David, think on this. It's from a thread I started some time ago but it made me re-think some things. Maybe it will you, too.
Why is satan supposed to be so bad? What did he actually do? He gets the blame, sure, but what does he explicitly do? Can’t explain why you did something bad? Blame the devil! An excuse.
He tempted Adam & Eve by telling them the truth! If they ate from the tree they would be the equal of god. Is this true? They ate from the tree. God got pissed and threw them out ....
... And the bit about tempting jesus. So what? He tempted him, jesus declined the offer, no-harm-no foul as far as I can see. What does satan actually do that makes him so bad?
Tell folks to slaughter women and children (but keeping the more attractive women for wives)? Destroy whole towns or civilizations? Kill 70,000 people because some guy took a census and a myriad of other nasty things? No, it was god (the one who supposedly loves everyone) doing this! Not satan...
Exactly why is satan supposed to be so horribly bad? Read the examples above but there are many, many more. Satan did some tempting (big deal!) but gets the blame for a host of other things. It's only the bible writers' word. Satan makes a good universal scape goat. It keeps folks from accepting responsibility, something that humans don't readily accept.
Plus, all jehovah and his armies are going to be packing are some swords and chariots. I'd take my chances against that with a couple AR-15s, some dynamite and rocket-propelled grenades. Ever see a knife at a gun fight? I thought so.
Just some things to think about.
Robert