God and the Devil

Edan wrote: God did exist without the devil originally... the creation of the devil was due to an oversight by God.. (if we're talking Christian myth here). (From my viewing of it.)

Well, Christianity teaches that they're separate and that the devil's ambition outgrew his sense.

Prior to that, if we look at the Book of Job (one of the oldest extant texts, if memory serves, and linguistically unique from the rest of the Old Testament), we see something different. Satan is as his name implies, just God's District Attorney. Nothing more.

haha I love this topic because everyone can relate to it through their prior experiences with religion. god=good, devil=bad. So now I can tell you all what is good and what is bad:
Good:
1. Sex with animals - god said so
2. Killing people - god said so
Bad:
1. Sharing - Satan loves this
2. Love - Satan likes this

I LOVE the magnet analogy. A piece of something trapped in some mystery, torn between freedom and 'alignment'. In this regard I'd view God as representing freedom, and the devil as being enslaved to banal (read subconscious) drivers. Of course it could be flipped and viewed the other way from other points of view, which is why I find it a good one, thanks!!
:lol:

Whyte Horse wrote: haha I love this topic because everyone can relate to it through their prior experiences with religion.

Yea, that must be exactly my problem here. I just don't have any such experience so all I read is a few thoughts and all I have to add amounts to "Hang on, that's not how magnets work...!"

god=good, devil=bad.

Now... I don't know how it is with other religions, but the holy texts I read never actually showed us this. Superman is good because he helps people in need first and asks questions later, if at all. The Joker is evil because all he seeks is havoc and destruction for pretty much nothing but his own amusement. There is no big introduction that tells us that Superman is the pinnacle of goodness or that the Joker is pure materialized evil. Instead of being told this we are being shown it through their dialogue and actions. Theology aside, the text itself really only declares who is the good one and who is the bad one and the examples you give right after what I quoted demonstrate that the rest of the text tells quite a different story indeed...

Whyte Horse wrote: haha I love this topic because everyone can relate to it through their prior experiences with religion. god=good, devil=bad. So now I can tell you all what is good and what is bad:
Good:
1. Sex with animals - god said so
2. Killing people - god said so
Bad:
1. Sharing - Satan loves this
2. Love - Satan likes this

People said god said so. People said satin likes this. Some people believe they were inspired by god/satan. I think their are attempts to undestand and explain stuff.

that's not how magnets work.

?

that's not how magnets work.

?

!

Gisteron wrote:

that's not how magnets work.

?

!

I still don't understand what you mean?

Rickie wrote: God and the Devil are a magnet. United as one, polar opposites, attract diffferently and one would not exist without the other.

I am going to do something here...
Just for fun.
I was raised by a Mormon and a Catholic who allowed me to pick my own path.
So I've decided to approach this from a Mormon viewpoint just for fun and, possibly, educational purposes. These are not my own beliefs and I am not Mormon myself. I won't bash the religion in any way, either, I'm simply going to state a view from that standpoint. I hope this makes sense and can be fun...

God and the Devil aren't opposites as Lucifer is God's actual son just as Jesus is God's actual son.
Jesus and Lucifer are brothers.
I mean this in a way that they are actually brothers and God is their father, just how families are here on Earth.
In that regard, Jesus and God are not the same person, they are only one in the sense that their purpose is the same.
Lucifer, however, was cast into "Hell" after he came up with an idea to get us back to God (spiritually and physically). His idea was that instead of having free agency and the ability to choose good or bad, we would simply not have a choice and would always do good.
Edit: I forgot to add that since Lucifer came up with this idea he wanted all the glory to be given to himself and not to God - which is what made God mad enough to cast him out.

So, according to all of that, Lucifer isn't a necessity except to give us someone to tempt us and lead us astray. Not that we don't do good enough a job of that on our own, of course. He's just there for extra support in doing all the bad things and making us feel awful about it when we do. Mormon theology also teaches that this is the way it's been done before and will continue to be done forever. As in - the world God lived on when he was mortal also had a Satan-type and his god before that, etc.

Phew.
I hope no one has any questions about any of this. haha

I'm not sure if I believe in a god or devil anymore. My belief lines up more with Buddhism. I believe in the big bounce theory, a cycle of life eternal. I believe our energies never die and return to the force for rebirth, in this universe or the next. I believe good and evil have consequences, in this life or the next. I don't think any cosmic forces or divine forces try to win our devotion. I think our consequences derive from or cohesion, or lack of, with our world. The more conflict you cause with it, the more negative feedback you receive.