God and the Devil
 

I'm almost certain that this post will get moved, but for the most part I post here and in the limit forums so I'll put it here. If it needs to be moved, tell me and I'll move it.

So, I'm having a discussion with an avid group of religious girls, and they begin to tell me the conducts and doctrines of their faiths. They tell me how if you're good, you go to heaven. If you're bad you go to hell; these are givens. There's also a set of laws you live by, which if broken, earn you a trip straight to hell. Now, here is where my theory comes in.

Using the traditional sense of thinking, if you're bad you go to hell, if you obey all of gods commandments you go to heaven. Obviously in hell, you are ripped apart every day by demons and your soul is eaten over and over again. However, why would the Devil treat you badly? In his eyes, you've done exactly what you were supposed to, no?

My belief is that if you conduct yourself with the utmost stupidity during your time on this planet; you steal, kill, disobey all of gods commandments, you will be welcomed with open arms in hell. Is this not logically true? If hell is the opposite of heaven, it seems that the devil would befriend you. Maybe you could hang out in hell. Have a beer. Talk with the demons. Do whatever you want. It seems foolish that he would punish you for doing exactly what he does, which is condone evil behavior. If the devil was to inflict harm on you for doing exactly what he preaches is right, wouldn't that make him a hypocrite?

Or maybe this is my ignorance of religion talking. If I'm speaking on behalf of my own misconceptions, please correct me. If not, feel free to discuss. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: God and the Devil
 

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why would the Devil treat you badly?

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Well all got a job to do...

Re: God and the Devil
 

This should be in the science, math, philosophy forum. But for the sake of arguement I will say this.

If you do believe in the Hell as descibed in the Bible in which the Devil resides. I don't think you can pick and choose the aspects of hell that make the most sense to you. If you believe the Bible is accurate then eveything it says about Hell is true making it a terrible place with alot of gnashing of teeth.

Re: God and the Devil
 

If the Devil is punishing you for misdeeds in your life, isn't he doing the Lord's work? Is Satan really an agent of God?

Never thought about it this way, but the OP may be on to something.

Re: God and the Devil
 

But the Devil is truely just absolute evil right? So he would punish your ass for going there becuase he has the power and he is just a really mean dude?

It is just like if I went to Prison the huge black dude that would rape and probably kill me wouldn't being doing the State's work by making prison really suck, he is just a really mean dude.

Re: God and the Devil
 

If you read the book of Job in the Old Testament, you'll find that in that story, Satan really is an agent of God doing His will.

Re: God and the Devil
 

this seems pretty obvious to me, but maybe someone could point out my error in thinking?

in hell, assuming there is a hell, satan isnt going to be the one punishing you. Satan is in hell to get punished as well. God created hell as punishment for satan and his demons, and mankind just happened to hitch a ride along. so satan wont have any problems with you, other than the fact that you're supposedly gods creation, and he hates everything to do with God, i think that he will be getting punished and tormented right along with you. Hell is god's creation, not satans, therefore, god's punishment, torment, so on and so forth. that make sense?

i guess that raises all kinds of other questions about god's justness and goodness and such. but thats my understanding of it at least.

Re: God and the Devil
 

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this seems pretty obvious to me, but maybe someone could point out my error in thinking?

in hell, assuming there is a hell, satan isnt going to be the one punishing you. Satan is in hell to get punished as well. God created hell as punishment for satan and his demons, and mankind just happened to hitch a ride along. so satan wont have any problems with you, other than the fact that you're supposedly gods creation, and he hates everything to do with God, i think that he will be getting punished and tormented right along with you. Hell is god's creation, not satans, therefore, god's punishment, torment, so on and so forth. that make sense?

i guess that raises all kinds of other questions about god's justness and goodness and such. but thats my understanding of it at least.

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This is what I was told when I went to a born-again Christian school. God is in control of hell, not Satan. Satan has certain powers, but he is basically in the same situation as people who get sent to hell.

Re: God and the Devil
 

(I'm not religious at all, so I'm just being devil's advicate)

Satan is evil, so why would he punish evil people? Makes sence, but then you could ask, if God is good, why does he punish anyone?

If god is the utimate good, then he should have ultimate forgiveness and there would be no hell. According to most sects of christianity God does have ultimate forgiveness, but only if you ask him for it. But it's not very good to fail to forgive people just because they do not acknowlege your existence, that sounds like the sin of Pride to me, and we all know that God is without sin, so why should he do that?

The answer is Satan punishes bad people because that's the way the system works, and I'm sure nothing of what I just said made sense.

(Also, I agree this belongs in SMP)

Re: God and the Devil
 

In the film "The Prophecy," Lucifer tells a human that Hell isn't burning lakes of fire and all that, but rather it's being removed from God's sight and having his word taken away from you. Living in a place where you were completely cut off from God. So, there's a B-movie perspective for you.