Greed, Lust and Ambition are the best advertised of Satan's lures...?

Question

But the two he can always rely on are Pettiness and Spite."

Agree or disagree? Preferably at length.

And lady m, depaireth not. It took me two readings to realize that Michael's answer was that ignorance is a tool of the devil, and a third to realize he was proselytixing for the JW's

And lady m, depaireth not. It took me two readings to realize that Michael's answer was that ignorance is a tool of the devil, and a third to realize he was proselytizing for the JW's

Evil truly exists, Raji, whether or not we give it an anthropomorphic personification.

Answer 1

dang, that first guy gave you length, how can I top that.

OK, pettiness and spite,the tools of the devil? Well, as we know there is no devil, but if there was, they are great tools for anyone to use to get even and be really back stabbing and mean spirited.

Example: siblings Morgan and Trent share one TV, and they rotate days when one or the other has control of th channel. They have a big fight over who has to walk the dog, and mom says it is Morgan's turn, and so Morgan is mad.. It comes time to watch TV later, and it is Morgan's turn to say what they will watch. Trent has been waiting for 3 months to watch the Madpol Comedy Hour, but Morgan has the control and won't let Trent watch the show, even though there is nothing on that Morgan wants to watch.

THAT is pettiness and spite for you. Siblings are good at it when they are young and there is only one TV.

Ciao,
Lady Morgana

PS any use of a name in this story that is similar to the author's name is purely coincidental.

Answer 2

Any form of divisiveness is the tool of the devil. Sad part is many do not know the true origins of many of the traditions they practice, and therefore do not even realize that they are bowing to the devil when they think they are worshipping God. I am not trying to be judgemental or self righteous, but the Cross is a fiction, according to the Roman record from the time of the execution of one called Jesus of Nazareth he was executed upon a cruz simplicus (basically a telephone pole). The cruz simplicus was used because with the hands above the head the blood pressure rises until you start to drown in your own fluids. Regardless of the cross' inaccuracy why would you want to keep in front of you a symbol of your best friends execution... so if he were killed in the electric chair would there have been a big chair hung at the front, and on the roof of every church. The Cross was also a symbol of a Babylonian 7 headded dragon Goddess named Tiamat, funny how Satan the Devil is known as he great dragon, and the Cross is the symbol of a dragon goddess. Satan ensnared some with division between Christ being the Son of God with a begining, and part of some abstract Trinity around the 4th Century (long after the Apostles, and those they directly taught were dead). More division was caused by the inclusion of other renamed pagan traditions which became Christmas, and Easter though they were pagan in origin the "Church" at the time sanction it in the name of getting people to know Christ, and through him God... But the Greatest tool Satan used once he was able to convince the world that he was only a fairy tale, or a corruption in men, was to obscure God's name in his own Holy Book... He started by getting Jews into a manmade tradition of not using God's name out loud, so its most accurate pronunciation got lost in time. But the 4 letters of the Tetragrammaton can be translated two ways due to choices in pronunciation... YHWH or JHVH (Yahweh or Jehovah) either way his name had much more meaning than the titles Lord or Most High. His name means "He Causes to Become" which can be taken from the standpoit of he caused the whole universe in all its splendor to become, and also that he can become whatever is needed by "his people."

It is very important to come to an accurate knowledge of God, and the one he sent Jesus Christ. One Helpful tool to come to accurate knowledge is the free book "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" which you can request your copy from http://www.watchtower.org

Answer 3

We must not forget vanity, also. Pettiness and spite are a part of all vices -- to single them out or away from the others is unnecessary.

I think greed and avarice are the greatest lures for people to veer off on their Path toward Oneness. Society is all about money, things, the better job, the better education, the smarter lawyer or doctor, the snobbier banker. Greed is all about being petty and spiteful, as is avarice.

I think if more people gave it all up and lived like monks on a mountaintop for awhile they would learn to appreciate the simpler things in life -- hot water for a shower; a pillow for a bed; a blanket -- the things so many of us take for granted every day. When we lose these things (and think about all of those who have lost even more), we learn to live without them, we adjust, we make do. And when we get them back, oh, the joy! The simplest of things can bring us such pleasure. Greed is contained, overcome. We have risen above it. We have grown.

What a beautiful thing.

Answer 4

LOL @ Morgana's Disclaimer.

Mad, old friend, Being a Wiccan and not believeing in the "Devil", I have a hard time accepting the idea that thse are tools of him. However they ARE temptations to ALL of us, in and of themselves. We are humans and, as such, we have our good days and our not-so-good days. We ALL have days where we can be greedy, lustful, hateful and petty. The thing that sets us apart from the ones who FALL for those temptations is our OWN code of morality. NOt ONLY that sel-imposed code but also how much we are willing to follow that code. Therein lies the KEY. Self Responsibility!

Too many people are so lazy as to let ourselves FALL for the temptations and then follow that act up by placing the blame (responsibility) onto some "evil boogeyman", "The Devil made me do it". So when we do that we commit TWO wrongs, the act of falling for the tempting AND the evading the responsibility of the action by blaming it on some other being wh is supposed to be in "control". I can't tell you HOW many times I have gotten an apology from someone who tehn turns around and evades the responsibility of his/her offense witrh "the devil made me do it". NO, the devil DIDN'T make you do it, YOU made you do it. I have a hard time leting an offense against me go when someone tries to mitigate the offending act by laying responsibility onto the Devil. I'd much rather hear the whole truth and nothing BUT the Truth. "I'm sorry, I let myself become overcome by the temptation to xxxxxx, I failed to keep contol of myself and I'm sorry I did that.". NOw THAT is a sincere apology, it accepts the responsibility for the offense in it's entirety and doesn't try to shift some of the blame onto a non-existent "force", that is running their life for them.

When people start accepting total responsibility for their actions and making sincere apologies for their OWN actions, the sooner we will be able to GROW, spiritually and become HONEST between ourselves and those around us. We, as a people, need to start accepting complete responsibility for our OWN actions. When we make an apology/atonement with the "Devil Made me do it" Disclaimer, we cheapen ourselves, make the apology totally hollow and meaningless, and evade our OWN responsibility. That's just MY opinion on this but, It makes the MOST sense to me.

Brightest Blessings,
Raji the Green Witch