now, i have a few questions, all pertaining to the devil. first off, christianity is supposed to be a monetheistic religion. that is, there is only one true god. but, if god and satan are locked in a giant cosmic power struggle, wouldn't that mean satan is another god? i mean, if his powers at least match God's close enough that god cannot simply destroy him, it would seem to me that he is just as viable. wouldn't that make christiany a polytheistic religion? my second question pertains to the devil being pure evil or not. i mean, supposedly, god created EVERYTHING. that would mean evil as well. isn't it possiable that satan is doing gods work, and putting evil in the world? i mean, you can't have good without evil. just like ying and yang. it would seem to me that if that is the case, then God isn't almighty, or the one true god. he only controls good, not evil. or, it could mean there is no devil, and god himself does the bad and the good. now, my last comment pertains to something interesting i've discovered. now, the word "angel" is translated as "messanger" in greek. however, the word angel is used throughout the bible, and is not meant to be some being from god. it is simply a person on earth being a messanger. now then, the word "demon" means "wise one". could it not be possiable that man has misinterpreted things about the devil and demons, and they really aren't all that bad? i mean, perhaps demons are actually the messangers of both god and the devil. just some things i've been mulling over, lol, even though i'm not christen.
i see everything as being like one of those magnets with - at one end and + at the other - neither evil nor good - just opposing - I try and stay somwhere in the middle but frequently swing from one end to the other - do some incredibaly unselfish things and some nasty horrible things - hopefully - morally - I'm fairly balanced e.g. if you kill someone - depending on your motive - lets say for example it's because you want their money - then that puts you at the extreme end of a scale - then if you say,you save someone's life the next day (if you're not in jail) - it's not gonna necessarily mean your any closer to being balanced - just moved up one tiny fraction of a notch - and so on
ok sirius, i originally read in the book "the excorcist" that the word demon means "wise one" after searching online, i found this on wikpedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(mythology) they also delve into possesion not always being a bad thing. i think it's quite possiable that what we think of as angels are really just god incarnate so to speak, and it's actually the demons who go around being evil or peoples guardians.
"For Greeks and Romans, daemons ("replete with knowledge", "divine power", "fate" or "god") were not necessarily evil." this is from the wikpedia site, just incase you miss it, or don't want to read the entire thing.
yeah, sorry, i meant "the exorcist" i just spelled it wrong. and yes, ouiji boards are creepy. i was once at a party, and someone pulled one out, and i got the worst vibes. i really do hate those things.
In the bible passage Isaiah 45:7 God is attributed to say: "7Forming light, and preparing darkness, Making peace, and preparing evil, I [am] Jehovah, doing all these things.' " (From Young's Literal Translation, it's just about the same in KJV and Darby's Translation) Satan: "In biblical sources the Hebrew term the satan describes an adversarial role. It is not the name of a particular character. Although Hebrew storytellers as early as the sixth century B.C.E. occasionally introduced a supernatural character whom they called the satan, what they meant was any one of the angels sent by God for the specific purpose of blocking or obstructing human activity." [Elaine Pagels, "The Origin of Satan," 1995] Satan means "one who opposes, obstructs, and/or acts as an adversary", since logically one cannot successfully obstruct God, the only ones who can be opposed are creations of God. Of course, these obstructions (oppositions by "Satan") can only be successful if God causes them to be, which ultimately makes God the opposer (for one who has no power cannot truly obstruct our activities and/or will). Anyway, there is a quote in the N.T. in which one is "purified" by being handed over to "Satan". "5to deliver him, [I say,] [being] such, to Satan for destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. "
