The devil was a latter developement in the Bible, brought on by Persian influence of Zorasterism. Earlier written parts of the Bible do not contain a devil God (jehovah) brought both Good and Evil on people without the need to blame it on some all bad creature.
The argument--whether or not the Devil exists
by The wanderer 23 Replies latest jw friends
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free2beme
The ability to do good or evil exist in us all. Even people who are considered evil in their acts, have still done great things, evil but great none the less. So perhaps evil is just like many things in life, a matter of perspective.
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Undecided
How would I prove the existance of either one, I haven't seen any God or Devil. Just don't ask my wife, she might have a different story.
Ken P.
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Big Tex
Children are raped and/or beaten every minute of every hour of every day.
Men, women and children are murdered, tortured, beaten every minute of every hour of every day.
Atrocities even more hideous than these are committed every day.Humans do enough monstrous, evil and demonic things to one another.
We don't need Satan. We do enough on our own.
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Carmel
"The reality underlying this question is that the evil spirit, Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower nature in man. This baser nature is symbolized in various ways. In man there are two expressions, one is the expression of nature, the other the expression of the spiritual realm. The world of nature is defective. Look at it clearly, casting aside all superstition and imagination. If you should leave a man uneducated and barbarous in the wilds of Africa, would there be any doubt about his remaining ignorant? God has never created an evil spirit; all such ideas and nomenclature are symbols expressing the mere human or earthly nature of man. It is an essential condition of the soil of earth that thorns, weeds and fruitless trees may grow from it. Relatively speaking, this is evil; it is simply the lower state and baser product of nature."b
(Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 77)
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Carmel
"The reality underlying this question is that the evil spirit, Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower nature in man. This baser nature is symbolized in various ways. In man there are two expressions, one is the expression of nature, the other the expression of the spiritual realm. The world of nature is defective. Look at it clearly, casting aside all superstition and imagination. If you should leave a man uneducated and barbarous in the wilds of Africa, would there be any doubt about his remaining ignorant? God has never created an evil spirit; all such ideas and nomenclature are symbols expressing the mere human or earthly nature of man. It is an essential condition of the soil of earth that thorns, weeds and fruitless trees may grow from it. Relatively speaking, this is evil; it is simply the lower state and baser product of nature."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 77)
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Carmel
Whoops! My evil thumb hit the reply button twice!
Sorry! Get thee behind me Satan!
carmel
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hambeak
Big Tex I agree maybe man is inherent with evil but what is his influence?
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OUTLAW
Of coarse the Devil ExistS..It is a metephor..Everyone makes thier choices..Did you Make the right choice?.Or did you do,what was good for you?..OUTLAW
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Anony-Mouse
They say money is the root of all evil.
It goes deeper than that.
Selfishness is the root of 'most' evil.
I say most because, even though one person sees something as evil, another does not.
A person that washes thier hands with antibacterial soap could be considered evil. They killed millions of bacteria.
And there is unintentional evil, such as Bush bombing innocent civilians. It is up to the people wronged whether it was evil, or a complete accident.
Mental illness can play a part. A psychopath might kill someone, and not realize it's wrong.
Personally, I think any harm done to another human being, and especially killing them, is evil. If it was an accident, you can be forgiven. And if it was in self defense, or in the defense of another, it can be forgiven.
But devil? I doubt if there was, he would have thought up nuclear bombs...