It's funny how people believe in god but not the devil...
Just saying... ...
who ???
MovieChat Forums > The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) Discussion > It's funny how people believe in god but...
I've met people that you're referring to Moishar, and I think these are people that are in denial. They figure that if they ignore satan and focus on God, everything will be just fine.
shareThey teach this in Catholic schools starting very young. "Put your faith in God, deny the devil" If you start out denying the devil young, ignoring his existence, you essentially ignore all evil thought, paving the way for a good moral life. Unfortunately, it just teaches people to ignore ALL bad things in life. So much so, that instead of actively battling the issues of the world, instead, "thoughts and prayers" are believed to be a tangible solution to life's problems. When that doesn't work? Blame the devil, aka "evil"? Don't be ridiculous. In the event that prayer seems to have failed, just know, that "God works in mysterious ways".
shareI'm not one for debating theology, and if you want me to go into some stupid overly stretched debate over whether what I believe is real or not- I'm not falling for it. Go to a parish priest and debate with him if you must. However, I wanted to mix into this discussion because you're completely wrong in what Catholics are taught, at least in my parish. I was never taught to deny the Devil's existence. I was never taught to ignore bad things in life that would happen to me and just wait and pray for it to be over. What I was taught was to carry things that happened to me with faith and strength- everyone has their own crosses to carry, and knowing you're carrying them to the very end makes you come out stronger. Did I have a disease? No. Did my entire family die? No. Was I poor, beaten and everything else you could imagine happen to a girl? Yes, yes and yes. I did not blame the devil, I believed that somehow I had to learn valuable lessons to one day help others, to make me who I am. And through various alleyways I rolled into the profession of social worker- not the profession I thought I would have but it makes me happy beyond belief. I can now help other children going through the same things. It was my religion that somehow helped me push through, if I wouldn't have had my religion I would've probably taken my own life and not one child would've benefitted from my experiences.
Oh, and that dumb cliché line you're using? "God works in mysterious ways"? Haven't heard it in a sermon even once. What I did hear was "God is great, but the one responsible for your actions and happiness is you." Besides, a lot of individual parishes (I'm not talking about the Vatican, parishes have to answer to the regional bishop in my country)have so many great charity causes for the poor, the needy, and yes, refugees. How you can say Catholics sit on their bum and do nothing is beyond me.
But I'm Jewish.
shareDepends on where in the world you live, or at least where you got taught to believe whatever it is you do. American Christianity is more mediaeval than most other breeds, and often seems to place more stock in the Devil than in God.
For myself, I don't believe in any of the gods, but I'm not so sure what to think about demons. (As distinct from "the Devil".)
There are whole religions who believe in God but not the devil.
udaism does not believe in the devil, but we do believe in Satan (who more properly should be called "the Satan"). As this demonstrates, the Jewish view of Satan is very different than the Christian one. Here's a summary of the Jewish view; you can also find information at Alyza (Gretchen) Shapiro's web site at http://www.geocities.com/alyzab/Jewish/satan.html
The word satan means "challenger", "difficulty", or "distraction" (note that it is not a proper name). With the leading ha- to make haSatan, it refers to /the/ challenger. This describes Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. HaSatan works for G-d. His job is to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it can be a meaningful choice. In other words, haSatan is an angel whose mission it is to add difficulty, challenges, and growth experiences to life. Contrast this to Christianity, which sees Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered overly polytheistic—you are setting up the devil to be a god or demigod.
The notion of an angel having free will is alien to Judaism. Free will requires the tension created by being a soul dwelling in a body. People can have free will, angels can't. There is a debate over whether they lack the potential for free will, or whether they simply percieve reality to clearly to have any choices to make. But in any case, without the fence-straddling of the human condition, there is no free will. HaSatan acts as a servant of God, not as an opponent or even disobediant child. Angels cannot sin, they cannot fall.
at least they don't seem to fear the devil. paul ryan for example.
share