The Devil--God's misunderstood angel
Devil's Advocate:Sympathy for the Devil
According to the Christian Creation Story:
One day God asked his angels for a volunteer to perform an important service for Him--to function as a tempter of man.
He said that man needed to be tested (subjected to adversity) in order to develope to his fullest inner potential.Whoever accepted this task would be separated from God and would be maligned, villified and demonized as evil.
All the angels were fearful of being separated from God and none stepped forward except Lucifer ,who was willing to subordinate his own desires in order to serve his beloved Lord.
Now when God created man He requested that man refrain from judging "right" from "wrong". God felt that man lacked the wisdom to accurately distinquish good from evil ,and requested that man refrain from any such judgment lest it be based on narrow self-interest--namely that "good" would be judged to be everything wch promoted man's selfish desires,and "evil" all that hindered or opposed them.
So Lucifer's first task was to test Adam and Eve's loyalty and obediance to God--a test wch they failed miserably.
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband. . ."
Contrary to common belief it was not the devil/snake that ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil--it was Eve and Adam!The Devil did not (and does not) have the power to make them commit acts of sin/evil.The Devil did not make them do it! They did it of their own choice and free will.
The Devil is a loyal servant of God--acting according to God's will and direction!
The Devil does not act of his own will,but with the authority of God.
The Devil --although vilified,yes,even demonized by man --is really the most loyal devotee of God!
Why does man blame the evil in the world upon the Devil when it is man's own doing!
Why does man not take responsibility for his own choices and his own actions?
We can't blame everything not to our liking on the devil. That's too simplistic,and it's not how the world works!
The devil is an archetypal villain upon wch we project ,and thereby distance ourselves from , the evil that is in our own hearts.
This strategy of shifting the blame for one's own bad behavior to someone else (scapegoating) has been used by man since the beginning. The "blame game" is the oldest trick in the bk!
Be not of those who publicly curse the devil,and secretly serve him.
"Beyond Good and Evil"
--Friedrich Nietzsche
The Devil is innocent until proven guilty!
"The God Delusion"
--Richard Dawkins
"The Death of Religion and the Rebirth of Spirit:
A Return to the Intelligence of the Heart"
-- Joseph Chilton Pearce
Devil's Advocate:Sympathy for the Devil
According to the Christian Creation Story:
One day God asked his angels for a volunteer to perform an important service for Him--to function as a tempter of man.
He said that man needed to be tested (subjected to adversity) in order to develope to his fullest inner potential.Whoever accepted this task would be separated from God and would be maligned, villified and demonized as evil.
All the angels were fearful of being separated from God and none stepped forward except Lucifer ,who was willing to subordinate his own desires in order to serve his beloved Lord.
Now when God created man He requested that man refrain from judging "right" from "wrong". God felt that man lacked the wisdom to accurately distinquish good from evil ,and requested that man refrain from any such judgment lest it be based on narrow self-interest--namely that "good" would be judged to be everything wch promoted man's selfish desires,and "evil" all that hindered or opposed them.
So Lucifer's first task was to test Adam and Eve's loyalty and obediance to God--a test wch they failed miserably.
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband. . ."
Contrary to common belief it was not the devil/snake that ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil--it was Eve and Adam!The Devil did not (and does not) have the power to make them commit acts of sin/evil.The Devil did not make them do it! They did it of their own choice and free will.
The Devil is a loyal servant of God--acting according to God's will and direction!
The Devil does not act of his own will,but with the authority of God.
The Devil --although vilified,yes,even demonized by man --is really the most loyal devotee of God!
Why does man blame the evil in the world upon the Devil when it is man's own doing!
Why does man not take responsibility for his own choices and his own actions?
We can't blame everything not to our liking on the devil. That's too simplistic,and it's not how the world works!
The devil is an archetypal villain upon wch we project ,and thereby distance ourselves from , the evil that is in our own hearts.
This strategy of shifting the blame for one's own bad behavior to someone else (scapegoating) has been used by man since the beginning. The "blame game" is the oldest trick in the bk!
Be not of those who publicly curse the devil,and secretly serve him.
"The inhumanity that is done to another destroys the humanity in me"
--Immanuel Kant
"Beyond Good and Evil"
--Friedrich Nietzsche
The Devil is innocent until proven guilty!
"The God Delusion"
--Richard Dawkins
"The Death of Religion and the Rebirth of Spirit:
A Return to the Intelligence of the Heart"
-- Joseph Chilton Pearce
There's a little "deevil" in each of us!
ReplyDeleteYes, we all have our own personal demons that we must struggle with ,and exorcise!
ReplyDeleteThis is the war we each must fight within inside ourselves.
The “beast“ is a symbolic representation of “the worst that is in us”
Go(o)d and (D)evil are in the heart of man,and it is there that we choose who to serve/feed/nurture,and bring forth.
