Do you believe the Bible? It explains all about the devil....how he began and what his agenda is. He is a real entity that Jesus spoke about. He was also tempted by him. Is the Bible telling lies?
Job was also assailed by the devil in an effort to destroy his faith. His experience answers the question as to why God allows him to test mankind in the same way. Is this a fictitious account too?
The weakness IMO, is to discredit the word of God because you don't understand what happened in the beginning and how God is using the devil to his own advantage....playing him at his own game.
This is how God separates the sheep from the goats.
Dont believe in the devil, just a creation of those who had tribal self-interest. All evil is done by humanity.. jesus was wise , but for me his word is surpassed by God's.
God made no devil imo, and to think God would have done so denies God's wish for us ie to be fruitful We already were given freewill before the Blessing and God said many times
How many times has God said to us "Be fruitful....Many times ..
Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 8:17
Bring forth with thee every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, [both] of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Genesis 9:7
And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 8:17
Bring forth with thee every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, [both] of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Genesis 9:7
And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
1/We should be fruitful to self and others. We should encourage fruitfulness in self and others. Being fruitful to self means adopting the mental and physical condition of looking after oneself, guarding and evaluating one's thoughts and outwardly being amenable and personable.. being fruitful to others means helping and encouraging others, doing all what one can to make the lot of others more bearable, helping them to thrive; family, friends, communities.
2/ We should not believe in divine punishment in this life, i.e. removal of fear
3/ We should treat all others as equals as God blessed all people equally.
4/ we should discard religious custom and tradition and encourage others to do the same.
5/ We have freewill
6/ We should multiply
7/ We should avoid eating live animals
8/ we should not have fear nor guilt, The ultimate conclusion to this thesis is one that will cause consternation in religious circles. Religion was a human creation that is both unnecessary, inasmuch as humanity does not need it and misleading inasmuch as neither Judaism Christianity nor Islam gives us the true nature of our relationship with God. indeed, if anything they take us far away from our Creator. We kill in the name of God, we fight wars in the name of God, we bow down, pray and worship God in different ways and yet God never instructed us to do any of these things. The only true path for each and every one of us to return to God is to abandon religion forever and a good start would be to remove everything in your Bible from genesis 9:19 onwards!