Which is more terrifying -- Satan, or the fact that people believe in such a thing?

Question

I know that most people will see this as an intentionally provocative question. But I really mean it as a serious question. It honestly worries me that a lot of people really believe stuff like this. Am I wrong to think that a majority of americans believe that satan is some kind of evil being that really exists? Am I wrong to be worried about this fact?

Evil is an adjective; it's not a noun. It's a word we use to describe actions we deplore. It's not some kind of force that exists independently. What kind of magic-magic world do people think we are living in?

@ngela, perhaps you haven't noticed the enormous impact these beliefs are having on the world. That's why we discuss them.

Answer 1

You're right to be worried. You're a product of (and held captive by) your culture. When the majority believe in, say Flying Invisible Space Monkeys, then you'd be crazy not to 1: figure out as much as you can about the FISM phenomenon and 2: try to reason them out of their space monkey delusion.

Answer 2

nicely opposite to what you have been taught, in accordance to the Bible, a million John 4:8 God is love. Hell is the basic Grave. So whilst a individual dies in accordance to the Bible at Ecclesiastes 9:5,10 it of course teaches that the lifeless are subconscious and ineffective interior the grave. John 5:28,29 speaks of a resurrection of people who've died. it somewhat is the desire discovered interior the Bible. consequently we see that there is a huge huge difference between evil and wrongdoing. All incorrect or wrongdoing is evil, yet no longer all evil is incorrect. An act of injustice is often incorrect and it regularly leads to working evil or harm to a different. on the different hand, the administration of justice is often precise. regardless of the shown fact that it could deliver evil upon the only against whom that's enforced, that would not propose that the administration of justice is incorrect. somewhat, it shows how God does create evil. The deluge of Noah’s day grew to become right into a great evil, regardless of the shown fact that it grew to become into no longer a incorrect; those antediluvians have been given what grew to become into coming to them for selecting wickedness and violence somewhat of peace and righteousness. (Gen. 6:5; 7:21) The Pharaoh of the time of Moses chosen to stubbornly oppose Jehovah, and so God sent ten plagues, and ultimately had to wipe out Pharaoh and his hosts interior the pink sea. All such have been great evils, calamities, which entailed great suffering upon the Egyptians. yet they weren't wrongs. Pharaoh grew to become into the criminal, and Jehovah grew to become into completely interior his rights in consequently punishing him and thereby settling the subject as to who's very proper.—Exodus, chapters 7 by way of 14.

Answer 3

Well, if statistics tell us anything, at the point of this writing, 75% of your responders say you should beleive in Satan.

That being said, I feel you are all too correct in stating that you are worried about this. I too am terrified that people in this country holdd onto these Bronze Age beleif systems, which end up destroying our planet....

See, all these fundies think the end is coming soon. And that the end will be glorious as they are taken away in the Rapture. WHat this causes is a total disrespect for our environment - this is why Bush does nothing to protect the environment. He is born again and thinks the end is near - so why bother saving the planet?? This is how religion contributes to the destruction of earth today....

Answer 4

The bible condemns magic and its practices. Thus, Satan is a real being that is involved with it, but he confuses people through enviromental set-ups.

There is a supreme evil, and the noun aquanted with it Satan.

Answer 5

It concerns me that you don't believe that there is a devil. Where do you think all this evil in the world comes from? Whether you choose to believe or not makes no difference..He roams the earth like a hungry lion ready to devour. He is the father of lies.Be wary.

Answer 6

Actuially I would rather just ignore the Flying Invisible Space Monkeys and hope not to get burned as a heretic by the faithful Monkey worshippers.
I do indeed find the pcychotic belief in an invisible and immaterial God of Evil scary.

Answer 7

I believe that is more scary that people believe in satan. They take it personally and to the extreme. Religious people do it too. People just can't believe, they have to take it one step further. Freak out over it. The satanists out there aren't as bad as the religious fanatics. There are more people killed in the name of
God, than satan. All these wars based on religion. It is scary. I don't believe in satan. It's like people use satan as an excuse to be evil, which is wrong. oooooh, very scary.

Answer 8

If we fall prey to the his deceit as aided by our blindness thanks to the European Enlightenment by believing that all supernatural phenomena and beings cannot be real...then we would ignorantly conclude that Satan cannot be real, so those who speak of him as if he did exist are using him as a tool to manipulate others.

If we open our eyes to see the truth--that supernatural phenomena do exist, then we must accept the possibility that a once good angel of God was cast down to the earth and has remained rebellious against God ever since.

When it comes right down to it, only a person who's blind would see Satan in the former, rather than the latter, manner.

Answer 9

In the bible it says that SAtan is real. A lot of people think he is a big scary red guy. REally he is supposed to be attractive b/c sin is attractive to us so we want to sin. @ judgement house @ my church Satan is an a attractive man. However I think God and Heaven is more attractive. Not saying that I've never thought sin was attractive but there you go.

Answer 10

Satan or the fact that people do NOT believe in satan! He lurks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He is the father of lies, he has come to steal, kill, and destroy! But, be of good cheer, Jesus is greater than he that is in the world, and Jesus has come so that we may have live and have it to the full till it overflows!!! Perfect love casts out all fear, so we do not have to be terrified of satan, we can rest in God, He will take care of us.