2006-11-16 00:53:35 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No. I would however say that the greatest trick religions have pulled to gain followers and keep them scared and under control is by making up stories about the devil and hell. It's clearly working.
2006-11-16 01:36:17 · answer #1 · answered by undir 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You're actually misquoting ... the line is an old one, but a good one, pertaining only to the devil.
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
Being that he is accepted as evil, treacherous and such, playing with his own reality suits his character. Being the devil he is, he would have played up the existence of God in order to debunk him.
And, if I wasn't an atheist and consider all this just interesting fiction, I'd have to agree. The smart adversary hides in the shadows instead of dancing on the stage.
EDIT: I just found the original quote ... credit Charles Baudelaire for this thought provoking quotation.
2006-11-16 00:57:43 · answer #2 · answered by Jaded 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Look at the unGodly, immoral, unethical lives being lived in this world today. The devils trick was to have mankind believe that "he" does not exist. We are then not afraid of hell, we lose respect for the laws of God. We lose respect for the laws of man. We do not fear our parents, teachers, law enforcement, prisons, or our God. In this country the turning took place after world war 2. We became industrialized, urbanized and immoralized more and more and more as time goes by.
Did the devil make us believe that he does not exist, or, did we evolve to a state of immoral disbelievers. Has mankind become so arrogant in our accomplishments that we have no need for God or Satan. Have we begun to listen to the scientific non-believers that we doubt our inherent need to believe. Where it is a choice between believing in God or science, in my life to sad to bad for science.
2006-11-16 01:07:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The idea of Satan originated in the original Jewish texts and maligned by Christianity into some kind of evil monster at war with "God". Judaism should know what Satan is, and this is what it has to say on the subject:
(1) SATAN NEVER FELL ANYWHERE
Lucifer or Phosphorus (the "Lightbearer"), in classical mythology, is the name for the planet Venus as the morning star. Isaiah 14:12 alludes to the King of Babylon as "Lucifer, son of the morning", but in the belief that this verse contained a reference to the fall of Satan from heaven, the fathers of the early CHRISTIAN church -- not Judaism! -- attached the name Lucifer to Satan.
On the above-referenced Isaiah verse in the Jewish bible: "This translation of the Bible does not use 'Lucifer' at all, but rather, uses 'O shining one, son of the dawn!' and further, footnotes it with the explanation "a character in some lost myth".
And
(2) SATAN IS AN ANGEL DOING THE JOB ASSIGNED TO HIM BY GOD
Judaism has no concept of a "devil" or fallen angel. Angels do not have free will, so they cannot choose to disobey God as humans can.
The word satan means challenger. This describes Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. Satan works FOR God. His job is to strength man's spirit. Christianity sees Satan as God's opponent. In Judaism, the idea that anything in the universe would be capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be the same thing as declaring Satan a god or demigod.
The notion of an angel having free will is alien to Judaism. Free will requires the tension created by being a soul dwelling in a body. People can have free will, but angels can't. Satan acts as a servant of God, not as an opponent or even disobedient child. Angels cannot sin, they cannot fall.
2006-11-16 00:57:02 · answer #4 · answered by Sweetchild Danielle 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If he exists, the best trick the Devil ever pulled was Jimmy Swaggart.
2006-11-16 00:55:31 · answer #5 · answered by Judy the Wench 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The sin of pride makes mankind think they can do anything all by themselves from changing the enviroment .. to creating life without His help.
It's all smoke and mirrors.. but then some people would rather live in the world of half truths and talking heads then any real truth that is just too scarey for them.
2006-11-16 01:05:31 · answer #6 · answered by Tapestry6 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
seeing as not many people have been killed or started wars over the fact that there is "NO" god or devil, i would say the greatest trick was convincing people the bible and the koran were true, much more hate, wars, and spread of destruction that way.
2006-11-16 00:55:42 · answer #7 · answered by Walking_Jello 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The devil is a myth meant to personify the things that tempt us to do wrong. For many, it's easier to think of that temptation as an inherently evil being than to accept that the potential for good or evil is in each of us and that we sometimes freely and knowingly choose to do wrong. Think about it. A being that exists soley to tempt us and do evil. If that's not the essence of myth, then I don't know what is.
2006-11-16 01:01:18 · answer #8 · answered by Rob B 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Not at all.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to make his minions think he loved them.
[Think about that for a while.]
2006-11-16 00:56:47 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Satan has always been fooling others. But his greatest 'trick' might be the one that people somehow think that honoring Satan instead of God, will bring them any happiness whatsoever in HELL.
2006-11-16 01:09:18 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