Does the devil exist?

[Divinus Arma]

"a conscious and consciously evil being that intervenes in the natural world" suffers from the same lack of evidence as any other metaphysical interventionist.

Hey Big_John, terrific choice of words. "Metaphysical interventionist" best describes the inaccurate perception of the Lord as promulgated by the Catholic Church.

I am posting here to deflate that. I'll first address the perception of the Lord as an interventionist in experiential reality. Then I'll address the nature of the Devil and Evil.

Regarding the Intervention of the Lord: I would ask that you first check out this thread to cover the foundation for the nature of God.

God does not physically intervene. It doesn't happen. That is the reason we were created. We are his hands upon the world. We, when we choose to follow his will, contribute to shaping existence. We physically intervene and do as he desires to change our experience as sentient beings. This does not require a high intellect or a specific talent. We all have our individual role to play.

Their is no self-aware evil. The Devil as an entity does not exist. Evil is our decision to act directly contradictory to the will of God. Most of what we do is neutral and has no significance: defecating, sleeping, etc. But when we have the opportunity to commit an act of evil with no consequence for commission (finding a wallet and taking out the money), we choose to do His will or not. Furthermore, if we choose to take it a step further and create opportunities to commit evil, we are acting with a greater degree of evil.

Not all evil is equal. But all evil is still evil. Just as water may vary in volume, it is still water.

We take on the role of Devil when we choose to not just ignore God's will, but when we choose to exploit created opportunities to act against God. In this way, since we are created beings, the Devil is indeed "created".

As for "which is stronger": The best analogy compares God to light and evil to darkness. Darkness does not extinguish light. Rather, darkness is an absence of light.

So too with following the will of God. Evil exists when we fail to follow His will. We can follow, we can ignore, or we can act against. Most people just ignore and pretend that both evil and God do not exist. Thus a person who murders someone for fun must be "insane" rather than evil.