"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

A little deep thinking..
December 16, 2007 - 9:51 am

You only need to read about ten comments in this thread: http://tinyurl.com/37q54w

Basically, the article (not what I linked to, nor did I read) is about some leader of the church of satan and a threat on that person's family. Now you might be wondering why read the comments when I didn't read the article, well that's the fun of fark. These sorts of 'religious' threads often degenerate into some might fine, pointless internet bickering that can make for good reading. Occasionally.

Anyway, read about the 10th comment in the thread, the one by 'eqtworld'. A fair point is made about satan -- just how many people did satan kill? Turns out, about 10. Yep, ten. I think someone else says 11, but still... we aren't even in the teens. How many people has god killed? Many, many thousands.. what with the flood and all. Lot's more when you factor in all the other punishments of god.

The 10ish satan killed were Job's family and it was done with the explicit permission of god... since god wanted Job to suffer as much as possible.

Curious talk for a Sunday morning to be sure, but a fair point.

As I think through my limited knowledge of the bible, what 'bad' does satan really do? It seems the evil of satan can be summed up in a single word: temptation.

Satan temps folks to do bad things, but, as is consistent with the idea of free will, he doesn't (or can't) force them to do anything. They need to choose. When successfully tempted, god's retribution is often swift and deadly.

Things seem to change a bit in the new testament where god is kinder and gentler, but still... it's the same being, so could switch back to vengeful at the drop of a hat, no?

I'm not a religious person, at least as far as organized religions go. They all seem so convoluted and full of inconsistencies it's laughable. Especially when folks disparage religions of the past for their foolish notions...

One seems as foolish as the other to me.

My point really is... the idea of who and what satan is has radically changed over the years. You can't say the being has really changed, just the mortal's view of him. We add... we subtracted.. we choose to highlight and create. We choose to pretend and to focus on just the tidbits that make us feel safe and secure.

Overall, I don't think people really care for the truth -- unless we can rationalize it and make it fit our preconceived notions of what we want to be real.