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I'm curious, of course, and that is why I'm asking.
I'm confused about how the devil ties into your theist lives. Do you really believe you have to battle the devil or is it just a story, an example of anything bad in your lives?
I've recently run into some people who take the devil literal and would like to know which religions take the devil to mean an actual spirit you battle, and which ones(religions) think of it as just a story that represents "evil" doings.
Plus, being atheist I hear that I represent the devil to some. That I spread his word somehow. Which theists believe this?
I of course don't believe in the devil which would make sense to me since I don't believe in God but to some they think I am doing his work some how by not believing in God.
I can see why they might think this but I believe in the devil about as much as I believe in God which means I don't, it's ridiculous to me.
So, what exactly is the work of Satan? Curiosity got me again.
One can easily disprove the existence of Satan with one simple assumption that is not far fetched (even for an atheist).
Saint Thomas of Aquinas set out to prove the existence of God in the 13th century by postulating a theological Big Bang.
Cosmologists accept they don't know what was there at time zero before the BB. In essence they are no different than Aquinas. So we could postulate that perhaps there is a creator that initiated the BB (until cosmologists come up with an alternative).
If God created the universe then God could be called an omnipotent and omnipresent force that occupies every single atom of the universe. If we accept that we could postulate that from a metaphysics point of view Satan cannot coexist with God. It would not be unreasonable to assume that in our universe there would not be a Satan. However, we cannot say the same about a parallel universe.
Another easy manner to disprove Satan is to analyze the so-called creation of man by God. And to do this we must set aside evolution for the sake of this discussion. If God wanted to create MAN in a perfect manner he would be obligated to give MAN free will. To create MAN with no free will would be an imperfect creation.
The mere existence of free will negates the existence of Satan. The moment that evil is not authored by MAN, but by the influence of Satan we lose free will.
You'll get about as many different answers to this as people who answer your thread, probably.
Biblically, satan and devil are two different things and they aren't proper names, but simply nouns. The word satan means adversary and the word devil means false accuser or one who is opposed to God's purpose.
You could go all sorts of ways with that, though. Quite a few Christians do actually think of the devil/satan as a being, a "fallen" evil angel who is in a power struggle with God to win as many souls as possible. Others think of devil/satan as a literal being that is basically a tool in God's hands, being used for the purpose of testing and trying people.
Another theory is, as you said, symbolism for whatever is evil or in opposition to good/God. Or, as the "false accuser"/devil, anyone or anything that would falsely try to convince people that they are guilty before a God who has declared that he doesn't hold people's sins against them. That could be another person, a religious doctrine, or even oneself.
Some people think it refers to that within each one of us which is in opposition to good/God.
Those are the ones I've personally heard and believed at various times in my life. I'm sure there are other ideas floating around.
I believe that Satan is a real being; that he was created; and that he originally lived in heaven but was cast out of heaven when he rebelled against God. He is totally sinful, deceptive, and powerful. I believe that he is the leader of a vast host of evil spirits who seek to keep unsaved people lost, and to divide and deceive individual Christians.
My favorite song is the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil".
What is good old Satan doing these days? When you sold your soul to Satan---------how much money did you get?
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