The Devil just needs a character rewrite

[Nachos_of_Nurgle]

The concept of the Devil as portrayed in mainstream tradition presents continuity problems for the Biblical Fictional Universe (BFU)

The Devil is portrayed as the enemy of God and enemy of God’s followers. Yet he seems to be doing important work on God’s behalf. He provides mortals with fear-based incentive to seek God. He also enforces afterlife justice according to God’s judgment, providing punishment in Hell only to deserving people. If the Devil was wholly evil he would only hurt forgiven people. Or he would go against God’s rules and hurt people in heaven.

God could presumably destroy the Devil or take away the Devil’s powers at any moment. Yet he declines to do so. God has no problem taking away the abilities of other free-willed beings. For example, if God can take away a child’s ability to walk, God could just as easily take away the Devil’s ability to teleport or answer prayers. Until this happens, it seems reasonable to conclude God supports or at least condones the Devil’s continued efforts.

The Devil also conflicts with monotheism. Bible believers generally claim only one god exists in the universe. But the Devil has properties of a polytheistic god. Here are some of the Devil’s abilities according to tradition:

• Immortal, unkillable, no need to eat, sleep, breathe
  
• Can move between dimensions, not bound by time/space
  
• Can instantly teleport to any location and/or act remotely
  
• Can read the minds of billions of people simultaneously
  
• Can reshape reality at will to cause misfortune
  
• Can grant wishes to worshippers
  

In other religions this being would count as a god, but monotheists say no. He is on the council but he’s not granted the rank of master. The Devil either needs a reduction in powers or the Bible needs to admit it’s polytheistic. Or else reduce God's powers so the Devil becomes a credible threat.

Anyway, this Biblical Fictional Universe is never going anywhere until these plot holes are fixed. Get this to Zack Snyder for a rewrite asap.

Where did you get your picture of the devil from? It sounds more like pop culture than theology.

Dante is closer to Christian theology, but writing symbolically. Milton and Goethe don't claim they're telling the truth -- it's fiction to think about morality.

Sure, this is describing the pop culture / traditional version, but I think that is what a lot of casual Bible fans really do believe. Is there any way to verify which version is the correct one?

This is not a rhetorical question! For example, how could you demonstrate the correct version to Christians in Ghana who believe witches should be killed because they genuinely summon the Devil? I thought this was an interesting problem so I will paste this text from my Google search - 

"More than 90 percent of Ghanaian Christians believe witchcraft is a problem in the country, and more than half have visited a Pentecostal prayer camp to ask for deliverance from witches and demons, according to a study by Opoku Onyinah, theologian and past president of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC). The Spirit-empowered churches in the West African country don’t take the issue of witches lightly.

But this summer, the GPCC decided to speak up for the women who are accused of witchcraft. The Pentecostal group, an umbrella organization of 200 denominations and parachurches, called for new laws and a national conversation about how to better take care of the more than 2,000 widows who have been exiled over allegations of working with demons.

The churches decided to make a statement after an elderly Muslim woman in a rural village was beaten to death when she refused to confess to witchcraft. Akua Denteh was accused of causing irregular rain, starting fires, and killing children with supernatural powers. A video of her violent death—as a crowd stood watching—was shared widely around the country, and Christian leaders decided they could no longer be silent."

Here's the full article https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/202...tches.html