "It's the mother's fault that I helped her inflict a lifetime of obesity upon her children because she is the customer and the customer's freedom trumps the child's right to live in a beautiful healthy body," or "Tobacco is a legal product and the economy depends upon it for jobs and taxes." Satan teaches society to give the 1% many oversized mansions and castles by impoverishing and making street people out of those least competitive in beating someone else into homelessness in their place.
I also regard professional sports, an enterprise that is designed to indoctrinate the public into believing that we are here to be separated into winners and losers and the losers deserve under Darwinian natural selection to have everything taken away from them, as a form of Satan worship and a diet of the likes of Kellogg Fruit Loops and Coca-Cola as a Satanic Eucharist.
Satan often disguises himself as God and probably told Abraham to commit the obviously evil act of murdering his son Issac and the angel stopping the murder at the last moment is irrelevant because the demonstration of Abraham's will to do it was the only victory Satan needed to hijack the religions that followed.
So there is something very real about it even though it is a mystery about which we can know very little.

 

[omega2xx]

Do you believe Satan is a very real deity, or is Satan just a symbol? It seems to me that monotheism would require the latter, but what's your viewpoint?

Feel free to include other "dark lords" and religious text if you want.

Satan is real, but he is an angel, not deity.