Who is Satan? Or what does Satan represent to you?

[The_Fisher_King]

For those of you who believe Satan is a real being/entity, who is Satan? Where did he/it/she/they come from? What is Satan's relationship to other beings/entities, including deities, Angels (if you believe in them) and human beings?

For those of you who view Satan more figuratively or metaphorically, and not as a real being/entity, what does Satan represent to you?

 

[URAVIP2ME]

For those of you who believe Satan is a real being/entity, who is Satan? Where did he/it/she/they come from? What is Satan's relationship to other beings/entities, including deities, Angels (if you believe in them) and human beings?
For those of you who view Satan more figuratively or metaphorically, and not as a real being/entity, what does Satan represent to you?

According to Ezekiel 28:13-15; Ezekiel 28:16-18 Satan came from heaven. He was a heavenly angel ( cherub verses 14,16 then located in Eden)
Satan was drawn out by his own wrong desire to have humans worship him - James 1:13-15
Satan's relationship to Earth is that he is the god of this world of badness - 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Peter 5:8 - who wants to devour us.
Satan's relationship to us is 'woe' for us - Revelation 12:12
More important is: what Satan represents to Jesus - Luke 4

 

[wizanda]

what does Satan represent to you?

Satan means an accuser in Greek, an adversary from Hebrew, and also a legal prosecutor; it is something flawed in the design of mankind...We've all got it, and can feed into it...

Every morning we can have negative accusative thoughts, that can overwhelm us, and as we feed into it we get depression.

By hanging around with accusative people (especially religious debaters), we can become even more accusative, until we're just a mean twisted person.

There is no Satan as a being, not seen it within my NDE, within Hell there are just twisted accusative souls, and within Heaven don't feel it has ever really existed.

Mankind made up the idea of Satan being a real being, to excuse its self of blame, and to pass it on to something else.

The devil by the way from Greek means a slanderer, so it isn't a real being either, it is something within us, that often attaches to our own ego.

 

[The_Fisher_King]

Satan was drawn out by his own wrong desire to have humans worship him

What do you mean by 'drawn out' here?

Satan's relationship to Earth is that he is the god of this world of badness

How is he 'the god of this world of badness'? God in what sense here? And are you saying that the Earth is a world of badness?

who wants to devour us.

Devour in what sense?

More important is: what Satan represents to Jesus

What does Satan represent to Jesus?

 

[URAVIP2ME]

There is no Satan as a being, not seen it within my NDE, within Hell there are just twisted accusative souls, and within Heaven don't feel it has ever really existed.
Mankind made up the idea of Satan being a real being, to excuse its self of blame, and to pass it on to something else.

The idea of Satan being a real person ( spirit person ) is found in Luke chapter 4. ALL Scripture is from God according to 2 Timothy 3:16-17
To which ' hell' are you referring? The Bible's temporary hell ( grave ), or the non-biblical permanent hell of forever torture ?
Since Jesus taught sleep in death - John 11:12-14 - then the dead are Not aware of the passing of time as we are Not aware of anything while asleep.
Jesus' teaching is in agreement with the old Hebrew Scriptures which teach unconscious sleep in death - Ecclesiastes 9:5; Psalms 115:17; Psalms 146:4; Daniel 12:2; Daniel 12:13
So, the Bible's hell is simply mankind's temporary grave until resurrection day, or Jesus' coming 1,000-year day of governing over Earth.- Revelation 1:18

 

[The_Fisher_King]

Satan means an accuser in Greek, an adversary from Hebrew, and also a legal prosecutor; it is something flawed in the design of mankind...We've all got it, and can feed into it...

Every morning we can have negative accusative thoughts, that can overwhelm us, and as we feed into it we get depression.

By hanging around with accusative people (especially religious debaters), we can become even more accusative, until we're just a mean twisted person.

There is no Satan as a being, not seen it within my NDE, within Hell there are just twisted accusative souls, and within Heaven don't feel it has ever really existed.

Mankind made up the idea of Satan being a real being, to excuse its self of blame, and to pass it on to something else.

The devil by the way from Greek means a slanderer, so it isn't a real being either, it is something within us, that often attaches to our own ego.

Fair enough.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

What do you mean by 'drawn out' here?
How is he 'the god of this world of badness'? God in what sense here? And are you saying that the Earth is a world of badness?
Devour in what sense?
What does Satan represent to Jesus?

We all have desires. We can be drawn ( attracted ) to either good or bad desires.- James 1:13-15
Both ' God and god ' are titles and Not proper or personal names. So, Satan is ' god ' of what is bad, but Satan is Not the Creator God (YHWH)- Revelation 4:11
Some people's ' god' is their belly - Philippians 3:19 meaning their excessive eating takes first place in their life or life style.
Satan would like to devour us as a lion devours its prey. Satan would like to attack us to the point of destroying us. Robbing us of everlasting life like those of Hebrews 6:4-6
Satan is Jesus' enemy - Luke 4:3-4; Luke 4:5-7; Luke 4:8-10; Luke 4:11-13
Under Christ's coming 1,000-year governmental rulership over Earth, Earth will be a ' world of righteousness '. Only righteousness will dwell on Earth.- Revelation 22:2

 

[George-ananda]

For those of you who view Satan more figuratively or metaphorically, and not as a real being/entity, what does Satan represent to you?

The evil forces and entities around us.

 

[Vinayaka]

It means absolutely nothing to me, as I don't believe in the concept at all. I think that's true for most dharmic religion practitioners.

