The Greatest Trick The Devil Ever Pulled Was Convincing The World He Didn't Exist
So I think it's time for another of my crackpot "theories". This is something I've been contemplating for...well, at least a week, maybe, but it does raise some definate questions, and I've finally decided to go and post about it after some religious discussion (if a Livejournal post could be considered "discussion") earlier today. Here it goes...
Postulation: Satan is not, in fact, evil.
That's right, the Devil is not the Infernal Prince of All Things Bad (well, we'll get to all of that in a minute). Good (or not, as the case may be) ol' Beelzebub is not nearly the villain everyone makes him out to be. He is no more evil than you or I. He is an insturment of God's divine will, or a wrench in the works, and most definately a trickster of the highest order. But an amoral villain? Hardly.
The origin of Lucifer is unclear, and is probably an amalgam of several different "ideas", from Set of the Khemet religion to the Sumerian religions (which served as the forerunner to Zoroastrianism, important later on) to superstitious beliefs about monsters in the dark. Indeed, the idea of a fallen angel (or angels at all) came from Zoroastrian beliefs, acquired during the exile to Babylon. The idea of the "fallen angel" who rebelled against God is a simple way to create an obvious evil, who tempts good men (Garden of Eden), destroys others (see the Book of Job) and even tries to trick the Son of God himself into shirking his destiny. But does that make him evil?
Virtually every belief system has a trickster in some form or another. Hermes and Eris play the role in the Olympians, Loki of the Norse myths, even the Native American coyote spirit. None of them are actually evil (Loki is entirely too complex a case to go into for the purposes of this post), and even with their sometimes destructive natures, the end result is almost always positive (lessons are learned, order is restored after the chaos, humanity gains fire). Yes, Loki eventually becomes evil, but it is because of the gods' own pride that he does so, which actually seems to similar to the story of Lucifer's fall. The Judeo-Christian belief system, however, seems to lack a trickster, a bug in the system that serves counter to the order of the world. Or, perhaps, the fathers of the religions felt that chaos was truly evil, that order, their order, should be followed. Thus, the view of Satan becomes twisted.
In the garden of Eden, the seprent tempts Adam and Eve into eating from the tree of knowledge (there is some discrepancy if this is the Devil, or just some particularly cunning snake. Indeed, it could just as easily been some version of Apep, the Egyptian demon). Everything he says is true, and he serves more as a conscience for these earliest of humans, asking them why they do what they do. Of course, the consequences see God getting pissed (there's only room for one God in His religion!) and kicking them out of Eden. This was not the serpent's fault, it was the rule-breaking humans (the snake didn't eat the apple, now did he? He did know a little much though...).
Fast forward a while, and we have the Book of Job. Job loves God, and God loves Job, and everything goes downhill (for Job) from there. While it is Satan (who's actually referred to as such at this point, but it's really means something more along the lines of "adversary" or "prosecutor" than "great evil"), it's God who first brings up Job, God who agrees to the challange, God who grants Satan the power (increasingly so in fact) to "test" Job. Job eventually passes the "test", retaining his faith, and Satan takes the blame moreso than God.
Old Scratch turns up shortly before the execution of Jesus, while he's on his soujourn in the desert, to tempt him with pride (even utilizing passages from the bible to this purpose), as well as to offer him all the kingdoms of the world. This hardly seems malicious, certainly less so than the rather vicious extended execution Jesus would soon face. Even offering the kingdoms of the world could potentially require God's aid, which could imply that he was doing so with divine backing (of course, this was one of the world's greatest tricksers we're talking about here).
And that pretty much ends the biblical machinations of Mephistopheles. He never really comes through as the "great evil" that he's made out to be. That is really more something that comes about due to the influence of Zoroastrianism, and it's monotheistic deity who is opposed a monolithic bad guy. Of course, there is a fairly notable difference in how God acts in the Old and New Testments (and the sort of deity that he is). He goes from vengeful, angry and prideful to kind, loving and good. But Christians are left with a hole. Bad things happen, good people go bad, and there had to be some reason for it (beyond mother nature and human nature). Thus the man known as Morning Star suddenly goes from a cunning trickster to straight up evil, looking to grab your soul and tempt you with sin.
But even in the more popular version of the Devil, he's rarely outright destructive and villainous (no, End of Days doesn't count). He remains a trickster, a little devil on the shoulder. He is temptation given form, he is that selfish part of us all (just as that angel would be the the selfless part). The Devil is an easy way for humanity to pass the blame (which people are entirely too apt to do), and to maintain the illusion that God is all good (and isn't prone to destroying cities because they won't listen to him). The Devil plays his part, the part he's always played, the same as Loki: he's maligned and hated so that the blame for the bad can be taken off the rest of us. Now is that really so evil?
Yes, he tempts people with offers of riches, power and, that most fallible of human desires, love. But it's not really him doing it. It's us. He's just the symbolic of our desires, and gives them life. "Hell on Earth" hardly seems like a concept he's interested in (he's already got one Hell...why would anyone want another? God definately doesn't want a Heaven on Earth, and we don't see, I dunno, Christopher Walken (as some...bookeeper or something) trying to stop Bruce Willis (as St.Micheal the Arcangel) from spreading the light of God on Earth. Actually, I think Gabriel Byrne would make a good St.Micheal...but never mind). He has an important role to play in God's grand scheme (just as Loki is necessary for Ragnarok, and the cycle of Norse life to conitnue), and will go on taking the bullet for God. If he is a fallen angel, perhaps he still has love for God, which keeps him doing what he does? Which makes him evil in the eyes of men even though he isn't?
