Was satan really evil or is it just exaggerated propoganda?

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Dr Lou Natic

Unnecessary Surgeon
Registered Senior Member
As members of this generation, we've seen it all, we can smell bullshit a mile away. And with that in mind, assuming the bible was (very)loosely based on real events, doesn't it seem as though satan could have just been fairly bright dude that pulled jesus up on his crap?
The way they portray him in the bible looks just like the propaganda we see all the time, only more amateurish and less convincing.
I sometimes wonder how much of the bible really is fake, it seems more like a conspiracy than flat out fiction, and being someone completely used to government lies and propoganda it seems as though the good guys in the bible are the bad guys in reality, and vice versa.
 
Originally posted by Dr Lou Natic
doesn't it seem as though satan could have just been fairly bright dude that pulled jesus up on his crap?
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satan.. oh yeah, he is a fairly bright dude but a racist hating human race. you better be an atheist rather than satanist.:p
 
Satanology takes different forms. Depending on the position and experience of the observer - whether he describes events, actions, thoughts, motives, or a person self - we get differents ideas. The broad definition is to attribute anything that goes against God's will to the "devil" - in which case he becomes "the adversary". In whatever form, he describes the source of rebellion against God. Etymologically, "Satan" means "accuser".

When Peter denied that Jesus would be crucified and resurrected,
'Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." ' (Matt. 16:22).
Keep in mind that this is the same Peter upon whom Jesus said he would build his church.
 
Meh, he's a mythical character who is often mentioned with a mythical god named Jehovah.
 
Satan is widely used by religous types to explain bad stuff; events, people, thoughts etc.
I'm speculating the biblical satan was based on people throughout history who had damn good arguments against the existence of god or the righteousness of which he operates.
Like a guy maybe verbally attacked jesus in a way he wasn't ready for that really stumped him, so he was labelled as satan and the story was changed to make jesus seem like the better guy.
Say I had a time machine and I went back and met jesus, played cards with him and used todays knowledge to totally tear him a new 'a' in a debate, I think the event would pop-up in the bible as the day satan played cards with jesus and tried to trick him but jesus was too good blah blah blah.
Get what I'm saying?
 
, I think the event would pop-up in the bible as the day satan played cards with jesus and tried to trick him but jesus was too good
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Sounds like that song by Paul Simon. The Night Train or something?
 
Or you know parents, from the beginning of time, have made up mythical creatures to discipline childern through the fear of the unknown and plain creepy well Satan could have been made to discipline followers of that religion through fear of the unknown and creepy on a grand scale. Just a way to make people weary of social and moral outlawed acticites.
 
I think satan is merely a representation of man,our true nature,there is no good or evil exactly.

We are satan,underneath that facade of religions and law we are satan.

Imagine for a moment you believed/knew 100% theres no afterlife,imagine you knew there is no god,now imagine there was no law.

What would man be like in this situation?

Well its not done me any harm,id still be the same without laws,perhaps our satanic nature is better off on its own,i personally think it is.
 
I think satan is merely a representation of man,our true nature,there is no good or evil exactly. We are satan,underneath that facade of religions and law we are satan.
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Only if you believe humans are at their most basic godless, immoral, and lawless.
Imagine for a moment you believed/knew 100% theres no afterlife,imagine you knew there is no god,now imagine there was no law.
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The opposite of eternal life, the opposite of God, the opposite of justice. Well said. Now imagine you acted on the belief that there was no ultimate value to life, no authority but yourself, no consequences, and nobody to enforce justice - that boundless freedom is the ultimate human right.
What would man be like in this situation?
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There are a few case studies - you'll probably find them in state penitentiaries or mental institutions...
Well its not done me any harm,id still be the same without laws,perhaps our satanic nature is better off on its own,i personally think it is.
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No harm until your "freedom" happens to cross anybody else's boundaries. Whether limits are artificial or not - they do exist. And they are not only religious.
 
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satan is like the boogy man. i don't believe he exists, it is just a way to justify the mistakes of some people and scare little children.
 
