Anthony North: The Devil may seem an archaic symbol of evil, but he is supposed to be alive in the world to this day with his Satanic conspiracies. From the 1960s onwards, one expression of him was the Church of Satan, set up in San Francisco by occultist, Anton La Vey.Said to have perverted many a star, his ceremonies involved a naked woman as an altar and his philosophy was based on unbridled hedonism. The death of Jane Mansfield was even put down, by some, to their rituals. Who is he ? The name, the Devil comes from the Greek ‘diabolos’, meaning slanderer. A fallen angel, in the 1970s we had his image of evil implanted with the film, The Exorcist. By the 1980s we were more sceptical and he appeared humourously in the Witches of Eastwick. He is first mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls as one of the sons of darkness, but in the Bible he is simply seen as temptation, his home - the future Hell - just a place of sleep.This was no good for frightening superstitious people into obedience, so the image of the Devil became a conspiratorial perversion of the ancient Greek god, Pan, a nature deity.

With the Roman poet Virgil devising Purgatory - a place where the dead lingered - and Dante’s Medieval vision of Hell as a place of eternal torment in the Divine Comedy, the Devil was becoming imprinted on our mind.Yet as with the future ‘devil-like’ Pan, our notion of Hell is more akin to the Greek Hades, an underworld for bad Titans such as Sisyphus and Tantalus, the former condemned to roll a rock up a hill forever, the latter never quite reaching the water and food in front of him.

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The Devil is an awesome character in Myth and Fantasy because of his power and ultimate evil, but his presence and influence in real life is terrible.

There may be no such thing as a Devil but there is something evil out there lurking around and causing trouble on Earth.

Oh Yeah, I believe satan is alive and well, along with his minions. I used to doubt this until I read Fr Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil", and the book "The Demonologist", and the book "Beware the Night" by ex- Bronx police officer Ralph Sarchie, and other books which convinced me of the reality of these entities.

Yes, books like these and also witnessing the signs of our times is another good indication.

“We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell” -Oscar Wilde

Very interesting read. With all the attrocities that are committed by mankind, it must be comforting to think that it's not us.



I like the batch photo attached to this article

That'd be the human heart



You know... When you're dead, you don't need nutrition. I wonder if they know that... -ponders about constantines dumbness-

I bileave in the devil and hell in a symbolic way, there are people of evil in this world, fighting hard to controll us, trap us, and cause suffering on a grand scale, its happening right now. It sounds way too far fetched but when you look at the big picture, its not.

The devil has never tried to control anyone - in fact he gave us knowledge. Ever. On the other hand god - in a symbolic way - symbolises communism. Everyone is equal - with the angels as the workers and mankind as the peasents and god at the top, who tries to control everything either through fear/punishment/death/threats/censorship/lies about his 'power' (omnipotent = unlimited power, yet had to rest after doing one thing - that's called LIMITED power. Omnipresent = being everywhere, yet had to call for Adam as he couldn't find him "Where are you Adam?" - that's called, being only in one place at one time.) along with a front of love/mercy (though that doesn't last long)/forgiveness (if he feels like it).

So you were convinced of these entities' existence by books?
Did you ever experience them yourself? Just curious.


Indeed.

lol, isn't that the devil from the Tenacious D video?

Haha yeah, Mr Dave Grohl himself.

That reminds me of a brilliant episode of the TV show "Angel". Angel, a reformed vampire, demands to be sent to Hell so that he can confront the Devil and end evil. He rides the elevator to Hell down, down, down. The elevator door finally opens and he finds himself right where he started, on Earth. He sees a mother slapping her child, people yelling at each other, etc. He found Hell, which is right here every time one human hurts another.

Just a little info...

The Christian belief system does not show Satan with Dominion in Hell. Rather, the Lake of Fire was intended to be punishment for him, and those whom he convinced to attempt mutiny against God are also sent there.

