What's so bad about Satan?

[curiosityandthecat]

This is a good read if you're interested in the history of the character known as Satan.



The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics by Elaine Pagels.

Quite enlightening. Fortunately, you can search inside the book and (if you cheat the system and search for page numbers) read the first 80 or so pages.  

[Sophus]

I don't see him so much as a bad guy either. The Bible says he was cast out from Heaven because he was prideful. God is prideful and yet he is seen as righteous? If God were to be judged as a human then he has sinned and is not perfect. As for Satan, he's just little angry about being so wronged. I think the Bible also says that Satan will burn in hell to, not so much rule it. Otherwise he really got the sweeter end of the deal.

[Kyuuketsuki]

This is what I have always posted (OK, not always, it's been slightly modified over the years) when Christians (particularly fundies) tell me how evil Satan is:

Has Satan Been Given A Fair Chance?
When debating Christians we are so often told by them that the ills of the world are the work of Satan, that he works constantly to undermined God and that he is subtle in his actions so that things we might normally think are rational (science for example) are all being used by Satan to guide us away from God's infinite mercy and love.

However, when you start to think about it, it rapidly becomes apparent just how one-sided it all is and I am not at all sure that Satan has been given a fair chance.

Looking at it objectively ... the only evidence we have for the Christian God is the Christian bible. So if we accept that as valid evidence (I don't but for the sake of argument I will) then the Christian God created the world. He threw out Lucifer to become Satan, created us, sent his son down to take upon him all the sins of humanity and inspired his disciples to document it for us (for which we are, I know, immensely grateful).

This is all very fine except for one itty-bitty little smidgen of a doubt that I have ... we actually only have this God person's word for it (via his bible and followers). I don't know about you but I can't actually think of a single thing that this Satan person's actually done that's bad in the world (let alone to me personally). Oh I know that there are those who'll claim that Satan is responsible for disease and war & famine and all that but they don't have any hard evidence or anything like that do they? It's just another unsupportable assertion, something these religious types are oh-so-good at.

What's more, accepting the bible as valid, we DO have evidence of atrocities carried out such as the flood, genocide of the Canaanites, rape, murder, slavery and much more ... all by direct action or at the behest of this God character!

So, looking at it objectively, it would seem that the person known as Satan is taking the higher moral stance in that he is staying well clear of this particular argument ... most of us know that the better action is, if possible, to remain aloof and "above it all".

Perhaps, despite the Christian God's publications (or propaganda), Satan is just a nice bloke who just wants a quiet life?

Kyu