Funny enough, if Satan wanted people to not be on God’s side, he’d encourage them to read the bible.
All the awful things in the bible were caused by God, not Satan.
The ONLY reason why Satan and demons are disliked by God is because they are defectors. They didn’t do anything bad other than say, “we don’t like this guy, and you probably shouldn’t, either.”
When I was younger, I remember asking why Satan was “bad”. And they gave me all sorts of interpretations like he tortures people and he lives in the firey hells. And I kept pointing to bible stories where God does the same damn thing.
The worldbuilding is very shoddy because too many authors worked on the canon over far too long a period. Even accounting for the “New Testament” sequel, it’s retcons on top of retcons. The “Islam” spinoff at least managed to start with a clean slate, despite several callbacks to the prequels.
When I became a parent I thought about the whole “I am your creator, love me or I toss you in that lake of fire” thing, and it really hit home how fucked up it is. I’d dive head first into fire so my kids could be spared any pain, and this god psycho with his conditional love, is running around threatening eternal agony, while telling you he cares about you.
I believe “the satan” literally means the accuser.
I think there’s kind of two concurrent perspectives: one of Satan being an evil being, trying to corrupt people away from truth, life and the worship of God; the other of Satan as an accuser and tester, bringing into view and actuality the evil that’s in people’s hearts/lives.
I believe the ‘official’ interpretation would be that there’s elements of both, and the full truth about the satan is more nuanced/profound than we’ve yet understood.
There’s a view that Satan created the earth and is good, God is evil and the bible is a lie.
There’s a view that only Satan is real. God is made up to give people hope when there really isn’t any, either made up by deluded people or Satan himself.
I stopped believing in god when I realized that I, as a mere flawed human, am smarter, more loving, more moral and less of a mass murdering maniac than the god of the bible.
Funny enough, if Satan wanted people to not be on God’s side, he’d encourage them to read the bible.
All the awful things in the bible were caused by God, not Satan.
The ONLY reason why Satan and demons are disliked by God is because they are defectors. They didn’t do anything bad other than say, “we don’t like this guy, and you probably shouldn’t, either.”
When I was younger, I remember asking why Satan was “bad”. And they gave me all sorts of interpretations like he tortures people and he lives in the firey hells. And I kept pointing to bible stories where God does the same damn thing.
The contradictions are constant.
The worldbuilding is very shoddy because too many authors worked on the canon over far too long a period. Even accounting for the “New Testament” sequel, it’s retcons on top of retcons. The “Islam” spinoff at least managed to start with a clean slate, despite several callbacks to the prequels.
When I became a parent I thought about the whole “I am your creator, love me or I toss you in that lake of fire” thing, and it really hit home how fucked up it is. I’d dive head first into fire so my kids could be spared any pain, and this god psycho with his conditional love, is running around threatening eternal agony, while telling you he cares about you.
Shut it satan
So what’s interesting is there’s a compelling argument to be made for it being “the satan”, not Satan.
The idea being that the satan is like a prosecuting attorney. He works for the good guys and is tasked with prosecuting evil throughout the world.
The whole fallen angel narrative is derived from a vague prophecy in Ezekiel 28 about the king of Tyre.
That isn’t to say that the Bible doesn’t have plenty of room for evil forces at work in the world today, but possibly not the satan.
Just an intriguing FYI for you.
I believe “the satan” literally means the accuser.
I think there’s kind of two concurrent perspectives: one of Satan being an evil being, trying to corrupt people away from truth, life and the worship of God; the other of Satan as an accuser and tester, bringing into view and actuality the evil that’s in people’s hearts/lives.
I believe the ‘official’ interpretation would be that there’s elements of both, and the full truth about the satan is more nuanced/profound than we’ve yet understood.
There’s a view that Satan created the earth and is good, God is evil and the bible is a lie.
There’s a view that only Satan is real. God is made up to give people hope when there really isn’t any, either made up by deluded people or Satan himself.
I stopped believing in god when I realized that I, as a mere flawed human, am smarter, more loving, more moral and less of a mass murdering maniac than the god of the bible.