I don't understand the story of Satan. And don't get me wrong, I understand that it is just a fairy tale, but in most fairy tales the evil character in the story is destroyed and good remains. In the bible god banishes Satan from heaven and he then has free roam to torture and destroy humanity for the rest of time from the reaches of his comfortable domain.
Why? Why did God, a supposedly nice deity, leave a source of ultimate evil to plague humanity for eternity? Why didn't god just destroy Satan and all of evil along with him? This story doesn't work for me on that basis. If there had been maybe a Hercules figure in the bible (maybe a beefed up jesus christ, the starving son of god hippy look is a little weak in the first place) and that character beat up Satan and destroyed him and hell, then maybe the story would be interesting. As it stands now, the bible is depressing, confusing, and stupid, especially the OT.

ZERO MASS
 
That's the beauty of uncertainty. If no action is taken(until the judgement day), and the related stories(people had done bad deeds) seem true, you can't say the whole thing is false.

If the bible is like any other normal good guy kills bad guy story, you will quickly find out it's not true because the bad deeds still exist.
 
“To live for one’s self is to be against God. Our own “I” is synonymous with the “flesh.”
G. Steinberger

I would say the more individualistic we become, the harder it becomes to live for a deity. I'm still curious why God simply does not kill satan. Anyway, the catholic church especially has beefed up the image of hell and Satan over the years.
 
So then why is he/she/it/they going to punish those exercising their own free will by sending them to hell? Why did God kill the first-born of egyptian men, when they also exercised their own free will? Why does God kill men and not Satan?
 
So then why is he/she/it/they going to punish those exercising their own free will by sending them to hell? Why did God kill the first-born of egyptian men, when they also exercised their own free will? Why does God kill men and not Satan?
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Satan is a spiritual being. The only way to kill him would be to completely erase his soul. God killed all of the egyptian firstborn but that does not mean that they all went to hell. The significance is to show that the Jewish people were saved by the blood of the lamb on their door and were protected from harm.
 
Originally posted by Zero Mass
I don't understand the story of Satan. And don't get me wrong, I understand that it is just a fairy tale,

Wrong completely. If it was a fairy tale, then the whole Bible is a hoax, our salvation doesn't exist, and we are all condemned to Hell basically

but in most fairy tales the evil character in the story is destroyed and good remains. In the bible god banishes Satan from heaven and he then has free roam to torture and destroy humanity for the rest of time from the reaches of his comfortable domain.
Why? Why did God, a supposedly nice deity, leave a source of ultimate evil to plague humanity for eternity?

he wanted to see how loyal to him we were. He wanted to give us an alternative to himself to see if we would make the right decision. Obviously most of those on this forum haven't made the right one. God didn't create robots, he wanted us to use our own brains. so he wanted to have something that could put our minds to the test, that would question God's infallibility. Some would hear and would choose to go to Satan's side, using things like the Big Bang, Evolution, and other such things as back up.

Why didn't god just destroy Satan and all of evil along with him?

He will. Read Revelation 20. That's the whole story about Satan being bound, then Armageddon, then Christ throwing Satan into the Lake of Fire

This story doesn't work for me on that basis. If there had been maybe a Hercules figure in the bible (maybe a beefed up jesus christ, the starving son of god hippy look is a little weak in the first place)

That was His purpose. He didn't come in as a military leader to beat up those who opposed him. Did he fight when he was arrested? No. When they found nothing against him, did he protest? No. His mission in the first coming was to save us, sinners, from eternal Hell. His next coming will be to rule. There's all your big strong guy stuff.

and that character beat up Satan and destroyed him and hell,

then maybe the story would be interesting. As it stands now, the bible is depressing,

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in th e path of sinners, Nor sits in the the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by living water... His leaf shall not wither and whatever he doeth shall prosper." Pslam1:1-3
That sound depressing?

confusing,and stupid especially the OT.

That might be because you try to read too much into it. To believe the Bible, it takes the faith of a child, which is simple. That's another thing you must do: believe.



ZERO MASS
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Originally posted by okinrus
God cannot kill Satan because it would deny Satan's free will to disobey God.
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He wouldn't kill Satan because it would deny his free will but he'll bring a flood and kill countless people? He'll turn cities to ash and tople nations. But he won't take the one life that would rid the world of evil?
 
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