I just stumbled across this old thread, and found much of interest. My take on the original post is that a literal or metaphorical God and Devil need not be opposite polarities of a unified consciousness, magnetically bound to each other as two parts of one singular whole. To me, this is rooted in old aphorisms like "You can't have sunshine without rain," "You can't have light without darkness," and "You can know joy without sadness" ... to which I would ask, why not? Admittedly such things are beyond our experience, but the vastness of all-that-is probably is far vaster still than even our conception of the universe and of multiverses. If we can imagine a thing, it can probably exist, even if we have not seen it.
Additionally, I was struck by Kodaav's statement:
Kodaav wrote: I have a small theory that Satan is actually the good guy. Convincing Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge, that could be taken as Satan being the person to teach the blind masses or I could be going crazy just a thought
There are some esoteric groups that actually hold this belief. Satan is seen either as a heroic opponent of a false, capricious God (as in Christian Gnosticism) or as a partner of a gentler God whose kind intent for humanity was expressed in serving as the caretaker for innocent and relatively unaware human beings. Satan in either of these perspectives induced early humans to perform a forbidden act that opened their eyes to the freedom and power inherent within them, and while the price for that involved suffering for all concerned, the reward is the ultimate attainment by humans of their full potential. I would not argue that such a belief is ultimate truth; only that it may be a worthwhile possibility to consider for some.
Some of the comments here addressed the merits that may be present or absent in some of the world's most widely accepted religious texts, which offers a forum for my theory about scriptures. Perhaps the great scriptures from our history - the Torah, the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita - in fact are divinely sourced, but are provided to humanity as a bit of a trick. In most of them, if a reader looks for hope, inspiration, solace, or wisdom, s/he can find it there. On the other hand, if a different reader is seeking a justification for bias or hatred, or divine consent for violent or abusive behavior, that can be found there too. Perhaps the writings are designed to help us find what we seek, and rather than being authoritative sources describing the rules of life are instead just mirrors, that present us to ourselves, After we see what we are, we have the opportunity to choose whether or not we like what we see, and to change or remain the same. While I don't take much for certainty when it comes to spiritual affairs, I lean toward this understanding; it helps me comprehend why a single teaching can inspire people to become both pillars of compassion and embodiments of corruption.
