What is your view of Satan? Is he pure evil? Does he have free will? What is his role in the world? Is he under God's control?
Can you give me an overview of how you view Satan and the problem (if you see it as a problem) of evil?
2007-12-02 17:52:56 · 5 answers · asked by enarchay 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
For Jews, anything that even remotely conflicts with the idea that God is One and Indivisible will be rejected because it precludes true, pure, monotheism. The idea that there is a God in heaven above who fights against a god of the underworld, or hell, is not monotheism, however, it is the same duality found in other pagan faiths. The Bible speaks of a character known as The Satan, who acts like a prosecuting attorney, or a district attorney, in God's court. However, The Satan has no power or authority in and of himself, rather he must get permission from the Judge, God, to do anything.
2007-12-02 17:57:15 · answer #1 · answered by kismet 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
First of all, angels don't have free will. They just mindlessly do whatever God tells them to. Thus, human beings are greater than angels in some respects, because we can choose whether to do good or evil.
The Satan (in Hebrew, it's Shah-ton) is basically a prosecutor in the Heavenly Court. The Satan points out our sins, and argues for the harshest punishments possible. Don't worry, there's a defense team as well.
The Satan is also involved with the Evil Inclination. As mentioned above, the reason human beings are greater than angels is because we have free will. Without the possibility of evil, we don't have free will. So yes, the Satan tempts people, but he does it on God's say-so.
2007-12-06 11:19:46 · answer #2 · answered by Melanie Mue 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We don't believe in Satan. We don't think about, talk about, or have opinions on, an entity which doesn't exist, as far as we are concerned.
We do believe that G-d gave us the capacity to choose right from wrong. We also believe G-d intentionally gave us an imperfect world to challenge us to become G-d's partners in perfecting that world. So we don't frame the world in terms of some abstract "evil", but in terms of the good work which has yet to be done, by us.
I hope that answers your question.
2007-12-04 19:27:53 · answer #3 · answered by SheyneinNH 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We do not believe in Satan. We believe that people can do evil and be evil by their actions.
2007-12-02 18:02:59 · answer #4 · answered by Alan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm not jewish but the way kismet put it sounds great to me.
2007-12-02 18:01:58 · answer #5 · answered by satya 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