Jumping in a bit late here and not read all posts so don't flame me if i'm bringing up old shit...
Satan is a bit of an enigma. Either you take your view of Satan from only the bible, or from other sources. Non xtians are quite free to use whatever sources they like and thus you can end up with interpretations like LaVey or any of the other variants. For those who have read Mike Cary's Lucifer comics and really paid attention you will find they too ideas from not only the bible, but all the apocrypha, pseudographia (spelling?), plus borrowed a fair bit from the other Abrahamic religions as well, not to mention just making stuff up as well.
However, it is the Christians who made a big thing out of Satan (eg: compared to Islam where Satan is just a djinn), and created an entire fantasy about there being a Hell where bad people are sent by their loving god (who forgives all, because Jesus died for our sins - prepaid in advance), and in Hell Satan and his devils/demons will torture you for eternity (you can just feel the love of God can't you?).
So, we should look to the bible of our definition of God.
Where does Satan actually appear? Well, the big appearance is in Job. In this book we learn Satan is one of the sons of god, has been wandering around the earth, not doing much, but then gets into a discussion with God about his most faithful servant Job. God gives Satan the power to do as he pleases with Job and his possessions. Note, Satan didn't ask for this... God basically said, go and wreak my servants life. Which Satan like a good son did.
So, who is the bad guy here? The worst thing you can say about Satan from the book of Job is - Like Father like Son.
As for the rest of the sparse references from the bible, there are sayings that people go to Satan to learn not to be uncouth (doesn't sound like ruler of hell here, more like a teacher), and that Satan entered Judas to betray Jesus... hmmm? The first example of someone blaming Satan for their own choices and actions?
Actually, i couldn't find anything much in the Bibble that portrays Satan in a real bad way. Hell for a long time we have known is just a mistranslation of "sheol" (spelling?), which means the earth/underground.
The serpent in the Garden of Eden was never referred to as Satan (in the canon bible) so unless you accept non-canon works (which the christian church does not) there is no link here.
Conclusion: Satan, son of God, not a particularly bad supernatural being, he got some bad press in the NT, but in his main appearance in the bible is not a force of evil, just playing along with daddy's game of destroying the life of some mortal.
Satan is a bit of an enigma. Either you take your view of Satan from only the bible, or from other sources. Non xtians are quite free to use whatever sources they like and thus you can end up with interpretations like LaVey or any of the other variants. For those who have read Mike Cary's Lucifer comics and really paid attention you will find they too ideas from not only the bible, but all the apocrypha, pseudographia (spelling?), plus borrowed a fair bit from the other Abrahamic religions as well, not to mention just making stuff up as well.
However, it is the Christians who made a big thing out of Satan (eg: compared to Islam where Satan is just a djinn), and created an entire fantasy about there being a Hell where bad people are sent by their loving god (who forgives all, because Jesus died for our sins - prepaid in advance), and in Hell Satan and his devils/demons will torture you for eternity (you can just feel the love of God can't you?).
So, we should look to the bible of our definition of God.
Where does Satan actually appear? Well, the big appearance is in Job. In this book we learn Satan is one of the sons of god, has been wandering around the earth, not doing much, but then gets into a discussion with God about his most faithful servant Job. God gives Satan the power to do as he pleases with Job and his possessions. Note, Satan didn't ask for this... God basically said, go and wreak my servants life. Which Satan like a good son did.
So, who is the bad guy here? The worst thing you can say about Satan from the book of Job is - Like Father like Son.
As for the rest of the sparse references from the bible, there are sayings that people go to Satan to learn not to be uncouth (doesn't sound like ruler of hell here, more like a teacher), and that Satan entered Judas to betray Jesus... hmmm? The first example of someone blaming Satan for their own choices and actions?
Actually, i couldn't find anything much in the Bibble that portrays Satan in a real bad way. Hell for a long time we have known is just a mistranslation of "sheol" (spelling?), which means the earth/underground.
The serpent in the Garden of Eden was never referred to as Satan (in the canon bible) so unless you accept non-canon works (which the christian church does not) there is no link here.
Conclusion: Satan, son of God, not a particularly bad supernatural being, he got some bad press in the NT, but in his main appearance in the bible is not a force of evil, just playing along with daddy's game of destroying the life of some mortal.
A finite number of monkeys with a finite number of typewriters and a finite amount of time could eventually reproduce 4chan.
