Nonbelievers in Christ and Satan: When you are thinking something pleasant?

Question

and all of a sudden a very bad, evil thought pops into your head, where do you think it from? Just curious.

Thank you Mr.knowitall. Your point is well-taking

Answer 1

Nobody takes this question seriously, but I will!

I have friends from many different religious traditions. I've talked about religion with all of them and I'd like to think I learned something from all of them. My own beliefs are very eclectic. Rather than believe what some particular doctrine tells me I must believe, I pick up ideas that seem reasonable and believable to me.

Years ago I had a fundamentalist girlfriend and I went to her Tuesday night Bible Study and her Bible-Believing church. She gave me a book to read entitled 'Spiritual Warfare'. It was about how Satan influences us. And it talked about the point you raise in your question--how some days we just wake up in a bad mood. We feel sad or angry or frustrated or depressed, but we're not sad or angry or frustrated depressed about anything in particular, we just have the emotion. The book insisted that this was Satan exercising his power over us, and that we only had to realize this and ask God for help in fighting it.

Well I'm not so sure Satan affects us this way, in fact to tell you the truth I'm not sure Satan even exists. But the book was right in that I -do- some days get in a bad mood, I feel negative emotions for no apparent reason. I think it's just human nature. And rather than just look for someone to 'take it out on', or to punish myself by thinking I'm just a terrible person, I have my own coping strategies. I pet the cat, I go for a walk, I do some work around the house, I hug my sweetie and reflect on how lucky I am to have such a good life.

The idea, though, is a good one, that a lot of times when we're angry or sad or depressed, we should think for a minute about what it is that makes us feel this way. Often it's NOTHING! Once you realize that, you already feel a little better.

Answer 2

Then never happens to me. I have had bad thoughts but they did not happen while I was thinking of something pleasant. Everyone has bad thoughts every once in a while; that's just human nature. If you carry out this idea to it's extreme, you could then say that no one is responsible for evil acts because "the Devil made them do it." So should we let all the killers and rapists out of jail because it was Satan who caused them to do what they did? Now, of course, that sounds silly, doesn't it?

Answer 3

How can you claim the good thought was not an influence of my gaurdian goddess and a bad thought came from another god/goddess that was playing tricks?
Answer me this...Where do babies come from? First, from TWO people. Sometimes, many are involved in getting the two parties together, sometimes not. Depends.
Second, the baby grows and develops in a female. Human FEMALES are the ones who (generally) are equipped with biology to nurture and raise a child.
My point is, human society does not operate well with a single individual in charge (monarchies, dictators) and many would argue that two parents or even a 'village' is better to raise a kid than a single individual. Plus, how many single fathers are there as opposed to single mothers?
I just can not bring myself to reason that a singular, masculine deity would have created everything to not represent 'him' and to start out with no motivation.

Answer 4

It's called taking responsibilty for your own thoughts, speech, and action. Nobody else "makes" you think something, or say something, or do something. YOU do. That's called free will.

If something "evil" like "man i really hate that guy he is such a jerk" pops into my head, then I know *I* thought it, not some "demonic force". At that point I can realise that the situation I'm in or observing happened because there is a lesson to be learned from it, and I can either choose to discover what that lesson is and move on, or I can choose to just sit there and continue to hate the guy.

Nobody makes those choices except me. I am responsible for all my thoughts, actions, and deeds, AND what I do with them.

Answer 5

I'm not sure how to answer that. I don't just want to say "my brain" but I'm not sure how to give more of an explanation. I guess I'd throw in memories and our brain's general processing.

Are you saying that every time you think something bad, it comes from Satan injecting a thought into your mind? Satan really has the time for that? And we never, ever as humans naturally have bad thoughts? I just can't find that remotely feasible, even with a deity involved.

Answer 6

I don't really have very bad, evil thoughts suddenly pop into my head. Especially if I'm in the middle of thinking something pleasant.

Answer 7

Honestly, my brain. Just as any other thought gets generated.

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That is a very good answer Mr. Knowitall. I hope it doesn't appear that I was being facetious or not seeing value in the question. I just saw the answer as being that simple. I think that the mind has a tendency to wander for several different times of reasons. Sometimes they are sub-conscious (often derivative of stresses or deep seeded frustrations) sometimes you just get those emotions you just can't shake and they come to bite you every now and again. Either way, sometimes something negative just creeps in. It's just the way people are, in my opinion.

Answer 8

Well, I can't say that bad and evil thoughts pop into my head when I'm thinking of pleasant things. lol Though hypothetically speaking I'd say it came from me and no where else.

Answer 9

Life experience. I believe that Christ walked the earth, but so did many other men with God in their hearts. I think satan is a joke and I refuse to give it/him any power!

Answer 10

i occasionally have bad thoughts because i'm human.

we control what we think for the most part, but i have thought some bad things when someone cuts me off in traffic.

i hope that i deal with them the same way most people do...i push it from my mind.

i've never had an evil thought. what would you call evil?

bright blessings