We each have the free choice to cultivate and give expression to the one or the other.
If we are not true to our own "goodness", we betray the best that is in us ,and become someone we do not like (self-loathing).
What is the nature of "goodness"?
ReplyDeleteIf the (d)evil is just a symbolic representation of evil...
Deleteis God juzt a symbolic representation of g(o)odness?
" evil " plays an essential role in the soul's evolution and graduation to higher levels.
ReplyDeleteThere can be no growth without opposition!
Presumably God has the power to kill the devvil.
DeleteThat He does not indicates that the devil is tolerated as an integral part of God's plan.
It is God's intention that the temptations of the devil will strenghten (not weaken) us.
DeleteIt is because of the devil's temptations of Christ in the wilderness that Christ was able to declare: "I have overcome ( the devil and the world)" .
"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too.
DeleteThey live inside us, and sometimes, they win."
--Stephen King
the devil is often referred to as "the tempter"
Deletewhy does God allow temptation?
Wjat is the value of it?
Because in resisting and overcoming temptation we are strenghtened!
Why blame the de il; what happened to will power?
ReplyDeleteWhat use is free will if we don't exercise it!!
The devil doesnt make us do it!
DeleteEver since Eve blamed tbe snake for her eating of tbe forbidden fruit, we have been blaming the devil for our sins.
Eve chose to obey the voice of the serpent above the voice of God.
The devil did not force her to make that choice any more than he can be held responsible for any one of us choosing to do evil today.
It is our choice.
The devil does not choose for us.
The devil has no power to make us sin!
Man, the evildoer,should stop offloading his own evil onto the devil
Man's blaming yhe devil for man's choosing to do evil is like blaming God for giving man the free will to choose between good and evil.
Were it not for Eve's acquiring knowledge
of good and dvl , the bible wch relates the historical struggle of good versus evil would probably have no "raison d'etre"
yeah I did it...but it's not my fault. It was tbe devil that made me do it!
Delete"My brain made me do it!"
Deletehttp://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m/episodes/my-brain-made-me-do-it
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2013/11/01
ReplyDeleteGeorge Noory welcomed lawyer and medium Mark Anthony http://www.healgriefwithbelief.com/for a discussion on the devil, evil spirits and hell.
The devil exists but not in the way organized Christian religions have taught," he said, noting how the idea of a supernatural entity who controls people and is the central command of evil is primitive and contradicts monotheism.
According to Anthony, the devil is a convenient scapegoat for frightening individuals into conforming to a particular dogma and for concealing the truth that evil is generated entirely by the human ego.
"The devil is the evil that exist within all of us... we don't need a jerk with a pitchfork to motivate us to commit horrific acts of brutality, selfishness and evil," he suggested.
I am saying that God created the role/function
ReplyDeleteof the devil/tempter in order to develope man's "free agency"....so that man would of his own free will
choose
to do what is right instead of what is wrong.
...so the devil's acceptance and fulfillment of this critical role
is evidence of the depth of the devil's love for God.
Yes, it should be an honour and a blessing
Deleteto suffer the tortures of hell itself
(no matter the price to himself),
should God ask it!
It is said that the devil assumed his role
Deleteon his own initiative out of a desire for power...and not at the request of God.
The role of the devil came to be
not because of a desire of God,
but rather contrary to God's desire/will.
Yeah,according to the Christan story
Delete,the devil came to be because he rebelled against God's authority.
You are putting that version on its head....when you put him as the most obedien.t servant of God.
If the devil is a doomed character,
ReplyDeletewill Santa be next!?
I believe in the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny,and Santa Claus.
DeleteBut the devil....naw....I'm not that silly!
When the devil appeared to Jesus in the wilderness, the devil was a projection/externalizatiion from Jesus' own consciousness.Jesus was struggling with temptation within himself.
ReplyDeleteThe devil was an outward projection from his own cpnsciousness.He was not being tempted from outside;
he was being tempted from within.
We always project the temptatipn so it appears outside of us, and we say,"He tempted me" or "the money tempted me"
But in reality no thing or person has the power to tempt us except insofar as we allow ourselves to sucuumb to a weakness or desire that exists within ourselves
ReplyDeleteThe concept of "temptation" requires clarification:
There is no temptation without desire.We are tempted by our own desires.We are tempted by the objects of our desire.
You cannot tempt a stone with delectable delicacies because it has no appetite for it.
So overcoming temptation is a matter of overcoming desire within oneself.
Desire and temptation are interconnected as demand and supply.Spending on consumer goods is demand driven. You cannot be successful in fighting a war on drug use by reducing supply (e.g. prohibition)without also addressing the demand/desire component.
