Text 263, 94 rader
Skriven 2006-09-09 19:16:00 av LEE LOFASO (1:123/140)
Ärende: The Real Satan
======================
Hello Everybody,

Loosely taken (with random thoughts) from "Satan: A Biography", by
Henry Ansgar Kelly, Cambridge University Press, and an article "Is
devil due a makeover?", by Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune -

Satan has gotten a bad rap.  Unlike He has often been portrayed,
His Eminence is not a bad guy.  In fact, He works for The Great One.
Always has.  Always will.  Kind of like a heavy who works for a mob
boss.  So why is it that everybody seems to think of Satan as being
the mastermind of evil?  After all, He is only following orders.

Think about it.  We are totally capable of doing all that we have
done.  So why blame His Eminence?  "The devil made me do it" has
always been a cop-out, and He knows it.  After all, man has free
will.  We can blame things on our own psychosis if we want, but
not on those who have always done The Great One's work.

Satan is evil personified.  That is what most people think.  But
why do people think such a horrible thought?  What has Satan ever
done to deserve such a reputation?

Let's open our bibles to the book of Genesis and see what it says
about Satan.  <turning pages>

Nothing there.

Well, okay.  There is a brief section about a serpent that tempted
Eve.  But that was a serpent, not Satan.  In fact, the serpent had
nothing to do with Satan.  So why does everybody assume the serpent
to be Satan?  It makes no sense.  The serpent may have been a very
conniving animal trying to trick Adam and Eve into temptation.
But how does that correlate to the serpent being Satan, or an agent
of Satan?

Further into Genesis we have an episode where God tests humanity
by asking Abraham to sacrifice his first-born son.  Naturally,
Abraham passes the test (although an angel did have to get Abraham
to stop before actually swinging the axe).

Anyway, one has to go quite a ways into the Old Testament before
one runs into Satan.  It is in the book of Job where Satan makes
His grand entrance, showing His cynical side by reporting to The
Great One that Job is not as righteous as he pretended to be. So
what does The Great One do?  The Great One tells His Eminence to
test Job's faith by giving him a few hardships to endure.  You
know how it goes with The Great One.  Can't do any of the dirty
work Himself.  Always has to hire somebody else to do it for Him.

Okay, okay.  That is Satan in the Old Testament.  But what about
Satan in the New Testament?  Certainly it is the same Satan that
has always been.  And yet, somehow people still insist that Satan
is the mastermind of evil.  Now think about the stupidity of that
thought.  Satan is God's creation.  And all of God's creation was
good.  God said so Himself.  So why wouldn't God make Satan as His
agent?  God's heavy, if you like.

Satan's first assignment we are told about in the New Testament
was about hazing Jesus in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights.
Jesus passed the test.  Of course, had Jesus failed, well, I'd
hate to think of what the consequences might have been.

Later on in the New Testament we have an episode where Satan
tempts Judas to betray Jesus.  Judas passes the test, making
sure that God's plan is carried out to its ultimate conclusion.

All of this is explained in the Gospels.  Well, three of the
Gospels for sure.  John just rehashes what Matthew, Mark and
Luke said.  The evidence presented in the Gospels is that
Jesus, Satan and God had a conference.  Sort of.  Satan asked
God for permission to do a few things.  In specific, to test
Peter.  And God was okay with that.  But Jesus was there, just
to make sure God (through Satan) did not pull the same stunt
on Peter as He did Job.

The essence of Satan is that He is suspicious of human virtue.
And as such, Satan wants to check things out.  Being a Good Guy,
Satan does not want anybody to be given a free ride if they are
no good.

Oh.  There is one other thing I forgot to tell you.

Jesus and Satan are brothers.

And before anybody objects, let it be known that the fall of
Lucifer (Isaiah 14) is not about Satan, but merely a metaphor
for some arrogant Babylonian king that nobody ever heard of.

--Lee


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