In Christianity, Why is Satan Evil, and God Good? What is Evil?

Let me put it this way...even though I don't fear Death, and even look forward to it...that doesn't mean I want to be killed, or die young...and I'd be pissed if God wiped me, and everyone else out, but saved one guy...just because there were a few problems in his precious land...I mean...sheesh...that's some God I'd like to follow...NOT...

[edit on 21/10/09 by CHA0S]

reply to post by CHA0S


Well then don't follow him yo. Nobody is making you.

reply to post by tinfoilman

Well then don't follow him yo. Nobody is making you.

I would beg to differ...although nobody can make me do anything...Christians certiantly do put some effort into it...I'm certain if Christians got hold of a brainwashing tool more powerful than the bible, something that would work 100% of the time...they would use it without hesitation...and probably think they were doing the right thing...saving people...

[edit on 21/10/09 by CHA0S]

reply to post by Neo-Dark

You need to read my other post. All death, no matter what the cause is a necessary form of population control. Utopia is only a fantasy.

reply to post by tinfoilman


How funny, calling me a troll. Ah, but don't worry, I'll burn in eternal hellfire whilst evil slavedriving pharaohs are up in heaven... right?

The logic that anyone who came before Jesus ended up in heaven means that God is really uncaring of what you do, as long as you're in hell til he bothers to pay the bail. Or his son does.

And sure, call me a troll, the fact is he killed them and sent them to hell, but, since you don't believe in death or a concept of time (like the time that they spent suffering because God just felt like killing them on a whim), then that wouldn't matter to you.

reply to post by CHA0S

Why is Satan Evil

So far as I can tell, "Satan as evil" was invented by the catholic church at the council of nicea.

Jewish perception of Satan is very different from christian perception.

Why

A simple, dualistic good vs evil dichotomy has its benefits if your objective is manipulation and control.

reply to post by CHA0S


Okay, now I think you're just making stuff up. Besides, there's just as much chance as atheists doing that as well. But if there was a brainwashing machine the government would use it on us long before either the atheists or the christians got a hold of it.

Do you know how many threads I've seen on ATS about somebody hoping they'll find a cure for religion? It goes both ways. There's a lot of atheists that would love the chance as well.

I mean, religious or not, you're still just as likely to want to brainwash other people to think like you do. Brain washers are Brain washers regardless of what they believe in. Morons are morons. There's nothing I can do about that.





[edit on 21-10-2009 by tinfoilman]

reply to post by Neo-Dark


You believe in the Catholic version of Hell?

reply to post by tinfoilman


Do I go around saying "You must follow the Lord, and do anything he says, no matter what it is...OTHER WISE YOUR EVIL, AND WILL BURN IN HELL!" No...I don't go around trying to force anything on anyone...if you'll take notice...the premise of this thread was a question...

reply to post by CHA0S


Yeah and I answered it. I never said you'd burn in Hell BTW. I told you, you could believe whatever you wanted, but I was just answering the question.

But since you don't believe in Hell anyway, what's the problem?

EDIT: Explaining how it's written in the Bible. I never said it would actually happen to you.

[edit on 21-10-2009 by tinfoilman]

reply to post by CHA0S


How about those that brainwash the poor and vulnerable young men to blow themselves up? They are not Christians. Christians try to spread the word of God, not recruit you too blow yourself up along with thousands of innocent people. Stop being so one sided against Christians, you are only fulling the prophecies foretold.

Where did Satan go wrong... My my... where do we begin..? Let me see, there was that direct rebellion and rejection of God. Then there was the assault of God by the third of all the angels led by Satan. Then there was the deception of man by Satan. Then there was that Nephilim thing where the fallen ones were corrupting all flesh (man and animal) through sexual intercourse creating hideous creatures. Then there are the countless wars, murders, immoral, acts, stealing, hatred, oh... and did I mention, the assault and killing of the Son of God..? I could go on but I think I made my point.

Since God is Supreme anything that is in opposition to His will is "evil". I hope that helps your quest to know "why".

reply to post by sickofitall2012


Yes...I realize there are worse religions/cults/groups in the world that dupe people into doing horrible things...but Christianity has a massive following...making it worse IMO...I feel I need to quote this yet again:

Originally posted by CHA0S
reply to post by ljib777

 

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.

Wow...just wow...now we can't even think for ourselves...I'll refer to some recent posts of mine...

