History of the Devil

A lovely story that explains what evil is... (I personally love this story and actually memorized by heart )

Warning, copied texts that belongs to someone else. I will reference it if someone wants it.
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Does evil exist?

The university professor challenged his students with this question. Did God create everything that exists? A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"

"God created everything? The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are then God is evil". The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young man's name � Albert Einstein.
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Good and evil are long antiquated but in my personal view being evil is when one is not doing what one's mind wills Him/her to do. Everything else is just relative.

Originally posted by Arthur-Robin People firstly have to stop approaching this from a evolution is prooven view, people do this with monotheism topic too: people are already biased by assuming that monotheism/devil d/evolved. What if Judaeo-Xtianity is true? that would considerably change the picture.

Edited by Odin - 12-Sep-2006 at 16:26

Originally posted by Shiroyeh Angra Mainyu or later called Ahriman is the first mention of the concept of the devil in any religious text and it later influenced other major world religions imo This once came to me in a dream late at night that made me wake up... i wrote it down and I read it in the morning it said: 'If there is no God, there is no ultimate good. With no ultimate good their is no good nor is there evil.' It must have been a hectic dream :S

It is not the first case. In Indian religion, Gods & Demons both have been mentioned much earlier than that.

ok, God did create everything, but He did not creat evil. this is why. Sin, is evil, and sin is of the devil, he tempted adam and eve to sin. sin, is going against what God's will, what God says is right. Basically sin is disobeying God. now, God said, do not eat of the tree of good and evil. but, man did, thus giving birth to sin. because we disobeyed God. so, out of free will, we gave birth to sin. also, satan(Lucifer) did not make a bet with God, he wanted all power and was cast into not hell, but the 2nd heavan, which is the earth, because the world was perfect, there was no evil, thus the 2nd heavan. and if satan is tempting Gods perfect creation to do somthing against God, is not Satan going against God's will by suggesting such a thing??    

The devil has existed since man began doing stupid things, and needed something or someone to blame.

The devil went down to Georgia
He was lookin' for a soul to steal
He was in a bind
'Cause he was way behind
And he was willin' to make a deal

When he came across this young man
Sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot
And the devil jumped up on a hickory stump
And said boy let me tell you what

I guess you didn't know it
but I'm a fiddle player too
And if you care to take a dare I'll make a bet with you

Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy
But give the devil his due
I'll bet a fiddle of gold
Against your soul
'Cause I think I'm better than you

The boy said my name's Johnny
And it might be a sin
But I'll take your bet
And you're gonna regret
'Cause I'm the best there's ever been

Johnny rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
Cause hell's broke loose in Georgia and the devil deals the cards
And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose the devil gets your soul.

The devil opened up his case
And he said I'll start this show
And fire flew from his fingertips
As he rosined up his bow

Then he pulled the bow across the strings
And it made an [sic] evil hiss
And a band of demons joined in
And it sounded something like this

[Instrumental]

When the devil finished
Johnny said well you're pretty good old son
But just sit down in that chair right there
And let me show you how it's done

He played Fire on the Mountain
Run boys, run
The devil's in the House of the Rising Sun
Chicken in a bread pan picken' at dough
Granny does your dog bite
No child, no

[Instrumental]

The devil bowed his head
Because he knew that he'd been beat
And he laid that golden fiddle
On the ground at Johnny's feet

Johnny said, Devil just come on back
If you ever wanna try again
I done told you once you son of a bitch
I'm the best there's ever been

 :)

Originally posted by arch.buff Well, actually the Devil doesnt command Hell, hes here on Earth trying to take as many souls with him to Hell when�his time comes. At least from a christian standpoint.

    
According to the Book of Revelation, this isn't the case. The Devil is still in heaven and will be cast out right before the end of the "world" to rule over man.

But people have different takes on it.

Originally posted by Ponce de Leon     In western society we believe in two things. Good and Evil.

I was reading through the biography of Malcom-X and it is interesting that when he was living the life of anarchy and in darkness by his own admission, he used to be nick named satan and was proud to be called satan.