My mate Enzo reckons that what we in Western countries know as "The Devil" didnt exist until well after the death of Jesus Christ, and was a tool to keep early believers in line.
If this is indeed a fabrication as he claims, then what does that say for the other foundations of Christian faith?
2007-03-06 01:42:48 · 28 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Traditionally, Christians have believed that the Pentateuch [the first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament] were written by Moses under the inspiration of God circa 1450 BCE during the nation's exodus from Egypt. The book of Daniel was seen as having been written by Daniel himself, in the 6th century CE, etc. Conservative Christians still believe this today, largely because the Bible mentions the identity of its authors in many locations, and conservatives believe the Bible to be inerrant. However, analysis of the Bible as a historical document since the late 19th century has convinced essentially all non-Evangelical Old Testament scholars that most of the Pentateuch was not written by Moses. It is rather made up of a mixture of writings and editing by three individuals or groups: in 950 BCE by "J", 750 BCE for "E" and 539 BCE for "P". Deuteronomy was written in the 7th century BCE, and Daniel was written in the 2nd century BCE. In the following material, we will assume that the liberal interpretation is correct.
Among those books of the Hebrew Scriptures written before 300 BCE, the term "satan" (root word "s'tn") appears often. The word is derived from the original Hebrew verb "satan" which means "to oppose." The Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek was widely used in the early Christian church. They translated "satan" as "diaboloc" from which we derive our English term "devil" and "diabolic."
The word is used to refer to any person acting as an accuser or enemy, a divine messenger sent by God as an adversary,and a member of God's inner council; a type of chief prosecutor of Heaven.
There are no passages within the older parts of the Hebrew Scriptures where Satan is portrayed as an evil devil - the arch enemy of God and of humanity. At most, he is described as a henchman who carries out God's evil instructions. There is no dualism here between two powerful supernatural entities: an all-good God and an all-evil Satan. God is portrayed as performing, directly and indirectly, both kind and evil deeds.
So the concept of Satan as an opposer to God or the antithesis of good did evolve along with Christian doctrine as a sort of rolling mythology. Or at least many scholars believe this.
2007-03-06 01:51:08 · answer #1 · answered by Zen Pirate 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Many religions have common themes and they all borrow quite heavily from each other.
The concept of the "Devil" has been around for quite some time, at least dating back to the beginnings of Zoroastrianism around 1700 BCE.
The modern view of the devil with horns and goat hindquarters is borrowed by Christian Mythology from the Greek Mythological diety, Pan.
2007-03-06 01:52:54 · answer #2 · answered by EM 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The concept of the devil as represented by the serpent is mentioned in Genesis so your friend is wrong. The depiction of the horned, cloven hoofed entity is adopted from a Celtic / Pagan deity (name eludes me) and is undoubtedly evidence of Christianity literally demonising pagan beliefs.
The existence of a real, spiritual evil entity should not be dismissed lightly however just because we have found an explanation for the adoption of an image.
2007-03-06 02:23:31 · answer #3 · answered by des c 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
In the Jewish religion: The snake in the garden of Eden was just a snake. The adversary "ha-satan" in Job was a faithful angel. The "name" Lucifer is a mistranslation and does not appear in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible). Etc.
I don't know if it was specifically Christians who came up with the modern concepts of the devil and hell. It could have been Jews in the diaspora or Roman occupation looking for someone to blame for their troubles.
2007-03-06 02:03:48 · answer #4 · answered by rhoenes 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Early Christians didn't invent the devil. Hebrews already believed there was a devil who was the cause of all wrongs. By the way, there were many ancient cultures that believed in the existance of a devil. Most of those people were exterminated because of diseases and wars, and we know of them because of manuscripts and texts that survived them. They were not even remotely related to the Hebrews and yet they had similar believes in devils.
2007-03-06 02:04:52 · answer #5 · answered by David G 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The devil exists in the OT. Before the Christians did. Nice try.
The lies of the devil still have much power, just look at all the mockers and scoffers on this site. You should study the lies of the devil in Genesis 3, you will see you say the same things.
2007-03-06 01:48:02 · answer #6 · answered by great gig in the sky 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Without being 100% sure I think that the concept of Satan was introduced in the Jewish religion (and from there to the Christians) after their capture in Babylon. I think that the bipolar distinction of good and evil is originated in those parts of the world. For the ancient Persians it was a very important part of their religion. Of course the Christian church, especially the Catholic, did very good use of it in order to manipulate people.
2007-03-06 01:53:48 · answer #7 · answered by Donegal 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There is a devil if people believed him to be the cause of so much misery instead of blaming God then the truth would be a wonderful thing indeed.
2007-03-06 05:19:22 · answer #8 · answered by lucy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The serpent/devil was in the garden of Eden....Genesis 3:1-5, Ezekiel 28:13-16. And responding to the comment of another, we know this was Satan because snakes still cannot talk, and Satan used ventriloquism.
Rev. 20:2...calls Satan the original serpent, dragon,....
Job 1:6 ....shows that Satan entered the group of angels who station themselves before God in heaven, and this was in time way before Jesus came to earth.
It is quite possible that Satan is thousands/millions of years old, Ez.28:15. Isaiah 14:12-14.
IN fact Gehenna was created for Satan and his demons: Matthew 25:41. Rev.20:10.
2007-03-06 02:05:03 · answer #9 · answered by tienna 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Why would we invent the story of the devil? He is a demon that wanted to overthrow God and is determined to keep us from Him. That doesn't sound pleasant to me. Jesus himself spoke about te devil, so don't believe it's a fabrication. I don't think your friend knows to much about this subject. The devil has been well know for hundreds and hundreds of years. Even today the Catholic Church practices exorcisms as well as other Protestant denominations. Why would we invent the devil when separation from God is worse?
2007-03-06 01:50:47 · answer #10 · answered by Elisha 3 · 3⤊ 2⤋