 

[The_Fisher_King]

Both ' God and god ' are titles and Not proper or personal names. So, Satan is ' god ' of what is bad, but Satan is Not the Creator God (YHWH)- Revelation 4:11
Some people's ' god' is their belly - Philippians 3:19 meaning their excessive eating takes first place in their life or life style.

Okay, but I'm still struggling to understand what you mean by god of what is bad.. Do you mean creator of bad things? Or ruler of badness? Or dispenser of bad things? etc.

Satan is Jesus' enemy

Yup.

Under Christ's coming 1,000-year governmental rulership over Earth, Earth will be a ' world of righteousness '. Only righteousness will dwell on Earth

Okay, but in what sense is Earth currently a/the world of badness (if that is what you mean - it wasn't clear to me)?

 

[psychoslice]

Satan to me is just a myth, that too many people believe to be true.

 

[The_Fisher_King]

'Satan' to me is actually what people think of, /to them/, a demonic being. So, various demonic beings, under a leader demonic being. not a god,

I'm a little unclear on what you are saying here - do you mean that you personally believe that Satan exists as a real, demonic being?

 

[EtuMalku]

Who the Hell is Satan?

Here's my understanding of this "Old Enemy" as the literary scholar Neil Forsyth coined and what I consider to be the foundation of what is called Satanism.

Satan has always existed, only under other names and guises, Satan is a powerful and primordial archetype of man's psyche . . . a meme, or what some may now call a "Godform", I think the Magus of Chaos, Peter Carroll coined that term?

This archetype is the reflection of how we perceive ourselves in relation to what we call the "others". Satan is a social and cultural phenomenon as old as the mind of humanity itself. There has always and will always, be essentially two worldviews consisting of oppositions and they are "Us & Them" or "Me" and "the rest of you" . . . etc.

Sumerian and Akkadian tablets concur this worldview from the earliest known writings, the ancient Egyptian word for an Egyptian meant "human", which excluded all who were not Egyptian to be relegated to 'non-human', the Greek word for non-Greeks was "barbaroi" (barbarians). The Jewish Essenes called anyone not an Essene "ha satan" (the adversary), Zoroastrianism set forth the dualistic "good" (what we believe in) and "evil" (what they believe in).

"A society does not simply discover its others, it fabricates them, by selecting, isolating, and emphasizing as aspect of another people's life, and making it symbolize their difference"
- William Scott Green (Professor of the history of religion - ancient Judaism, biblical studies, and the theory of religion).

So, who/what is this Satan?
He simply is who you are not!

 

[The_Fisher_King]

Satan to me is just a myth, that too many people believe to be true.

Fair enough.

 

[The_Fisher_King]

Yep

Okay. What do you mean by demonic here?

 

[The_Fisher_King]

Who the Hell is Satan?

Here's my understanding of this "Old Enemy" as the literary scholar Neil Forsyth coined and what I consider to be the foundation of what is called Satanism.

Satan has always existed, only under other names and guises, Satan is a powerful and primordial archetype of man's psyche . . . a meme, or what some may now call a "Godform", I think the Magus of Chaos, Peter Carroll coined that term?

This archetype is the reflection of how we perceive ourselves in relation to what we call the "others". Satan is a social and cultural phenomenon as old as the mind of humanity itself. There has always and will always, be essentially two worldviews consisting of oppositions and they are "Us & Them" or "Me" and "the rest of you" . . . etc.

Sumerian and Akkadian tablets concur this worldview from the earliest known writings, the ancient Egyptian word for an Egyptian meant "human", which excluded all who were not Egyptian to be relegated to 'non-human', the Greek word for non-Greeks was "barbaroi" (barbarians). The Jewish Essenes called anyone not an Essene "ha satan" (the adversary), Zoroastrianism set forth the dualistic "good" (what we believe in) and "evil" (what they believe in).

"A society does not simply discover its others, it fabricates them, by selecting, isolating, and emphasizing as aspect of another people's life, and making it symbolize their difference"
- William Scott Green (Professor of the history of religion - ancient Judaism, biblical studies, and the theory of religion).

So, who/what is this Satan?
He simply is who you are not!

An interesting point of view. Thank you.

 

[Neo Deist]

Satan, the make believe boogeyman created to give Christians a scapegoat for all the bad crap that happens.

Besides, if you know Hebrew then you would know that Satan is not a person/being...it is a title that means "the adversary." If we are playing chess, you are 'ha-satan'...the adversary.

 

[EtuMalku]

Satan, the make believe boogeyman created to give Christians a scapegoat for all the bad crap that happens.

Besides, if you know Hebrew then you would know that Satan is not a person/being...it is a title that means "the adversary." If we are playing chess, you are 'ha-satan'...the adversary.

I believe I covered that . . . http://www.religiousforums.com/thre...s-satan-represent-to-you.189728/#post-4847683

 

[jeager106]

The Dark side of the Force.
Darth Vader.

The father of the lie.
Awww, go on and eat that apple it's good for ya and you will know both good and
evil and become as god.
So Eve baby went and ate the Apple and man has suffered ever since.
Women! Humph.
Gotta love 'em.

 

[wizanda]

I think that's true for most dharmic religion practitioners.

There is the concepts of Kali, who is the personification Adharmic (sinful) behavior; which is similar to what some Abrahmics believe about Satan.

There are also numerous demons listed within Dharmic thinking; so clearly lots believe in them.

You can't apply your own brush to everyone.

The idea of Satan being a real person ( spirit person ) is found in Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4:1-13 can be a metaphor for fighting your own ego in meditation; the same as Buddha did.

To which ' hell' are you referring?

Talking about the actual Hell, which I've personally been to in my own Near Death Experience...John & Ecclesiastes are made up.