[Vision2020] Satan

[Ralph Nielsen]

On Feb 25, 2007, at 11:25 PM, heirdoug at netscape.net wrote:

> Dear Blind 2020,
>
> It is good to see that Ralph Nielson, The Tar-baby, Art Deco and  
> the newest member of the "we use the scripture for our own ends"  
> team,  Mr. Ancient Faith all have one thing in common. They will  
> feel right at home with their father who also used the scripture  
> for his own means... And he saith unto Him, All these things will I  
> give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. ... [Matthew 4:9 RN]

Dear Heirdoug,

First a couple of corrections. When quoting scriptures, it is  
customary as well as polite to identify your citations, as I have  
kindly done above. And my name is not Swedish, but Danish, as in the  
TV rating service: the Nielsen Ratings.

Now for the devil. An interesting guy. You can trace his evolution  
from God himself to the archenemy of God. Originally a satan was an  
angel sent by God to prevent something from happening. Angels have no  
will of their own, they are operated by God's will.

In the story of Balaam and his ass (you seem to prefer King James'  
English), God sent a "satan," an angelic adversary to prevent Balaam  
from going to the land of Moab. Read all about it in Numbers 22:22  
ff.). In the Hebrew the angel is called a "satan."

Some centuries later the generic "satan" had evolved into an  
individual angel called Satan. He appears as a character in the  
beginning of the poetic drama of Job, where he is God's prosecutor.  
He appears only two more times in the entire Hebrew Bible: Psalm  
109:6b; and Zechariah 3:1-2.

After a few more centuries Satan has evolved into someone who seems  
to be the Adversary of God himself. This is the devil in the Greek  
New Testament, whom Doug happily quoted above.

Let me recommend The Origin of Satan, by Elaine Pagels. It's a damned  
good book.

Ralph