The Devil did not 'give' Man anything. Man took, against God's command, of his own volition and with encouragement from the Devil. The responsibility for this is squarely on Man's shoulders, and cannot be blamed on the Devil (or we would not really be 'fallen', merely deceived).

The Devil is a Fool. He wanted to usurp the place of his Creator, and that is not tolerated... as many people today want to set themselves up as their own gods. Isaiah 14: 13-15 is usually attributed to the Devil.

Isaiah 14:
13 You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north; [2]
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.

Many today attempt to make their own moral code, condemning others for their beliefs, and trying to establish a religion against God. Often those classified as 'religious' are as bad as those classified as 'athiest' or 'humanist'. We all know the true moral code, it's a part of us, and only those severely mentally disabled don't know it (severing of the frontal assoctiation lobe of the brain, for instance). This does not give an excuse for willful ignorance of the truth...

James 4:
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. [4] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Just a little 'Christian' perspective on the issue.

JS

Verses taken from the ESV as read here: http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/

r u caling GOD a heretic and dictator? this is a insult to all Cathollics, man! satan is a fallen angel, thrives to decieve and fool ppl of Gods creation. he is thegreat decivier, having make Eve sin and make us all mortal. satan is the true image of PURE evil. he is a hitler, napoleon, nero, saddam, and ceaser combined to a spirit! he is evilll!!! God is someone we pray to, he asks us to believe him, not force us. He did not restrain Eve nor Adam from the tree of good and evil, but he asked for them not to eat from it. yet, satan tricked them!.

Satan never sent an army to kill in his name, satan never told people to die for him, satan never told humans to worship him. God sent armies against other nations, god killed chidren for being, well, children, god forced people to worship him - 'less you want to burn in hell . Napoleon wasn't evil... he was a Conquerer, Saddam did what each islamic faction has always done - war with other, just like catholics and protestants - Ceaser wasn't evil, Nero was funny = not so evil. God doesn't ask you to beleive he orders you to - "Thou shaln't have no other god before me". Satan set mankind free - In eden adam and eve were not living, they were mindless, stupid creations (what better way to have someone worship you - btw, not talking about the present. Unless you're still in eden) So in fact, Satan set you all free, letting you live instead of being a mindless drone. In my opinion, god is worse than a deceiver, he kills children, cities, towns, first borns (who were innocent) for his own wants. And no, those he killed would have gone to hell, as they did not worship him.

I am not insulting catholicism. Unless you want to dictate my opinions, and censor me from speaking them.

Cool thread. Scary picture...

The devil, to me, represents temptations to do things that are not repectful to another being; whether it be slander, lying, killing, raping, and so on... To me, this temptation (the Devil), works through someone to do horrible and mean things; on any level.

I read Dante's Inferno which defines "hell" as different levels; depending on the severity of the event and/or crime against another being. It was a very interesting read. I recommend it.

Sometimes I question whether there is a hell though. Sometimes I wonder if right now is hell and what you do with your life here and now directly correlates to a pleasant (hopeful) afterlife. (Meaning I hope there is an afterlife!)

Just my thoughts. Jody

I don't believe in the devil. I think the devil is a necessary player in the myth which says people should spend their entire lives being manipulated by religious institutions and giving up their money. It's part of The Big Threat: do what we want or you'll roast in hell.

Having the Devil rule a spiritual world that we will occupy after our deaths implies that we have to be totally obedient until the moment we die, 'cause goofing off even one minute before death could result in eternal torment. The religious institutions who perpetrate this scam don't even have to bother actually punishing people (something that would cost money) because they've got everyone believing that the bad will be punished in "the next world".

To me, this is a brilliant piece of psychological manipulation that has kept the downtrodden under control for two thousand years.

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The real Devil is isolation from your fellow man. When we can't see ourselves as part of a greater whole we shrivel up spiritually and our lives become meaningless.

As bad...? It's bad to be an individual and think for yourself? Apparently, according to your Christian perspective, this is the case. I don't understand the reasoning behind that...

