Here is the Satan thing from the Jewish perspective, since the Christians got it from the Jews, and the Muslims probably got it from them.
In Genesis it speaks of a well call "sitna" (סטנה) after a big fight between two groups that wanted it, so it means "adversary", although in this case, it is in the feminine form (a woman satan? Yup!). That's the only place it is in the 5 books. It does appear a handfull of times in Zacharia and Psalm 109, but the bulk of it is in Job, which was written by - nobody is really sure. Even the Jewish sages struggle with that one.
They also struggle with this in trying to make free will work as a theological argument, because if you are being tricked, coerced, or seduced, that isn't free will.
Ok, that's the sources. But there is no devil in Jewish theology. The sahtahn, as he is pronounced, is seen as a metaphysical creation who serves his creator. He wears 3 hats, the "Evil Inclination", to see if you can resist, for example, eating that last box of Ben & Jerry's all by yoursel ("eeeeeeat meeeee....eaaaat...meeee"). The second hat is a prosecutor (a tattletale to says "see! look at the glutton eating ice cream that isn't even his!"). And the third is the angel of death ("hope you liked the ice cream...sucker!") who picks you up and puts you in the Sheol
(a black well where the souls are disabled from consciousness and don't wake up until the world is over - everyone goes there, even if you are good or evil. But don't worry, you have no conscious thoughts anyhow).
Weird, huh?
It isn't a devil, but an expression of god who likes to test his humans since he has nothing else to do, being god and all. The sahtahn is not in charge of another realm where he is trying to overthrow the good god. Just a wacky expression of a schizophrenic deity (who also appears to be bi-polar, based on some of the reported actions).
That is not to say that there are no demons in Jewish philosophy. There are also shaydim or demons. And even when I was deep into it, most of us just skimmed by that stuff. Most people felt weird about demons, ghosts, people never dying, and stuff like that. That should always be a clue. If there is something that really embarasses you about your religion, you know, something that you would never consider in 100 years to say before an audience, then it's time to get out.
Finally, I once hung out with some Satanists. Each and every one were just Christians gone wacky. The guy who originally founded the church of Satan (Anton Lavey) was a circus performer and did it to see how gullible people were, and he made a good living off of it. I never participated in any ceremony since I like cats too much. But if a demon or a satan ever did appear with one of their frug induced rituals, they would have all lossed their bowels right there!
In Genesis it speaks of a well call "sitna" (סטנה) after a big fight between two groups that wanted it, so it means "adversary", although in this case, it is in the feminine form (a woman satan? Yup!). That's the only place it is in the 5 books. It does appear a handfull of times in Zacharia and Psalm 109, but the bulk of it is in Job, which was written by - nobody is really sure. Even the Jewish sages struggle with that one.
They also struggle with this in trying to make free will work as a theological argument, because if you are being tricked, coerced, or seduced, that isn't free will.
Ok, that's the sources. But there is no devil in Jewish theology. The sahtahn, as he is pronounced, is seen as a metaphysical creation who serves his creator. He wears 3 hats, the "Evil Inclination", to see if you can resist, for example, eating that last box of Ben & Jerry's all by yoursel ("eeeeeeat meeeee....eaaaat...meeee"). The second hat is a prosecutor (a tattletale to says "see! look at the glutton eating ice cream that isn't even his!"). And the third is the angel of death ("hope you liked the ice cream...sucker!") who picks you up and puts you in the Sheol
(a black well where the souls are disabled from consciousness and don't wake up until the world is over - everyone goes there, even if you are good or evil. But don't worry, you have no conscious thoughts anyhow).
Weird, huh?
It isn't a devil, but an expression of god who likes to test his humans since he has nothing else to do, being god and all. The sahtahn is not in charge of another realm where he is trying to overthrow the good god. Just a wacky expression of a schizophrenic deity (who also appears to be bi-polar, based on some of the reported actions).
That is not to say that there are no demons in Jewish philosophy. There are also shaydim or demons. And even when I was deep into it, most of us just skimmed by that stuff. Most people felt weird about demons, ghosts, people never dying, and stuff like that. That should always be a clue. If there is something that really embarasses you about your religion, you know, something that you would never consider in 100 years to say before an audience, then it's time to get out.
Finally, I once hung out with some Satanists. Each and every one were just Christians gone wacky. The guy who originally founded the church of Satan (Anton Lavey) was a circus performer and did it to see how gullible people were, and he made a good living off of it. I never participated in any ceremony since I like cats too much. But if a demon or a satan ever did appear with one of their frug induced rituals, they would have all lossed their bowels right there!
“I've done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"— Ned Flanders
