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Satan, Lucifer, Old Nick, The Beast, whatever you want to call him. He has been a driving force in the narrative of Judaism, Christianity and Islam for thousands of years.

But hold on, there's a flaw.

Satan is supposedly the embodiment of evil, and rules Hell. Supposedly, sinners go to Hell and are punished. But surely, if Satan was so evil, then he would be congratulating sinners for their behaviour and rewarding them with indulgences and a place in the daemonic legions, so that he may one day rise up against God and finally put an end to his incompetence? This draws me to 3 possible conclusions:

A: Satan is evil, and rewards evil, as mentioned above.
B: Satan feels regret for his treachery and punishes evil, along with himself.
C: Satan is made up (my money is on this one).

Thoughts?

That's only 3 conclusions

Summertime in the OT forum. There's nothing quite like it.

But he would be taking more pleasure in torturing sinners than rewarding them with indulgences.

I think you should actually read the (few) parts of the Bible that have anything to do with Satan.

filbert wrote:That's only 3 conclusions

Whoops. Typo. I had better fix that.

Squigsquasher wrote:

filbert wrote:That's only 3 conclusions

Whoops. Typo. I had better fix that.

You spoiled it now - my earlier post looks completely out of context.

Satan is definitely made up, but so is the entire rest of the bible so its moot.

You've already posted that Vitruvian.

Valkyrie, that's a fair point, but not all sinners are the same. On the one hand, a willing unrepentant sinner would earn the respect of Satan, and recieve unholy favour.

On the other hand, evildoers who claimed to he pious and good would simply piss him off and suffer torment.

Or, maybe, it's all made up.

Here's one you might not have thought of:

Satan is angry because he is where he is, and people who yield to him become their own worst tormentors when they think about not being able to be in God's presence because of their actions.
No fire, brimstone, and pitchforks in the butt. Unrepentant sinners have to deal the fact that because of their actions, they would be in worse torment being around God.
It's kind of like settling for a penny in the first hour of the day when those who held out until day's end recieve an unlimited expense account.

Satan doesn't rule hell, its just the place he's to be placed after the rapture for all eternity, as punishment for rebelling.

And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into a bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand yeasr should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Revelations 20:2-3

and the Devil that deceived them was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Revelations 2-:10

He is being punished and tormented side by side with the sinners, not ruling them

Your forgot D: Satan's a douche.

Vitruvian XVII wrote:Satan is definitely made up, but so is the entire rest of the bible so its moot.

You're right. All that historical information about the Romans and various nations and historical figures was completely made up.

Squigsquasher wrote:On the one hand, a willing unrepentant sinner would earn the respect of Satan, and recieve unholy favour.

On the other hand, evildoers who claimed to he pious and good would simply piss him off and suffer torment.

Where does it mention or even imply any of that in the Bible? I don't remember anything about earning the respect of Satan or any opportunities to receive unholy favors.

Fair enough, however given that Satan is supposedly capable of possessing people and conjouring armies of Daemons, he would be capable of making his (and his fellow sinners ) existence a little more comfortable...

Where does it mention or even imply any of that in the Bible? I don't remember anything about earning the respect of Satan or any opportunities to receive unholy favors.

That's because most of the cultural depictions of Satan common in modern culture come from folklore rather than the Bible. The Bible actually has very little to say about Satan or Hell.

Squigsquasher wrote:Fair enough, however given that Satan is supposedly capable of possessing people and conjouring armies of Daemons, he would be capable of making his (and his fellow sinners ) existence a little more comfortable...

He's not capable of anything but suffering.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And of course, temptation.

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:Satan doesn't rule hell, its just the place he's to be placed after the rapture for all eternity, as punishment for rebelling.

And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into a bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand yeasr should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Revelations 20:2-3

and the Devil that deceived them was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Revelations 2-:10

He is being punished and tormented side by side with the sinners, not ruling them

So why the constant babbling about making pacts with the Devil, being possessed by the Devil etc. He must still have some power (or at least he wouldif he weren't the Bible's Macguffin).

Squigsquasher wrote:Fair enough, however given that Satan is supposedly capable of possessing people and conjouring armies of Daemons, he would be capable of making his (and his fellow sinners ) existence a little more comfortable...

Supposedly according to what?

LordofHats wrote:

Where does it mention or even imply any of that in the Bible? I don't remember anything about earning the respect of Satan or any opportunities to receive unholy favors.

That's because most of the cultural depictions of Satan common in modern culture come from folklore rather than the Bible. The Bible actually has very little to say about Satan or Hell.

Exactly. Which is why I'm suggesting the original poster actually read the few parts of the Bible that actually say anything about Satan or Hell if we're going to have a conversation about Satan and "where the Bible went wrong."

Relapse wrote:

Squigsquasher wrote:Fair enough, however given that Satan is supposedly capable of possessing people and conjouring armies of Daemons, he would be capable of making his (and his fellow sinners ) existence a little more comfortable...

He's not capable of anything but suffering.


.

After the rapture, as per Revelations. Right now he is wandering the universe tempting whoever he can,

And remember that "Demons" are the other fallen angels that fell with Lucifer so they don't appear as evil beings.

The only power he has is temptation and suffering.

well i certainly think someone went wrong here somewhere

Two religion threads?

Jesus, school got out early.

Hordini wrote:

Vitruvian XVII wrote:Satan is definitely made up, but so is the entire rest of the bible so its moot.

You're right. All that historical information about the Romans and various nations and historical figures was completely made up.

Lol, pretty sure you knew what i meant!

Considering it's all garbage anyway, the point is moot.

It was just a thought experiment.

Squigsquasher wrote:Considering it's all garbage anyway, the point is moot.

It was just a thought experiment.

Ah, the "it's all garbage anyway, the point is moot" defense.

Smooth way to back out of a discussion you started about a figure in a text you obviously haven't read.

To be fair, its the most sane thing in this thread so far

Ah, the point where the troll thread blows up in the OP's face.

Magic.

In other news; why does Santa feel compelled to reward good children once a year? What does he do the other 364 days a year (365 on a leap year)?

I haven't read the not particularly good book itself, but I have read extracts. Twas a while ago, and I couldn't quote anything, but I got the gyst of it.

Plus, depends which Bible we are talking about. It has been translated, retranslated, mistranslated and deliberately edited so many times that even if the events described were real it is an unreliable record of said events, unless you can find me the original Bible.