How do you view the devil? Any stories or beliefs specific to the devil?

Question

I'm doing research into how the devil is represented in different countries? How do people's beliefs in different countries differ?

Answer 1

the devil does not exist!! hell does not exist as we percieve it, (life as we know it could be hell for all we know) but there is no such thing as the fires of hell. when we die we are judged not by other persons/beings but by ourselves, if we are afraid to judge ourselves then we do not pass over to the otherside but stay on this side as spirits suffering years of torment because we are afraid to judge ourself, hence why many old bulidings are haunted!!

Answer 2

First thing to me is that the Devil, Satan, Lucifer, The Prince of Darkness, or whatever title you give him is ultimately a Christian god. If God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Jesus, Holy Ghost or whatever title is the one and only god of everything then he is also responsible for the evil as well as the good.
If God is restricted to only being responsible for the good the he needs someone to be responsible for the bad, so you need Satan
Satan has to be god like because the account does not balance otherwise. You can not divide every thing into opposites and not have one of the opposites. you can have no black without white. yes without no, or positive without negative.
I am not a Christian or of any other religion. I do not believe in Satan, and as a result I do not believe in God.
If anybody believes in the one without the other they are being insanely irrational and are in denial. you can not have the one without the other you need the opposites to define each other

I do not know how clearly I got that across, I know that I repeated a couple of times but I hope you can understand what I meant. Once again, I am not a Satanist, for that would require me to be a believer in the religious binary concept of opposites

Answer 3

it's more a personal thing not a cultural one. But i read some abbreviations from paradise lost in my own research, which is a good place for you to look too. the devil does not own hell he is a prisoner there as well. I think of it like he is just the biggest baddest dude in the joint. Call him bubba of gods prison. obviously he was an angel rebelled against god and jesus dragged him down there. Sin and death are apparently his children according to Milton's paradise lost. They are the gatekeepers of hell and sometimes let satan out. He is not responsible for the evils of man and is not the big bad boogeyman. he is just an angel himself who has done wrong and wants to take gods power. who doesn't right? i could go on but there is my sympathy for the devil.

Answer 4

I've had two "views" of the devil, when I was a kid, It was a chubby man in a really badly fitting devil costume, (sounds funny, but looking back it's still a little unnerving). Nowadays, It's a more conventional devil. A beast with hooved feet, horns, a tail, very muscular, with fangs. a beast in all senses of the word.

Answer 5

The devil, like it or not is Gods creation on a reflection of ourselves for all the bad there is in us. We give life to the devil by our evil deeds and bad behavior.

Answer 6

I believe the devil to be a fallen angel who once was the Angel Lucifer who rose up against God. In these days, I believe he commands his minions (other fallen angels that rose with him against the Lord) and sets up plans to destroy us by tempting us into sin and then accusing us that we are required to pay for those sins by death. Where did his desire for power come from? I don't have answer for that, at least yet, but that's still my belief.

Answer 7

Did you know that according to Muslims hell (gehennum) is located right outside of Jerusalem?

This probably comes from Jewish accounts of what they had seen in Canaan. The Canaanites used to burn live newborns to insure a good harvest. So, somehow these ancient fires became the location of hell. Worth exploring.

Answer 8

Many people believe their in-laws are the devil.

Answer 9

when i hear people say the devil made my car brake down or stuff like that i get upset he doesn't have that kind of power he can only tempt us we have power over him i wish people would stop giving him so much power

Answer 10

Hi ,according to the latest Faith of God (Bahai Faith www.bahai.org ) proclaimed in persia 1844

There is no evil as such ,,,,absence of knowledge causes lack of knowing ,that makes humanity go wrong or do wrong .

Everything has a time and needs a renew if not renewed old gets problem & die , even Faith of God has a time from God & he comes to renew it by a new messnger ,if people fail to renew their understanding with the new messnger of God on time ,,the ( Good ) in their hand becomes( Evil ) and cause`s their society to fall to misery ,,,,,,,,,,this time humanity has come to gether universally ,,,,have to find the new messnger of God`s instruction for world unity in one understanding ,,,,,,,,,sooner better than later ,,,,,,,as children suffer till humanity bringthe new educatuion of God to practice universally so (Evil ) pack up its tent & go and Humanity comes to universal peace which is all (Good ) no more evil on earth ,,,,,,,,,,,so humanity comes out of babyhood by this universal message of God for this age of maturity of all things ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Or is like abscense of Good is bad ( evil ) ,,,,,,or abscense of light is dark ,,,, or withouth guidence of God we live in darkness ,world becomes a jungle ,,,,,,whatever good things people have comes from background of faith of God even if they dont practice the Faith as before ,,,,,

thank you ,,,,,,,,,