Well, that's the theory. He's not a bad guy, really, though what he offers is, perhaps. Of course, is the break down of order actually evil? That's another theory for another day, kids...
Postulation: Satan is not, in fact, evil.
That's right, the Devil is not the Infernal Prince of All Things Bad (well, we'll get to all of that in a minute). Good (or not, as the case may be) ol' Beelzebub is not nearly the villain everyone makes him out to be. He is no more evil than you or I. He is an insturment of God's divine will, or a wrench in the works, and most definately a trickster of the highest order. But an amoral villain? Hardly.
The origin of Lucifer is unclear, and is probably an amalgam of several different "ideas", from Set of the Khemet religion to the Sumerian religions (which served as the forerunner to Zoroastrianism, important later on) to superstitious beliefs about monsters in the dark. Indeed, the idea of a fallen angel (or angels at all) came from Zoroastrian beliefs, acquired during the exile to Babylon. The idea of the "fallen angel" who rebelled against God is a simple way to create an obvious evil, who tempts good men (Garden of Eden), destroys others (see the Book of Job) and even tries to trick the Son of God himself into shirking his destiny. But does that make him evil?
Virtually every belief system has a trickster in some form or another. Hermes and Eris play the role in the Olympians, Loki of the Norse myths, even the Native American coyote spirit. None of them are actually evil (Loki is entirely too complex a case to go into for the purposes of this post), and even with their sometimes destructive natures, the end result is almost always positive (lessons are learned, order is restored after the chaos, humanity gains fire). Yes, Loki eventually becomes evil, but it is because of the gods' own pride that he does so, which actually seems to similar to the story of Lucifer's fall. The Judeo-Christian belief system, however, seems to lack a trickster, a bug in the system that serves counter to the order of the world. Or, perhaps, the fathers of the religions felt that chaos was truly evil, that order, their order, should be followed. Thus, the view of Satan becomes twisted.
In the garden of Eden, the seprent tempts Adam and Eve into eating from the tree of knowledge (there is some discrepancy if this is the Devil, or just some particularly cunning snake. Indeed, it could just as easily been some version of Apep, the Egyptian demon). Everything he says is true, and he serves more as a conscience for these earliest of humans, asking them why they do what they do. Of course, the consequences see God getting pissed (there's only room for one God in His religion!) and kicking them out of Eden. This was not the serpent's fault, it was the rule-breaking humans (the snake didn't eat the apple, now did he? He did know a little much though...).
Fast forward a while, and we have the Book of Job. Job loves God, and God loves Job, and everything goes downhill (for Job) from there. While it is Satan (who's actually referred to as such at this point, but it's really means something more along the lines of "adversary" or "prosecutor" than "great evil"), it's God who first brings up Job, God who agrees to the challange, God who grants Satan the power (increasingly so in fact) to "test" Job. Job eventually passes the "test", retaining his faith, and Satan takes the blame moreso than God.
Old Scratch turns up shortly before the execution of Jesus, while he's on his soujourn in the desert, to tempt him with pride (even utilizing passages from the bible to this purpose), as well as to offer him all the kingdoms of the world. This hardly seems malicious, certainly less so than the rather vicious extended execution Jesus would soon face. Even offering the kingdoms of the world could potentially require God's aid, which could imply that he was doing so with divine backing (of course, this was one of the world's greatest tricksers we're talking about here).
And that pretty much ends the biblical machinations of Mephistopheles. He never really comes through as the "great evil" that he's made out to be. That is really more something that comes about due to the influence of Zoroastrianism, and it's monotheistic deity who is opposed a monolithic bad guy. Of course, there is a fairly notable difference in how God acts in the Old and New Testments (and the sort of deity that he is). He goes from vengeful, angry and prideful to kind, loving and good. But Christians are left with a hole. Bad things happen, good people go bad, and there had to be some reason for it (beyond mother nature and human nature). Thus the man known as Morning Star suddenly goes from a cunning trickster to straight up evil, looking to grab your soul and tempt you with sin.
But even in the more popular version of the Devil, he's rarely outright destructive and villainous (no, End of Days doesn't count). He remains a trickster, a little devil on the shoulder. He is temptation given form, he is that selfish part of us all (just as that angel would be the the selfless part). The Devil is an easy way for humanity to pass the blame (which people are entirely too apt to do), and to maintain the illusion that God is all good (and isn't prone to destroying cities because they won't listen to him). The Devil plays his part, the part he's always played, the same as Loki: he's maligned and hated so that the blame for the bad can be taken off the rest of us. Now is that really so evil?
Yes, he tempts people with offers of riches, power and, that most fallible of human desires, love. But it's not really him doing it. It's us. He's just the symbolic of our desires, and gives them life. "Hell on Earth" hardly seems like a concept he's interested in (he's already got one Hell...why would anyone want another? God definately doesn't want a Heaven on Earth, and we don't see, I dunno, Christopher Walken (as some...bookeeper or something) trying to stop Bruce Willis (as St.Micheal the Arcangel) from spreading the light of God on Earth. Actually, I think Gabriel Byrne would make a good St.Micheal...but never mind). He has an important role to play in God's grand scheme (just as Loki is necessary for Ragnarok, and the cycle of Norse life to conitnue), and will go on taking the bullet for God. If he is a fallen angel, perhaps he still has love for God, which keeps him doing what he does? Which makes him evil in the eyes of men even though he isn't?
Well, that's the theory. He's not a bad guy, really, though what he offers is, perhaps. Of course, is the break down of order actually evil? That's another theory for another day, kids...