Does the devil exist?

[macsen rufus]

I say we try another angle.

Could someone open a thread called "Does the devil exist?" and state his position, so we can see where we get. I promise not to troll, derail or misbehave otherwise, on condition that it's the real beef we're discussing. Not some abstract concept of evil that is defined beforehand as intangible and incomprehensible, but a conscious and consciously evil being that intervenes in the natural world.

G'won, hit me!

I'll take the bait, and start the ball rolling. I probably wouldn't have been moved to, except that earlier this week I saw a newspaper billboard, in which the featured headline was "Satan was at the wheel". I presume this meant some driver was claiming (in court) that his car crash was caused by the aforementioned "consciously evil" entity, rather than his own shortcomings with mechanical devices.....

Personally I take the view that human folly and selfishness is sufficient cause for all the evil we perceive in the world, without multiplying entities to account for it, yet I have encountered many, many devout people who absolutely know the Devil is real (and is personally responsible for me not believing in him).

Let it roll

[HoreTore]

Well, looking at what the good guy does(killing every firstborn for the crimes of the monarch, burning an entire city because of gay people, etc), I say we give this "devil" a shot.

[Mikeus Caesar]

I for one, welcome our Satanic overlord.

[Beirut]

I thought you were the Satanic overlord.

Oh well, I'll take the posters down and stop praying.

[Mikeus Caesar]

I thought you were the Satanic overlord.

Oh well, I'll take the posters down and stop praying.

Put those posters back up, minion. I'm your quasi-Satanic overlord.

[Mooks]

My first thought when I saw the thread "Is this the beggining of a chain reaction? Only a matter of time before "Does the Easter Bunny exist?"

Anyway, people need a scapegoat for some reason. And the devil (a unseeable-unknowable force) is a good one.

[Geoffrey S]

Not some abstract concept of evil that is defined beforehand as intangible and incomprehensible, but a conscious and consciously evil being that intervenes in the natural world.

Wasn't the whole point that each of the six billion wandering is potentially that definition? The devil is the depths to which a person can fall. While the motivations may be intangible, the deeds are not.

[Flying Pig]

I have a wierd view on God/the Devil, so please nobody assassinate me!

'God' is a word people created to describe the force that created the universe, like luck which is an embodiment of random stuff going your way. The davil, thus, is as god but made to explain evil

By the way, I am an atheist.

[LittleGrizzly]

I think there is room for an omniscient being to know every possible path we can end up on. Paths that change depending on what we choose on a particular turn in our life. It is this choice that God’s children are free to make.

Im curious, do you think God nows what choices we are going to make before we make them ?

[Craterus]

How can he not?

[Husar]

I have a wierd view on God/the Devil, so please nobody assassinate me!

'God' is a word people created to describe the force that created the universe, like luck which is an embodiment of random stuff going your way. The davil, thus, is as god but made to explain evil

By the way, I am an atheist.

Well, 'table' is a word invented to describe a device you can put things on and 'chair' is a word invented to describe a device you can sit on but I know what you mean. It does not explain a lot though.