Marketing to consumers is based on stimulating desire/demand in potential consumers. Advertisers are constantly tempting us with seductive campaigns telling us we must have their product to be happy and whole. Wherever there is a desire there will be someone pandering to that desire.
If you want to call them "devil" ,then all marketers are agents of the debil.
When God assumed human form He became subject to desires (the spirit made flesh)
After 40 days in the wilderness without food Jesus was tempted to turn stone into bread.He was tempted by his own desire for food. When Jesus says he has "overcome the world" and all the allurements with wch it tempts us into commiting acts of sin, he means he has overcome his own desires...
unlike Eve who succumbed to her desire for the good-looking(desireable) prohibited fruit.
Why was the first human female named Eve?
Deleteetymology
Perhaps a linguist can speak to the conspicuous similarity between the words "eve" , "evil",and "devil" (as well as "good" and "god").Do they have a common root/origin?
"But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."
ReplyDeleteJames 1:13-14
ReplyDeleteWe are the problem; not tbe devil!
The devil is a scapegoat or ratber a red herring that diverts blame away from people and towards a fictional character...
thereby excusing us from taking full responsibility for our behaviour.
We have no one to blame but ourselves!
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
Deletebut in ourselves.
--William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
DeleteWilliam Shakespeare
ReplyDeleteDoes it not say (is it not written)that in the end, the devil will be put in his place, vanquished,relegated to a place called hell--so he can't do anymore mischief.
At such time...
when we no longer have yhe devil to blame, we will have to no one to blame (for acts of immorality) except each other and ourselves.
Or perhaps we will consider God Himself to be blameworthy, if only for depriving us of the devil.
They think/believe that the devil is the source/cause of all evil
Delete....and when the devil is "put in his place"
there will be only "goodness"!
Other than "acts of God and nature" ,the evol yhat manifests in the external world has its origin within the mind and heart of man.
DeleteOnly when man vanquishes the evil within himself will goodness prevail in the world
According to the Christan bible:
Delete"
It is from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "
--Mark 7: 21-23
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ReplyDeleteWe now know that thoze aflicted with epilepzy are not possessed by tbe devil!
ReplyDeleteWith our current understanding of neurosynaptic processes we no longer find the theological explanation logical nor helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt aint the devil out to get you!
Stop making excuses and blaming society for the bad in your life.
if you don't like where you at, ...do something to change it--to break out of the pattern of behaviour tbat got you here. Its not going to be easy. ..I know.
If you're life is messed up maybe its time to take some personal responsibility.
Take responsibility for your life.
Its not always someone else's fault!
The true meaning of "Jihad"
ReplyDelete"The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts - that is where the battle should be fought.
--Mahatma Gandhi
They have tjis strange idea that anyone who opposes their will/desire is an agent of some mysterious abstract force they refer to as the "devil".
DeleteBut who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?
ReplyDeleteMark Twain
Yeah, even the devil needs to be loved/appreciated!
DeleteThen again, why waste it (prayer and love)
on the dead!
Speaking of the devil
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean the devil is no longer "in the details"? Yuk
"Sympathy For The Devil"
ReplyDelete--Rolling Stones
Please allow me to introduce myselfI'm a man of wealth and tasteI've been around for a long, long yearStole many a man's soul and faithAnd I was 'round when Jesus ChristHad his moment of doubt and painMade damn sure that PilateWashed his hands and sealed his fatePleased to meet youHope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. PetersburgWhen I saw it was a time for a changeKilled the czar and his ministersAnastasia screamed in vainI rode a tankHeld a general's rankWhen the blitzkrieg ragedAnd the bodies stankPleased to meet youHope you guess my name, oh yeahAh, what's puzzling youIs the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with gleeWhile your kings and queensFought for ten decadesFor the gods they madeI shouted out,"Who killed the Kennedys?"When after allIt was you and meLet me please introduce myselfI'm a man of wealth and tasteAnd I laid traps for troubadoursWho get killed before they reached BombayPleased to meet youHope you guessed my name, oh yeahBut what's puzzling youIs the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, babyPleased to meet youHope you guessed my name, oh yeahBut what's confusing youIs just the nature of my gameJust as every cop is a criminalAnd all the sinners saintsAs heads is tailsJust call me LuciferCause I'm in need of some restraintSo if you meet meHave some courtesyHave some sympathy, and some tasteUse all your well-learned politesseOr I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeahPleased to meet youHope you guessed my name, um yeahBut what's puzzling youIs the nature of my game, um mean it, get downWoo, whoOh yeah, get on downOh yeahOh yeah!Tell me baby, what's my nameTell me honey, can ya guess my nameTell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame
Ooo, who
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GgnClrx8N2k
Delete"The only devil from wch men must be redeemed is self,the lower self. If man would find his devil he must look within; his name is self."
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"If you have never seen the devil. take a look at your own face"! ---Rumi