Religion: Usually informing it's followers that everything in the universe (including humans) was created by a God of some description, it relieves followers of the need to ask questions about reality, history and our origins. It totally strips you of any chance at independent thought, Christianity for example, a whole freaking book that dictates how you should live your entire life...was written by man, not a God...I'm not saying God(s) don't exist, or even that they didn't create us or the universe, just that no book on Earth contains the will of such an entity if one does exist...enough said.

All religions are different and full of lies about reality, sure, some of the stories my be good life lessons, but it's still the work of man, and a lot of the time, it's just plain bad advice. We don't REALLY know if the universe was created by a God, or if Gods(s) really exist. It's silly to accept everything you are told without evidence. Now you don't have to ask questions at all. Seemingly, some great book has answered everything for you. You now know where you came from and how you got here, you don't really have to ask questions about reality. You now know what's right and wrong. How can you accept all this and be content with it? It's an insult to independent thought.

In my eyes, religion takes us on a road in the completely opposite direction to where we should be headed. We shouldn't be reading a whole bunch of crap, accepting it as truth, and throw our questions out the window, we should be denying ignorance, we should be seeking real truth and answers, we should be asking questions (with totally open minds), and we should be doing it all without being mentally enslaved and manipulated by reality overlords. If any God(s) do exist, this is the way in which we will be able to know and feel it's existence. Here's an old thread I found quite interesting.

reply to post by CHA0S

You need to get up to the 21st century and stop trying to make the old testament apply to today. People were told to follow the word or burn because humans are so cruel that there needed to be a guide so that people would know that what they were doing was wrong. There wasn't 6 billion people then, and things they were doing threatened the existence of man. God gives us rules. Rules that have enabled us to flourish. Humans would not know what was considered bad if it weren't for the basic laws of society that are religion based.

reply to post by Fromabove

Since God is Supreme anything that is in opposition to His will is "evil". I hope that helps your quest to know "why".

You show a perfect example of the point I'm trying to make in my above post...

I think evil is an illusion. I think we are still in the 6 days of creation and when we reach the 7th there will be no more evil, the creation will be perfected. Right now all the possibilities are just whirling around in Gods mind. Maybe creation hasn't even begun yet, but when HE lays it down, it will be perfect. But for now we have many dimensions of worlds of possibilities as he calculates and decides what is best. And it seems like forever to us, but is less than a second. WE are living in one possibility. But other possibilities probably exist in the universe. And I think we will soon all be united in the TRUE WORLD. I mean, I think HIS project is almost (to our eyes) done. Though in truth it is already done. WE just didn't catch up yet to it, since our brain is small in comparison to God. I don't think evil has to exist once all is said and done, we will have learned that good is better.

reply to post by sickofitall2012

People were told to follow the word or burn because humans are so cruel that there needed to be a guide so that people would know that what they were doing was wrong.

I'm just stumped as to why God created us as such cruel people...it just seems to me like he made a lot of mistakes...so at one point he wipes everyone out to start over again...maybe he shouldn't have waited till the second day to turn on the light and check his work?

reply to post by tinfoilman


I don't believe in any form of hell. Well, not like you'd view it. Cause I personally believe in a religion far from good and evil (and I swear you could look this up for a million years and you wouldn't find this religion in any book or on any website). More Chaos and Order, in which the equality between the two is balance, not one more then the other. My "Hell" as you may class it (the realm of Chaos as it would be more often attributed to evil) is more or less just a realm of disorder. My "Heaven" as it could be classed, more orderly. Yes though, I do look at "Purgatory" (only as a realm which is not quite one or the other) too, which would be the balanced world of neutrality beyond this life.

My entity or "god" as you will is Death (as the neutral form to help balance Chaos and Order)... not the act of dying but more the primal force governing life's end. With one each else for Chaos and Order. Thus creating harmony. How did the world come to be, I don't try to answer that. (and just to note, even there I don't believe it full heartedly and don't take criticism that hard, I do take people taking lives for granted though as despicable, or making a life worse)

I have a problem at looking at evil because it is perspective, but I can't figure out how people (any or all) can class dictator's and mass murderers as evil (as well as Christianity's Satan or the Devil) and yet someone who commits those same acts can be worshipped. Why is one classed as good and the other evil?

reply to post by CHA0S


Thankyou CHAOS, I am always glad to help when I can...

reply to post by rubyeyes


Evil is the absence of good just like shadow is the absence of light. tinfoilman & CHA0S have been arguing for the past 3 pages, nonsense, nothing interesting, wasted my time reading... zzzz

ooz