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I wonder what people think of who the devil is and hell as well. I really have no real PERSONAL thoughts (surprisingly) on this one. I will say that my faith tells me that hell is where the "evildoers" go to "burn" for eternity. And satan well he's the devil the opposite of god and the "ultimate deciver". But this is a grey area that unlike other things I'm not so steadfast on. One OPINION I will give is that I think that hell is relative and can vary from person to person. I often joke that hell is my mother-in-laws house! LOL
I must admit in some ways I started preferring the idea of Hell as a dark place of loneliness and regret rather than as a place of fiery torment, although I'm coming to accept that such a view is hard to justify from the Bible or tradition.
Satan is supposed to be the angel who rejected God and chose evil.
From an atheist perspective neither of these exist. A common atheist perspective here is that these two are the basis of Christianity because Christianity is only about fear and terror. (Maybe they all belonged to the odder congregations among Pentecostals or Freewill Baptists before coming to atheism)
In some forms of Christian Universalism "Hell" is deemed to exist, after a fashion, but it is more like what we call Purgatory. Certain Asian notions of Hell also deem it a non-permanent source of punishment, although I think some believe souls may stay in Hell for billions of years before being purified.
Zoroastrian and Muslim Hell is basically like ours. Although I think the Muslims get much more specific on how you will suffer, Islam is relatively physical in its descriptions of the afterlife, while the Zoroastrians I think had more on burning piles of metal or something. In Islam there is "Shaitan" but I think their main demon is Iblis who refused to bow to Adam. As the Yezidi believe an angel who was rewarded for not bowing to Adam the Muslims deemed them Satanic.
Hell and Satan are just part of the myth religion used to scare the uneducated and ignorant into following their view and supporting their atrocities. I have always thought if you wanted to see evil which matched the “religious hell” all you had to do was look at the christian history of abuse.
I believe hell is just darkness of the soul. A soul who is in darkness does not know good until it's shown. Then they are able to progress out of that darkness once it forgives itself for the things it chose to believe. I don't believe it's eternal as no one person can stay the exact same eternally. Change occurs everyday and for those who believe that a soul cannot change, well, I guess they themselves are in some sort of darkness.
As to Satan, I do believe he existed at one time. I believe he was in cohorts with Lucifer during the rebellion. I also believe he and Lucifer no longer exist and it's up to the Light workers to show the world this truth. We are coming out of the rebellion era and people still hold onto those beliefs rather than bring light to the world. As long as the Lucifer and Satan believers believe in them, they will continue to exist in their minds. If we would rather see peace on earth, we have to let go of the past and bring light to the world through Love and let those that once were, rest.
And the devil, he never existed. It was a made up scare tactic so that the churches could gather their flocks.
Last edited by Reverend1111; 12-08-2009 at 06:49 AM..
Reason: addition
I think Satan is just a scapegoat for people to explain their bad actions. I always hear people say "Satan made me do it" for things their misbehavior. They just don't want to take responsibility for what they do and knowing that people do believe in these fantasies makes it possible for them.
God is the oppressive tyrant demanding unquestioning subservience of his subjects, upon pain of torture. Satan is the rebel who stood up for individual freedom and liberty and the right to make your own decisions, for better or for worse.
God is the oppressive tyrant demanding unquestioning subservience of his subjects, upon pain of torture. Satan is the rebel who stood up for individual freedom and liberty and the right to make your own decisions, for better or for worse.
I tend to agree with this idea though I personally would not go so far as to call god a "tyrant" though some people make him seem that way.
I think Satan is just a scapegoat for people to explain their bad actions. I always hear people say "Satan made me do it" for things their misbehavior. They just don't want to take responsibility for what they do and knowing that people do believe in these fantasies makes it possible for them.
Good one.
Satan, the devil, Lucifer are all one in the same and there never was one entity named this. It's a symbol for "evil."
Hell is darkness and there are different levels depending on your soul's condition, and how much sin is encrusted on it. The way that spirits find out what their soul's conditions are goes like this.
Our memories hold everything we've ever thought and every action we've ever had and these go along with us after we die. We are shown our own motion picture of our lives. The first run-through shows all of the happy and bad times combined. Then comes the re-runs and the happy thoughts and happy times are removed and only what's bad remains. And this "bad" is played continuously, re-run after re-run, and this is where we learn what we did wrong while we were humans and this is when spirits suffer remorse, regret, etc. It's not until a spirit has an awakening and comes to the conclusion that he can put a stop to it that his move finally has an ending.
Hell is a place where there is no love, as love brings light and each spirit who finds himself/herself in that dark pit, can find love and light, but it's up to them to make the first move to humble themselves and release and let go.
I wonder what people think of who the devil is and hell as well. I really have no real PERSONAL thoughts (surprisingly) on this one. I will say that my faith tells me that hell is where the "evildoers" go to "burn" for eternity. And satan well he's the devil the opposite of god and the "ultimate deciver". But this is a grey area that unlike other things I'm not so steadfast on. One OPINION I will give is that I think that hell is relative and can vary from person to person. I often joke that hell is my mother-in-laws house! LOL
Interesting thread! I have not read any of the other posts, yet. I did not want to be influenced by anyone else before I responded. I wanted to answer honestly.
For the record:
I am not an atheist, or an agnostic. I despise organized religion, and think it is a very dangerous thing for weak-minded, easily influenced people. However, of the handful of stellar individuals I've met in my travels, half of them were devout and belonged to various religions. These people belonged to the minority of believers who benefitted from their religion, rather than the majority who have been polluted by it. I do believe in a higher power! I've never hugged a tree per se, but I do believe in mother nature and grandmother earth. After all who is responsible for creating life on this rock. And we better take care of it, and each other!
"We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden."
My thoughts:
Satan(the devil) is a scapegoat. The idea of Satan, is a way for people to explain away their own deficiencies and misdeeds, as well as, the those of others. Also, a way to explain away the troubles of mankind and this earth. Satan is a tool! A way for corrupt religious leaders to scare and manipulate weak-minded people. Satan should not be relevant in modern times. Maybe Satan was needed as a tool in ancient times to illustrate to the masses of unenlightened, mostly illiterate people the difference between right and wrong?
Hell? Not a real place! It can be in some people's minds, if they let it. Just like heaven! You know that saying, "It's all in your mind." It is!
God, Jesus, heaven, Satan, the devil, hell, peace and love! All in each one of our minds. And hearts and souls.
For the believers...of Satan and hell that is. The gates to hell may be located in New Mexico. Lordsburg, ironically. At least that's where Charles Manson said it was. And, if anyone should know! He wasn't to good with his prophecies though, maybe it's in Arizona or Arkansas.
From the Saucy Wench (a VAP to the AMACEB)
Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" Priest: "No, not if you did not know." Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"
Last edited by saucywench; 12-15-2009 at 03:52 AM..
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Who is Satan? What is hell?
