Do you believe in the devil?

God, and I always thought that the Devil (TM) and Hell (R) were invented to add excitement to Christianity (TM) and the World (Patent Number IAM00010299K3001438800000Z00040U0.blzbb at the Universal Patent Office).

 

Well you wont see an animal being mean purely out of spite, so i believe "evil" or hate in the world is just a result of human consciousness and desire, so i dont believe in evil or a devil.

 

ya, in hinduism there is a devil. Its called Maya - Illusion. It is the devil that keeps us souls away from knowledge of our true nature, leaving us stranded in the ocean of ignorance. There are many ways of getting away from this devil.
1) Bhakti margha
2) Jnana Margha
are the two most prominent.

 

The devil is in your mind. Evil is in your mind. There is only harm or benefit. And that is relative...

 

I love it when the devil guest stars on South Park...he hasn't been the same since Saddam was sent to heaven though...




Seriously though, I don't believe in the devil so my lame attemt at humor was all I could add to the conversation. I can understand how the concept of the devil came about, however.

 

the devil is just God's other personality.
the two go hand in hand really. you can't believe in just one side of the opposites.

 

I like Al Pacino in "The Devil's Advocate". That's one cool devil.
Starting right after Kevin Lomax shoots at....

Milton
Whoa.... Got me! Damn!
(laughing)
That's my boy. Step on up! Stay angry! Keep hold to that great fury! Hnag on tight, Kevin, it's the final fig leaf.

Kevin
Who are you?
Milton
Never lost a case. Why? Why? Because you're so fucking good? Yes. But why?
Kevin
Because you're my father.
Milton
Well, I'm a little more than that. Awful hot in that courtroom, wasn't it?
'What's the game plan, Kevin?' (reporter's voice) 'It was a nice run, Kevin. Had to close out someday.'
Kevin
Who are you?
Milton
I have so many names.
Kevin
Satan.
Milton
Call me Dad.

Rest of the script at :http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/devils_advocate.pdf

I love my God/Father....

 

Precisely. Devil is like God's worker, he works to punish the evil doers and take them off God's hands. When you go to heaven, don't be surprised if they both have tea together.

 

Please explain to me how this was arrogant. Please further explain to me how this was forcing my opinion on anyone else. Perhaps if you read it again you will notice that I stated an opinion (my own) that there is no "God", not that there are no gods or goddesses.

Considering that what I said is combined from a line from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" and an anti-drug PSA, you should have taken it with a grain of humor, as was intended.

 

I think a lot of people choose to disbelieve in God because of how shitty their life is. I mean, if you have a divine creator, why the fuck is your life so much shittier than everyone elses?

For someone in this position I recommend you hate God, but still believe in God (for God is real, and at least you know who is fucking with you instead of blaming puny mortals or an uncaring (physical) universe). Instead of saying the evil in the world is evidence against God's existence, say evil and pain are evidence that God is a pitiable wretch that needs to be taken care of.

 

Hate is not a value I exercise. I don't disbelieve in God because my life is shitty, my life is wonderful, I'm happer now than I've been in years. I'm getting married in a month, buying a house, have a job I enjoy. I turned my back on Christianity because wherever I crossed it's path it was wrought with hypocrasy, stupidity and delusion. I don't need that in my life.

But thanks for pretending to know what's up in my head! You just proved my point.

EDIT: And lest anyone think I'm being arrogant, again, this is my opinion based on my own experiences.

 

Don't believe in god, don't believe in the devil.

 

I don't believe in you, u don't exist

 

They say there is an opposite for everything, all come in pairs. If you think about it, it kinda makes sense.
Good and bad, right and wrong, black and white, heaven and hell. We're are meant to have a partner as individuals aren't we? Noah's ark had two of everything? But then if things have an opposite, i'm sure so does this argument

 

But there is proof of my existance - the fact that I'm writing this message.

Now for some people that's not enough, they want more (and i don't blame them), so, this message can be traced back, via IP address and all sorts of other groovy gadgets, directly to my machine, and eventully my address. You can then come to my house, knock on my door, and ask if I'm home...

Heck, you don't even need to do that, if you wanted to talk with me directly, i would give you my email or msn address, maybe even my home address or telephone number, and you can come and talk with me.

I can prove I exist... can god?

(Anyway, don't you think this is all a bit off topic, sure, OK, if you don't want to believe in me fair enough, but I don't see what that has to do with me not believeing in the devil, after all, is that what this thread is all about?)

 

The world is all about balance - the simple fact we're alive today, on this planet, is because it's just close enough to the sun that the planet doesn't freeze in space, but not too close that we frying from the heat of the snu.

So you're half right, everything has it's opposite, the problem with things like 'good' and 'bad', and 'right' and 'wrong' (which are pretty much just good and bad again), and most of the other things you've listed are all just opinion, and therefore, in the realist sence, don't exist because they're not constant.

I'm not going to go into too much detail over this as I have better things to do, but the president of the US thinks that Gay marrage is wrong, so he's banned it - but *I* think it's right - so who is correct? It's because of this, that there is no constant (i.e. everyone believes the same thing), that these human concepts can't exist, plyus blowing concepts such as heaven and hell out of the water.

 

Okay, I agree that this is offtopic, lets not get into it.

 

Wowee......ok


The reason why people don't want to believe inthe Devil is because it is an ancient theory...(one that i believe in). People hear the words "God, Jesus, angels, demons, devil, satan, hell, heaven....yada yada yada.." ALL THE TIME. We're so used to it. But, that doesn't mean it's not real. All of it is real. Without good, there would be no such thing as evil. Without evil ther would be no good.
They are both needed to identify themselves and eachother. God could have made the world and humans as perfectly funtioning robots, where all is well. But what would be the point of that? Without the choice to love with our own free will and intellect, there would be no point to our existence. Satan is a neccessary evil, and he knows he ain't going to heaven, so he tries to mess us up and keep us from going there too. he hates us all.

His greatest success is for you NOT to believe in Him.

 

I would think that his greatest success would be for you NOT to believe in God. In theory, Satan doesn't care what you believe, as long as he can claim your soul when you die. Then he would have eternity to teach you that he does in fact, exist.

Or was I misled all those 30+ years I spent as a Christian?

EDIT: Or maybe I got this from an episide of "The Simpsons".

 

I wasn't talking about christianity, I was talking about God. Well, hopefully you don't need you life to be torn to pieces in order to see where it comes from, but if your life goes to hell in the next couple of months, I am happy to be the harbinger of doom. You do need to realise that your happiness comes from God. You don't need to listen to stupid fucking preachers who spread their vile stupidity to those who are susceptible. I went to this Jehovah's witness hall once and the kid preaching was talking about how evil marijuana was. The only problem with the kid is that he believed the stupid propaganda that he was spouting, and I am sure a few other people did as well. Then again, it could have been a straight faced joke- in which case it just means that you didn;t get it.

There are many fools who claim to speak for God. Don't listen to them, God can speak for God.

I doubt it. Please tell me your point?

Many people reject God because of the things that people who claim to be spiritual leaders say about God or because they feel pain and see pain in the world around them. You are lying to yourself if you truly believe your life is better now than it ever has been before- because death looms before your joy like a dark cloud on the horizon.

Maybe you have learned to ignore the world around you and this ignorance has brought you a certain amount of peace, but the only true peace comes from knowing God. Self deceit will only take you so far, my friend. Eventually you will no longer believe your own lies.