Is the Devil really evil?

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For the longest time I've had the impression that he sort of made people question things, like this whole idea of the devil tempting people to do evil was more getting them to consider multiple options and come to their own conclusion rather than blindly doing what they felt gods will was. Sort of like a being that would help enlighten people to things.

He's probably based on a pagan god of some sort or various pagan gods, I mean I know the whole image of horns on his head and goats hooves comes from some mythologies outside Christianity.

Nice observation / analysis! Christian theologians have been arguing the role of "evil" and the Devil in exactly this way since Augustine of Hippo's day, roughly 400 CE. He argued that evil is not a thing but rather the name for corruption of the perfection of God's Creation. And that it was specifically caused by Eve *choosing* to learn about good and evil by giving the apple to Adam. Played well into the needs of the Church at that point & impacted the entire belief system from that point forward. Later theologians had to explain why their god - a being of assumed perfection - could possibly Create something which itself was imperfect. In my opinion, as a result, after a while much of Christian theology's moral arguments began to resemble the continuous addition of epicycles used to explain the motion of the planets without accepting a heliocentric system. Especially troublesome and awkward after they "invented" all those early tools for ensuring thought remained critical and logical.

That actually gives me an idea for a new thread! I'm thinking of making a "Is Paganism evil" kind of thread just to see what kinds of pagan rituals are the most ethical and ecologically friendly and which one are not. Thank you for giving me such a brilliant idea!

God becomes Satan when he is drunk. The next day after sobering up, God preaches abstinence, as all people during a hangover do.
Actually, the metaphor is philosophically interesting. God is a wild creative force, that creates tragedies. (The best art is tragic, Shakespeare, the blues etc) without any restraint. However, such exuberance eventually becomes painful.

The problem with the word "evil" is that it's a label that religious leaders as well as governors use for propaganda against a minority or a group of people just so they can have an edge when it comes to controlling the masses. Take for instance when the homosexuals were considered to be unnatural, abominations, inhuman and, as you would've guessed, evil by the majority of the Christian churches. It is very clear that the Christian church is creating propaganda against the homosexuals for the sake of religious fanaticism by using words like "evil". The word "evil" by its nature refers to someone whose moral code is wrong, wicked and twisted. Of course this depends on the perspective of each individual; what is good to me might be evil to the Muslims over at the middle east.

I hoped this helped clarify your judgement of what you think of as "evil"

A lot of people seem to think so from a certain point of view. Conquering the world is only fun for so long. All I really want is some sympathy .



I really don't know what to think about Lucifer. He makes a great literary antagonist. I doubt he's actually supposed to be an evil character, hes just got a stigma like any other keeper of the underworld. Someones got to do it.

Probably because they couldn't let go of the far-fetched notion that Isaiah 14 was talking about the devil. That and Jesus would be the morning star; the 'mourning star' would be a better fit for Hannah if anything.

All "Satan" is is mis-named being. The entity that Christians call Satan, is really the Germanic/Norse "trickster" God Loki. Satan, being Loki, is one of the sons of Odin, and likes to spread corruption all across Midgard (the Earth). So is Loki evil? Yes he is.

Are you suggesting that Hebrew is an offshoot of Norse?