When 'bad' things happened before Christianity, since there wasn't a Satan to blame,?

Question

who got the blame for evil. I know the Christians morphed a bunch of 'nad guys' (kings & deities) into one character but what motivated the bad gods in Greek and Egyptian mythology?

To those of you who have read/studied the concept of 'satan' and the NT character Satan aqnd realize it's different than the 'satan' in Job, thank you.
To the others-I have read Job, and quite a few other books in the OT so I klnow what I'm talking about.
No, I don't 'parrot' what I've read-Unfortunately, I don't have a photographic memory. I have read/heard both sides of the argument and have realized there is not an anti-God deity in the OT.

Oh-and thanks for pointing out my spelling error. Why I misspelled something b/c of a typo. Must mean I don't know anything and shouldn't bother to form any thoughts.

Passerby-Actually, you did include info I was not entirely aware of...

Passerby-Actually, you did include info I was not entirely aware of...

Answer 1

Unreal...some of these answers have left me speechless.

In response to the original question:

There has always been a balance of good and evil in the perceived powers. Whether it was a good god vs. a bad god, or demigods with character flaws (resembling humans in many cases). It's the yin and yang, the foundation of the whole gods/good and evil concept.

Answer 2

Mad you are right about the anti-god thing in the Torah (the 4 books of Moses) nor is there any such thing in the others and the Satan character in Job is seen as moving with God's orders. To be honest its all esoteric allegories.

There is a reason why there isn't a obvious Satan character in the Torah. lol.... it's obvious really. Although the scriptures are all allegories and the OT God is in itself an allegory, a characteristic of laws that are necessary to move things to its completion, if you notice in John the allegorical Jesus calls the God of the Jews the Devil. This is not referring to literal Jews, but a mindset that is outward, subjecting spiritual things to the flesh, so it serves the God of this world. The Gnostics styled this as the Demiurge or Samael, the False God.

Answer 3

If there really was no Satan, then we would have to blame evil on our own nature, our natural inclination to pursue pleasure. Just one thing I'd like to clarify as well: I don't believe Satan should be blamed for all evil, especially by Christians. Yes, he was the first to rebel against God, but we made the decision ourselves to rebel as well. Here's Genesis 3:6 "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." They both made the decision to rebel - Satan did not make it for them. Just something I thought I'd throw out there.

Answer 4

Apparently, you're one of the few people who frequent this forum that know the difference between Satan (the devil) and The Satan, the angel used by God to test people.

Christians don't know the difference. They think that passage refering to a falling star is about Lucifer. They have no clue that it was talking about a prideful human king.

Answer 5

There have been many Gods (like Satan) in earlier religions -- who were feared as Satan is today. Christianity likes to think it practices Monotheism, but believing in Satan and God proves this incorrect. Not to mention the thousands of Saints they pray to, as well as Jesus and Mary (in some sects). Good and Evil "God" persona's have been around long before Christianity. They just took those earlier beliefs and regurgitated them, creating Christianity. There's a great saying: Christianity has Pagan DNA. It's very true.

Answer 6

Before Christianity, bad things happened because the people were doing something wrong, they believed they were being punished because they were not worshiping enough, offering proper homage or giving proper sacrifice. The gods were angry with them for some reason and that was why "bad things" happened.

I dont know if this is right, but I think thats what people believed.

Answer 7

It is a lie that christians consolidated deities into one God. The Hebrew patriarchs believed in one God. This true faith was handed down the millenia by faithful Jews and continued by christians through Jesus. Satan is mentioned in the book of Job and Chronicles when he tempted david. In fact it was he who tempted Adam and Eve through the serpent in the garden of Eden. It's the same lie repackaged. What did the serpent say? You all can be like gods. Read it for yourself. In India their is over 300 million deities. In America people idolize sports heroes - movie stars - buisness icons - poitical leaders - teachers - rock stars - models - and even themselves. It is the same lie repackaged. Bad things happen because of rebellion against God. Try rebelling against your father or boss and see what happens.

Answer 8

Satan fell before Adam & Eve were sent out of the garden of Eden. Satan has been on the earth ever since.

Christ came 2007 years ago in 0 AD. His ministry started around 30 AD. Therefore, one can say Christianity -- the following of Jesus -- started sometime between 2007 and 1977 years ago.

With that, know you know your question does not make sense.

Answer 9

There has always been a mischievous character similar to Satan in all belief forms. oddly enough Satan or Satan like character are more common among all religions than a God figure.

Answer 10

See the Eden story in Genesis, or try the book of Job in the Old Testament. There is much interesting discussion in both books.