Did Satan get a bad rap?

[Cerpin Taxt]

If you were the devil what would you do, bring attention to yourself directly causing grief, misfortune, calamity, and all matter of bad things in your name,

or would you at every opportunity disguise yourself as a follower/preacher/priest of God and lead the people astray in the name of God thus making a mockery of God and his religion while doing all those bad things in God's name?

If I was the devil I'd be banging concubines all day, and I wouldn't give a shit about who follows God or not.

 

[mshan]

http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/videos/the-satan-conspiracy

 

[mmntech]

The story of Satan is one of the Abrahamic religions' most interesting myths. He is evil not for any specific act, but rather he dared challenge the power of his master. Thus he was exiled to Hell because God did not want anyone challenging his power, because clearly he was doing an awesome job. Which is how any despotic ruler reacts.

In the garden when he tempts Eve with the Apple, he grants humans the knowledge of good and evil. Which in turn leads man to challenge God's authority and has them exiled in to the world. Where as before they were wards of their master, childlike, they now had to fend for themselves. This is viewed as a bad thing.

The moral of the story here is that it's a sin to challenge the ruling power. Be it God, or whomever happens to be king of whatever kingdom you're toiling as a serf in. Which of course is very convenient for whom ever happens to be king.

It's not surprising that a lot of the Old Testament's figures happen to be kings, or king-like. Later works build on the same motif. Jesus was called the King of Kings. Curiously, I don't think Muhammad was ever referred to by a royal title.

It's not just limited to Abrahamic religions either. Daoism and Hinduism are built on strict hierarchies. Or Prometheus, the Greek Titan who challenged the power of the gods and gave fire to man. He was sentenced to eternal punishment by Zeus for this act. Submission to power is seen as a virtue in multiple faiths. Though I know I'm preaching the the choir here, and everybody already knows that.

So why would your average person adopt this belief? I think people actually prefer absolutist governments. While most people can think for themselves, I think a lot of folks would really rather not. Absolute rule removes uncertainty (which I think is man's greatest fear), and provides a role model for society to live by. We prefer the tribal wise man type to rule us. Which is why we tend to nitpick character flaws in our leaders (that make them like us) but tend to tolerate corruption by those who appear wiser than us. The ideal ruler is someone who rules with absolute confidence and certainty even when wrong, but at the same time being a father like figure to his subjects. Which is what these religions project God as being. The ideal king of all mankind.

 

[zinfamous]

The story of Satan is one of the Abrahamic religions' most interesting myths. He is evil not for any specific act, but rather he dared challenge the power of his master. Thus he was exiled to Hell because God did not want anyone challenging his power, because clearly he was doing an awesome job. Which is how any despotic ruler reacts.

In the garden when he tempts Eve with the Apple, he grants humans the knowledge of good and evil. Which in turn leads man to challenge God's authority and has them exiled in to the world. Where as before they were wards of their master, childlike, they now had to fend for themselves. This is viewed as a bad thing.

The moral of the story here is that it's a sin to challenge the ruling power. Be it God, or whomever happens to be king of whatever kingdom you're toiling as a serf in. Which of course is very convenient for whom ever happens to be king.

It's not surprising that a lot of the Old Testament's figures happen to be kings, or king-like. Later works build on the same motif. Jesus was called the King of Kings. Curiously, I don't think Muhammad was ever referred to by a royal title.

It's not just limited to Abrahamic religions either. Daoism and Hinduism are built on strict hierarchies. Or Prometheus, the Greek Titan who challenged the power of the gods and gave fire to man. He was sentenced to eternal punishment by Zeus for this act. Submission to power is seen as a virtue in multiple faiths. Though I know I'm preaching the the choir here, and everybody already knows that.

So why would your average person adopt this belief? I think people actually prefer absolutist governments. While most people can think for themselves, I think a lot of folks would really rather not. Absolute rule removes uncertainty (which I think is man's greatest fear), and provides a role model for society to live by. We prefer the tribal wise man type to rule us. Which is why we tend to nitpick character flaws in our leaders (that make them like us) but tend to tolerate corruption by those who appear wiser than us. The ideal ruler is someone who rules with absolute confidence and certainty even when wrong, but at the same time being a father like figure to his subjects. Which is what these religions project God as being. The ideal king of all mankind.

And don't forget that Kings only held true power in the days when the majority of the populace was completely illiterate.

Only Kings, and their approved priests, were the ones with the religious texts, translating the holy "words of gods" to the ignorant, and unclean masses.

But man, once that printing press showed up, and people were all "WTF is this Shit?" things turned around comparatively quickly.

 

[Sonikku]

The only thing wrong Lucifer ever did was challenge the state authority.

 

[ThinClient]

The things this particular character does in the bible aren't really bad at all compared to what god does, but hes supposed to be the guy who screwed up our perfect little garden world. So, every time someone makes bad decisions that leads them to live a miserable life of pain, sorrow, regret and all the rest of the bad stuff, its supposed to all be his fault. So in that way I guess hes a bad guy.

Only, god created Adam and Eve with a sinful nature. How else could they be capable of sin in the first place? God made them to sin, they could not control it.

God created Satan who only did what was according to the nature that god created him with, so why is he to blame?

I'm just playing with this stuff though. The idea that this character is actually real is just so far removed from reality that its hard to believe I ever considered these stories as fact. Know what's actually real though? The indoctrination and brain washing of children to believe this crap. That's the real evil.

Yep.

 

[5150Joker]

Considering all religions are poorly written fiction, I'd say the character Satan was ostracized and setup as the antagonist only because he questioned God's dictatorship. Like another poster said, true evil is indoctrinating children to believe in any religion.

 

[sm625]

Why do you think the elite worship Lucifer?

 

[shira]

People say satin is much more difficult to clean than cotton or flannel, doesn't keep you nearly as warm in cold weather, and is usually much more expensive. This is all true; so the bad rap is well deserved. But it sure feels nice. And is this really a topic for P&N?

 

[5150Joker]

People say satin is much more difficult to clean than cotton or flannel, doesn't keep you nearly as warm in cold weather, and is usually much more expensive. This is all true; so the bad rap is well deserved. But it sure feels nice. And is this really a topic for P&N?

Failed attempt at wit.