Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dragon!cms@gatech.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: demons and such Message-ID: Date: 9 Feb 90 07:20:44 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 54 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu On the topic of Satan, demons, and devils, and whether they exist, I'd like to make a brief remark about what a satan really is. Satan is the prosecuting attorney, the angel who accuses Man before God. Remember, Judaism is a religion based on the Law of God. Satan is Man's accuser; Jesus Christ once said to Peter, "Get away from me, satan," because he felt Peter was "accusing" him. Satan, capitalized, is the figure in Job; Satan, making his rounds about the Earth, came across Job, went before God, and accused Job before God. Then came the bet, etc. Satan was not originally thought of as an evil figure, per se. Hamilton Burger, you may recall from the Perry Mason series, was always the guy we were hoping would fail; we cheered Perry Mason on, he who declared the innocence of his client. Hamilton Burger had many redeeming characteristics; he believed in what he was doing, he always behaved ethically, and he generally lost graciously. Admittedly, Satan lost many of his redeeming qualities as time progressed. As the chief accuser of man, he lost his sense of ethics in that he saw only the evil in man and none of the good in man. "You think Man worships you for free?" is essentially the question he asked God about Job (Man). In the end, Job repents his attitude concerning human suffering; before, he had thought that Man suffered because of sin; now he understood that Man suffered for reasons that had nothing to do with sin but for reasons that were known and fully appreciated only by God. Jesus Christ is the fullest expression of this belief. By New Testament times, Satan was identified as a person. Satan, it must be understood, is not the personification of evil; Satan is the person/angel who accuses man of evil. Satan does not and cannot understand the forgiveness of God; Satan understands only punishment for sin. The power of the Cross is forgiveness of sin in the complete embrace of all human suffering. The chief triumph of Christianity is that it turned the Cross into the symbol of all that is grandest and most sacred. When Christ died upon the Cross, he shouted the rallying cry of the early Christian community, the greatest cry of triumph uttered before or since: "It is accomplished! Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!" The death of Christ accomplished for us what Satan could neither understand nor believe: Complete forgiveness in terms of love and not necessarily in terms of punishment (punishment sometimes involves love, but let's not get into that now). An interesting analogy comes to mind: In the movie "Inherit the Wind," when the teacher is found guilty, the judge orders a fine "of one hundred dollars." The defense attorney declared that he would appeal the verdict even if the fine had only been "one dollar." Satan would be astounded. Humans give light punishments after finding people guilty of terrible crimes (I'm not arguing the morality of the verdict; I'm glad it was overturned); humans appeal light punishments on grounds of principle. The essence of human morality seems to be beyond Satan's comprehension. I'm not privy to Satan's thoughts (+), however, sometimes I think Satan finds humans less comprehensible than the God who, for reasons unfathomable to him, continues to forgive those wretched humans he went to all the effort of finding guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt. Sincerely, gatech!ncsatl!smith_c