I don't beleive in Satan... I believe in evil, but that evil is NOT Satan.
There WAS no satan in Hebrew cosmology until the PERSIANS came (as they have a good god/evil god thing going on, the Jews had ONE God from whom both good and evil came from: Job 2:9-10, Isaiah 45:7). however, satan isn’t bad…
i don’t see a belief relavent in jewish tradition to warrent such a poor reading of Ha Satan, the Accuser and tester of Mankind (in Job). God sends HA Satan in jewish tradition to test the faithfullness of man and help God judge accordingly. God is merciful and satan is like the prosecutor in a court room. this doesn’t make Satan inherently evil.
There is no biblical record of the “fall of Satan” in oral or written tradition. it took the Christian church 200 years to come about a doctrine of ‘Satan the devil.' Unless there's a apocryphal book that i'm unaware of, I'd say that this story is completely non-biblical.
There are a few references in the gospels, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” from Luke 10:17. I think what Jesus is saying here is people with a strong faith in God cannot fail and satan falls. however, there is no tradition or hebrew understanding as Satan being evil until this line. It’s like saying “that guy is an einstien” (title). then saying “no, really, that guy is Einstien!” (name). THEN saying “i saw Einstien falling like lighting” which makes no sense.
The other famous ones from Jesus' 40 days in the desert and telling Peter to "get behind him" all deal with temptation and that's in line with the current Jewish thought about ha-satan.
Believing in Satan as evil is rather unfounded. I just don’t support for it until the gospels, and even that scholars have been scratching their heads about the purpose and lead up for this… I think it’s just another example of a duelistic doctrine no one wants to question because it’s easy and convenient.
Rule of Three:
Book: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
Music: Walking on Air by Kerli
Movie: Wall*E by far the most christian movie you'll ever see this year (or ever!). Inherent laziness of humans, love conquers all, and salvation by the societal misfits. It RAWKS!
1 comment:
An emailer asked "Maybe satan just came to represent anything that was not of God."
exactly! my question is why? in modern day language, it'd be like we took the word "prosecuting attorney" or "lawyer" and turn it into a demon figure. well, not just a demon figure but THE HEAD OF ALL DEMONS!!! (which we've kinda already done on the word lawyer)
a seminary friend did research on the word "satan" and found that it occurs only 26 times in the entire OT. it pops up in english as accuse, slander or to be an adversary. David is called satan twice, once in 1 Sam 29:4 and 2 Sam 19:22.
she gave me all sorts of things to read and i'll report back on her findings! great to have such friends isn't it?!
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