People say there is "evil in the world" and discuss it as if it is a force. Some people believe there is a Devil who is evil personified. Is this kind of belief justifiable?
2006-09-02 09:47:10 · 12 answers · asked by Jim L 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Justifiable? You're missing the point. People personify evil because they don't know how else to explain behaviour and actions that are destructive and cause grief and sorrow. The invention of the Devil was a means to explain 'evil' so that it would be easier for people to come to terms with it and explain it away.
Religion in general is RATIONALLY unjustifiable, but since it does not either require or seek rational explanations, that fact is irrelevant.
2006-09-02 10:01:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The concept of the devil was absorbed into Christianity by the early church to com-bate Paganism, the horned image of the devil was adopted from the Greek God Pan and the Pagan God of the animals.
The term Satan means adversary, so a personified imagery of the devil was created and accepted largely by people who love to abdicate responsibility for their own actions onto a mythical personality.
The psychological device that also conditions the fundamental mindset is the view that the devil himself forces individuals not to believe in him.
Is it justifiable? The fundamentalists would certainly denounce the devil as a concept negating the question, for most non conditioned minds the devil is a concept of explaining to a primitive people the difference between Godly and worldly behaviour, knowing the value of both to be diametrically opposed to achieving the objective of human life, which is love for God.
To discuss further:-Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari (sda@backtohome.com)
2006-09-02 10:20:44 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
"The devil who is evil personified" - intersting question. First we need to ask who made the Devil, Satan, Lucifer or whatever name It goes by! GOD - which means It is not more powerful than GOD and yes he can maybe entice us - but GOD did put good and evil in man too - so who entices mankind more - Satan or man himself? Maybe the question should be what sins do we do and blame satan for and what sins do we do and blame ourselves for????
I just think mankind has totally given up self discipline and being responsible for it's own actions. Don't blame others - start owning up and correcting ourselves first - maybe then we deal with Satan - we are bad enough on our own - don't you think?
2006-09-02 10:14:53 · answer #3 · answered by gafoosi 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no Satan, no Demon, no Devil.
This is only personification based non our ignorance.
At seeing that evil is so rampant in the world, man imagines that it must be some Devil stronger than himself.
In reality, evil is non-existent; it is only absence of goodness in man.
When man forgets God, he thinks and acts as the lower self directs him, so he commits all sorts of errors.
At a time when true religion is established, man turns to God, thinks and acts as his spiritual self directs him, he performs great contribution in morality, science, art, education, charity... his life becomes perfect and the society becomes civilized.
The way out of this superstition is to turn to the Messenger of God of our time to learn the divine lesson about God, man and the world, then we can think and act rightly, and our world will turn into paradise.
2006-09-02 10:11:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's justifable. People fear the unknown, and evil can be the great unknown. It's like the thing underneath you bed or in the closet. There is nothing there to be scared of, but you are scared anyway, so you create a monster to fit that fear. It's probably a natural instinct.
It just annoys me when people blame the Devil for making them do misdeeds, when they should be blaming themselves and rethinking their actions.
2006-09-02 09:59:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I honestly think that it is a violation of the ten commandments to believe that there is some kind of antoG-d who has powers that rivals G-d. so no I dont think this belief is justifiable.
I do however understand where it comes from. Humans seem to love to do evil despite themselves.
2006-09-02 09:52:23 · answer #6 · answered by abcdefghijk 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
evil is sort of inside people i think
um......does that make sense?? lol
its like in us all but some of us do not let the 'evil' out.......well i think so anyway
yeah that makes sense rite? and that means the horible people in the world have let their 'evil' take over and they have no room in themselves for good or peace........
i really sound like a hippy lol o well
2006-09-02 09:58:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The devil is very real and he does have control over people who do not accept Jesus as their savior. That is a choice they made for them selves.
2006-09-02 09:51:46 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
i find it rather interesting that evil spelled backwards is live and devil spelled backwards is lived.
2006-09-02 09:52:38 · answer #9 · answered by poppysgirl 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the devil is real and alive. he is the king of lies. he wants people to believe he is not real so he can trick you and manipulate you.
think of the most cruel and inhuman acts. they must come from a creature of darkness, not humans.
2006-09-02 09:54:45 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