Link to original here http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium/the-devil-made-me-do-it-roger-conatser.jpg
About a week and a half ago in anticipation of writing this post I posted a poll in a Facebook group that is by and large inhabited by heterodox Mormons. There are other variations of belief ranging from none, to close to Orthodox but the meat lies in the middle.
The question I posed was “Do you believe in Satan?” It is important of course to make the distinction between believing in Satan and worshiping Satan; I specifically was interested in whether people believed in the existence of Satan, and what that existence might look like—no more, no less.
I don’t have the poll right in front of me, but the overwhelming majority of respondents reported that they either did not believe in Satan, or they did. There were other choices but they did not get very many responses at all. It seemed that mostly it was an all-or-nothing proposition. I purposely abstained from voting in the poll, or mentioning my feelings in the comments because I wanted to leave it as pure a sample as possible.
Now that the poll has been taken and long forgotten (life moves fast on Facebook) I can safely register my genuine surprise. A belief in the existence of Satan (the Devil, Lucifer, etc…) barely inched out disbelief. Again, this is a group largely populated by active members in different shapes and forms. The majority of those who registered disbelief indicated that they did not believe that Satan existed, but rather that it was a metaphor for the evil side of man. I felt this was certainly an interesting theory, but it was not one I could bring myself to get attached to.
I have seen pure evil in my life. I have seen the stirring behind the eyes that speaks of if not outright demonic possession, definitely the influence. I have also felt myself rip away from such evil influences. With all of these different factors, for me to deny it would be folly. Granted, other people do not have the same life experiences I do so I cannot think ill of them for their own conclusions. To be honest, I am not sure which proposition would be more comforting (if either).
This is not to say that I do not believe 100% in man’s free agency, because I do. The devil is that tricky bit of in between that I cannot quite put my finger on. I think Satan does not take away our agency, or make us do things, but just like other forces he has the power to influence us because of our fallen state. Sometimes, even unbeknownst to us, we let him. That to me speaks of full and free agency.
Aside from personal experience one of the major things that led me to these conclusions is actually not scripture, but the book The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. If you’ve not read it, I am not sure why you are sitting here reading this instead. If I had my way, The Screwtape Letters would be canonized as scripture. I have enjoyed many books, but outside of scripture (and sometimes even inside) I have never read something that actually spoke directly to my soul and my soul answered right back.
Satan as a force, without form but not without function is a daunting idea. The notion that such an evil can be born of God shakes the very foundation of the benevolence to be found there. The idea that his initial sin, in the grand scheme of things, did not even sound too terrible strikes fear into the heart of this sinner. What say you? Does Satan move among us tempting and testing? Outright possessing?
EOR
EOR is a convert and a divorcee. She is the 2013 Wheaties award winning author in the category: "Funniest Thread", and has a B.S. in Business Management and Economics. In addition to being a permablogger at Rational Faiths, she also is a permablogger at Expert Textperts. She lives in NY, has 2 cats, and enjoys brevity, deli sandwiches, and laughing.
All posts by EOR
Thanks for drawing attention to the subject.
He is all too real and does move among us. As to the agency question, it’s my personal belief that he skirts around it by waiting for individuals to hand over their agency. I don’t believe he was permitted the power to take our agency, but he is permitted to accept gifts of agency. The danger lies in not being aware of his presence and the true danger that he and his minions pose to children of God.
(I realize this makes me sound like a downright crackpot, but that’s something I’m willing to endure.)
I have a rough enough time with God to include a belief in Satan! haha. I think as a society we give this guy too much credit.
Yeah, he exists, along with Santa, the Easter Bunny,unicorns,the Tooth Fairy, trolls, ogres, leprechauns, big foot, flying saucers, Yeti, mermaids,witches– need I go on? Let’s all advance to the 21st century and let go of centuries-old myths and superstitions.
Actually, witches do exist.
As far as the existence of Satan, I see no reason why Satan is any less believable than God. If you don’t believe in God either then I guess your argument is at least consistent even while being condescending.
Believing in an all good God that lets an evil being do whatever he wants to people on earth is akin to locking your children in a house with a known psychopathic killer. It makes no sense whatsoever. Allowing harm and not doing anything to prevent harm are equally bad. That makes God and the Devil equally bad.
Believing in an all good God that lets an evil being do whatever he wants to people on earth is akin to locking your children in a house with a known psychopathic killer. It makes no sense whatsoever. Causing harm and not doing anything to prevent harm are equally bad. That makes God and the Devil equally bad. Likely, you will say that God allows the devil to tempt people to prove their worth, but that makes no sense either. So, since God lets Satan do this deceit it is the same as God hiring out a hitman to do his dirty work. So really God is trying to trick people into doing evil to get them into hell. Again, not much of an all good figure.
This is a very interesting argument. Thanks for sharing.
No condescension intended, just a call for reason and reality.
One man’s myth is another man’s reality. Go figure.
Yep. I think he’s real. I also think we create opportunities for ourselves to learn and use his well-tested methods of approaching the world: power-mongering, deciet, domination, control. . . all the pretty things that can feed the Beast within.
I also think accountabillity gets blurry in some case where children were raised in the company of the above-mentioned practices and become unwitting minions. I’m not here to judge them. Just the ones who want to invite me into their special Hell. No thank you.
I like Jesus better. Way better. Thanks for writing this.
Satan only comes to my mind when I think of the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live. So, it is usually with a smile on my face. I enjoyed your essay and it gave me pause to think… DO I believe in Satan as a distinct entity? I’m not certain-but maybe that is because of the Church Lady. Do I think we give him too much credit? (@Paul)-Yes. As dual beings we can find enough possibility for evil within ourselves.
It seems that Satan, in the scriptures, is our brother- and Jesus’ brother. I get the impression that he was one of the noble and great but just couldn’t abide the Free Agency thing. One of my brothers-in-law believes that if Satan repents, the atonement will kick in for him. I have never seen anyone who I thought was “possessed”-unless perhaps John Boehner and Michelle Bachman are. This is something that I’ll have to let “simmer on the pot.” One more thing @Brent-DON’T mess with Santa Claus or I will be possessed.
Thanks for sharing with us!
John Boehner! Ha ha. Maybe that is why his skin color is whacko!