Do you believe that the biblical stories are fictional and is a way to instil fear in us so that we obey a man made law system?
2006-11-05 09:37:49 · 34 answers · asked by She-ra 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Seems as though there are more atheists on the Internet than any where else.....
2006-11-06 15:30:05 · answer #1 · answered by The gr8t alien 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely. The modern image of Satan didn't even exist until the 19th century.
The depiction of Satan as a horned and hoofed goat-like monster holding a trident is a 19th century invention, probably becoming popular as a response of Christian morality to the growing popularity of the Greek god Pan in the art and literature of the time. Previous depictions of the Devil were much more varied, and he was often simply a man dressed in black, or a dog or goat. When depicted as a composite animal/human figure, the Devil often had bat's wings, the talons of a bird of prey, and so on.[1]
So, if it took Christianity centuries to decide what Satan looked like (when artists have long had a similar idea of what God looked like), seems to me a pretty good indicator that Satan doesn't exist, or if he does, no one's actually seen him in a very long time.
2006-11-05 10:18:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely. I do accept that the Bible may have some basis in fact. I also understand that the Bible was written by humans during a time when most people could not read and was designed to control the populace through fear of the unknown. Humans have a tendency to embellish, omit, alter fact, or even outright lie to suit their purposes.
2006-11-05 10:05:39 · answer #3 · answered by whtknt 4 · 0⤊ 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 worldly acts to be diametrically opposed to achieving the objective of human life, which is love for God.
2006-11-05 09:56:36 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
It is a curse created by ancients that didn't like it when people had fun. See, people were all enjoying themselves living life, having fun, then some boring stupid decided that all this fun's gotta stop. So, he created a 'curse' called religious dogma to scare people into becoming just as boring and hateful as he himself was. Now people kill each other in the name of religion but think it is way worse and much more wrong to have fun and enjoy life.
2006-11-05 09:44:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
do i believe the biblical stories are fictional? probably, although they may have some basis in truth, just like all urban legends, myths, etc...
stories ARE ways to communicate values and ideals through generations... take santa for example, he rewards good children, and wont come unless children are in bed...
i dont believe that at some point in the past people intentionally "made up" boogiemen to scare people, but these stories absolutely do serve a purpose in society...
2006-11-05 09:41:48 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Of course it's a myth. When you have an Ultimate Good Guy, it's only natural for people to look for or make up an Ultimate Bad Guy to balance things out. To explain the bad things that happen in the world.
I see a lot of answers here saying "you better hope you never meet him". No one ever has...at least no one who isn't seriously delusional and screaming on a streetcorner somewhere.
2006-11-05 09:55:03 · answer #7 · answered by Scott M 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The devil, as popularly depicted with horns, hooves and tail, is a misappropriation of the ancient great god Pan. He was a god of the hunt and also known for his sexual prowess. He seems to have been a nature god who was well established before the Greek imagination populated Mt. Olympus.
Torah is stories about people. Sometimes about the great things they did, more often about their mistakes and troubles. It's a people's attempt to make sense of themselves, their place in the world, and their G-d. Anything else is reading into it.
2006-11-05 09:55:06 · answer #8 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Yes, I consider the devil to be fiction. I think the Bible is humankind's way of explaining our existence, and I certainly don't take most of it literally.
2006-11-05 09:45:31 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
That's about it - boogey man or boogey woman - I'm not sure the sex of the devil was ever specified, any more than the sex of some other gods or demons was specified.
2006-11-05 09:42:40 · answer #10 · answered by Grist 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Devil isn't fake, and all biblical stories are real. Why would someone create a holy book to scare us? The bible is real and I believe that God and Jesus are real.
2006-11-05 09:46:37 · answer #11 · answered by aℓanah.♥ 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