If we're being truthful, Satan is supposed to be punished in hell too, its only modern works that portray him as the one 'ruling' and dishing it out to people in hell.
If we're really being truthful, none of that stuff's in the Bible.
Biblical Satan is a role, not a person. I've seen it translated as "opponent" or "rival". Something like a "devil's advocate" in catholic church - person or entity who tests somebody's faith.
And Lucifer is again a completely different character, not related to Satan until much later.
The devils advocate in Catholicism is something very specific and not at all that. In order for someone to be determined a Saint there’s more or less a trial. One side presents arguments that say the individual has met the criteria by which one can be determined a Saint. The other side, which is called the devils advocate, attempts to poke holes in it and presents arguments by which the individual hasn’t met those conditions. They’ll do things like bring up sins and character flaws that persisted into the individual’s saintly period, as well as attempt to disprove any miracles the individual is said to have committed.
"opponent" or "rival"
Aaand that's the interpretation The Church of Satan takes. They're atheists and don't believe in Satan as an entity.
You're thinking of The Satanic Temple. CoS is a theistic organization started by Anton Lavey. They worship a literal Satan.
https://www.churchofsatan.com/faq-fundamental-beliefs/
Why do Satanists worship The Devil?
We don’t. Satanists are atheists.
Why does faith need to be tested?
Christians seem to love the concept. The idea is if you keep believing if seriously challenged, it means you are a true believer.
You can find it here. Along with a scathing rebuke to those who wear the name Christian and yet are so full of hate they refuse to do any of these things.
Matthew 25:41-46 (NKJV)
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Well, that's embarrassing. I thought for sure that was one of those things that was created from extra-biblical sources.
This really makes me wonder about those Christians who claim that it's faith, not works, that gets you into Heaven. This seems like a strong argument for the opposite.
Indeed. To quote more of the bible:
James 2:26 (kjv) "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
The argument is that it's faith that gets you into heaven, but the proof of true faith is found in works. If you claim to be faithful but do not do good works, your faith is dead.
If you listen to the Yazidis he was sent to Hell for defying God by not bowing down to us humans, his greatest work, despite God telling Satan to never bow to anyone because he was made of God's essence rather than us, made in his likeness.
So he went to Hell for 10 000 years until his tears put out the fires of Hell, then God forgave him. He also rewarded him for honoring his original pact with God and was given Dominion over Earth.
He took this Dominion and gave us Humans "Knowledge" like the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, only the Knowledge was of Farming.
Thing is, the Yazidis live awefully close to what is thought to be the birthplace of Farming.
When asked to describe Satan, they described him as a Peacock holding a sheaf of Wheat in it's beak, the same image found in Gobekli Tepe, which is thought to be a shrine that taught Farming to the world.
Hail Satan.
Edit: this is just my understanding after reading an article or 2 on the subject, I'm probably wrong about loads of it, but it's all just stories anyway so who cares?
That's super interesting, thanks!
Actually, Satan is always described as being on earth. In Genesis, Lucifer is cast down to earth, not hell. In Job Satan tells God he's passing by during his comings and goings on earth. In the Gospels, Satan tempts Jesus in the desert.
Paradise Lost is from 1667.
Well that concept isn’t in the Bible and even if it were then 1667 would still be somewhat “contemporary” compared to when the Christian scriptures were supposedly written. Of course I say all that as if any of it is real or matters anyway lol
Floods, famine, plagues, etc are all God's work. Sex, drugs, and rock & roll are Satan's work. I know which one I'm going with.
We've only ever heard the story from one side, Satan is probably actually super chill and just wants to party
In the words of Jim Jeffries "If you disobeyed gods rules, why would Satan punish you? If anything, you're one of his boys".
Since the bible was written by god's people, it's way too biased when saying God is good and the Devil is bad.
Show me Lucifer's side of the story and I bet he's the more reasonable person.
I always really liked South Park’s Satan when he explains addiction to Stan.
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I'm an atheist and this is ultra-cringe.
Unfortunately this doesn't really faze Christians at all because many of them believe that God is the source of all that is good, and so by default anyone who worships God is also good by default, and of course this logic follows that anyone that doesn't worship God is evil by default.
Also, barring that, just because Satan punishes bad people doesn't make him good. He punishes bad people because he's jealous of God's love for Humans, and he hates them for it. He's more of an antihero I guess if you really wanted to paint him in a somewhat good light.
Except that's a horrible distortion of Satan's real role in Abrahamic religion - he was once understood as YHWH's most loyal angel, willing to inflict eternal torture against his will for the sake of cleansing sin or whatever the fuck his torture was supposed to achieve. If the Christian god stopped being a massive piece of shit and went "yo, I don't think all this torture stuff is actually helpful", Satan would immediately stop his business.
To be upfront, I am not religious and never have been, but my understanding is that Satan isn't the one doing the actual punishing? He is being punished by God himself, as is everyone else in Hell
Michael Mittermeier?
Michael Mittermeier!
Dies unser kommentarbereich? 🥹
Wider den deutschen Kulturimperialismus! Spaß. Als nächstes bitte Mettigel in die Memes verpacken 😄
Jawohl!
Bearbeitung: Ich tat es.
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Satan is the only character in the Bible that tells the truth.
As concerned as most christians seem to be with punishment of those doing some imagined wrong or another, wouldn't that sort of mean they're following in their supposed satan's ways and tenets.
Or Satan is so evil, he's evil towards evil. Now that's evil af.