Personally, I have no problem with what beliefs others embrace. I view religion as a technique for navigating life's mountainsides; the ups and downs. If an individual finds it beneficial, or has a personal experience leading them to believe in a God and follow a religion's set morals, then who is to tell them they shouldn't. This exact reasoning is reversed for those who do not believe in such things and guide their decisions based on their own personal ethics.

I personally don't expect an afterlife, and view religion as a manufactured concept that was designed to be beneficial to an individual. Though everything seems to have it's pros and cons, doesn't it? Religion has historically served as a reason to help others while simultaneously acting as reason to kill and opress.

I don't believe in a God, but I don't condemn one who does. Everyone deserves to make up their own mind. What does bother me, is when someone, religious or not, talks down to another because of differing opinions and beliefs. IMO, nobody is in the position to tell someone else that they're wrong about what they think happens after we die.

Afterall, nobody discussing these issues is dead, are they?

Awesome post!

EVIL - You have come to kill us. Well beware ! Beware of thinking we are a living thing! We are not.
The eyes of evil cannot see!
The lips cannot speak.
You have come to slay us?With what?Your sword is burried deep within one of your demons!

WARRIOR - My demons?

EVIL - Yes,yours. Did you imagine it was one of ours?
We are as old as man. We dance somewhere between the vision and the riddle. We are not something one can touch.
We were invented by those adept with small slynesses and aroam with immense fears. We are not. And hope...
We never shall be.

The evil was quiet and suddenly gone.

WARRIOR - The evil wasn't ...was it...Heaven ?

EVIL - All 'it was' is a fragment. A riddle, a dreadful chance---until YOU say to it : 'But i willed it to be!
You are learning. Finally evil has taught good something. I am the dinosaur of both ignorances.

There is no good.
There is no evil.
There is only life.

I am the breeze brought to gale by too many peoples fears and hatreds and nothings. I am so tired.
You and the living are all there is.And now i have planted that spark in your mind.

Did you write that?

I like it.

Often, the perception is that those who deny God are the worst... I was clarifying that those who try to usurp His place by making their own morality are in the same boat whether they're 'religious' or anti-religious. Apparently I wasn't clear enough...

Does that help?

Also... the fact of God's existence isn't relative. If there is a God, and you don't believe in Him, you are denying a fact, and damning yourself. If there isn't a God and you do believe in one, you are believing a falsehood and shorting yourself on what this life has to offer by following a moral code that is not based on what is the most fun. There's really no valid "God can exist for you, or me, but He doesn't have to exist for everybody" point of view.

This would be akin to saying "the world may be round for you, but it's flat for me..." Is it really up to the individual to decide what they want to believe? If so, why the heck do we teach science, geography, math and history in school?! We could save a lot of money by taking the same relativistic, apathetic attitude toward the sciences as many 'enlightened' individuals take toward religion...

Oh, and I don't condemn people who don't believe... condemnation is God's job, not mine.

JS

I know of no belief system requiring perfection until death.

The Christian perspective is that God himself makes up for what Man lacks in perfection. This merely requires accepting that God is Sovereign and worthy of our obedience, and believing that He is capable of removing our imperfections, and that He did this through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.

You are right, however, that many 'institutions' use the threat of judgement as a method of gaining political or economical power, or sometimes merely fame/fortune. This goes back to my other posts...

JS

Very well said.And thank you.

The devil as he is so called...lives inside our minds just like God..our consciousness. OUR MINDS are what percieve this whole universe as we see it..our realization of both
good and evil since the beginning our own decisions, our minds live in both of their presence 24/7.
Now can it get physical yes by all means. Both sides,,,we are in a constant battle,with ourselves,
God the word is just that a word...its HIS SPOKEN word that counts as does the otherside,it is up
to us to decipher good from evil actions and spoken words..clik on my icon to see ,my beliefs at
my homepage,,or check out my thread .. for some interesting events,,,

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...howtopic=101153 zeb GARY