I am not a believer in any such thing as
Satan,
Lucifer, the
Devil, or whatever other name might be assigned to a supercharged
evil spirit. But for those who do believe in such a thing as 'Satan' I have some questions. To be sure, I'm a little unclear on the concept.
You see, it has been told to me by
Christians that Satan is the author of
Islam and the
Koran,
Hinduism and the
Vedas and
Puranas and such, and of
Atheism and
Agnosticism, of
Deism and
Pandeism and the rest. And it has been told to me by
Muslims that Satan is the author of
Christianity and Western beliefs generally. Even that Satan is behind the
Jews remaining Jewish for these past millennia. By some Christians I am told that Satan is the author of
Catholicism and
Anglicanism and
Episcopalianism, and of
Mormonism and
Jehovah's Witnessism and
Seventh-Day Adventism. By some Christians, indeed, I am told that Satan is the author of the tens of those thousands of 'wayward'
denominations of Christianity.
And I am told that Satan is possessed of incredible
power. That he is able to be many places (
if not everywhere) at once, able to create impenetrable
illusions and
cloud mens minds, and cause us to act or believe as we would not. And that Satan is able to answer
prayers and perform
miracles which
trick billions of people of the wrong
faith into sticking with that faith based on it appearing to work for them. I am told by some that Satan has the power as well to simultaneously place
obstacles in the paths of billions of people, to create millions of
fossils and
geological markers and
genetic markers which trick
scientists into believing our world to be billions of years old and life in it to have
evolved over millions of years by a process of
natural selection. I am even told that Satan has the near-infinite power required to change the
radioactive potential of
atoms, and to alter the force of
gravity and the
speed of light itself, and create
entire distant galaxies many times the size of our
Milky Way, and the endless
Cosmic Microwave Background radiation, all in the name of tricking man into adhering to the wrong beliefs.
And, through all of this, I am told as well that Satan is God's own special
creation, originally the most brilliant and powerful of God's
servants; and that God has the power to do away with Satan at any time, and yet allows Satan to exercise a rather ridiculous
imbalance of power relative to
any human. That there is a God who allows a supercharged evil spirit to have his way with a vast majority, at least, of
mankind. And yet I have been told as well that only God can effect miracles, which means that whatever evils are accredited to Satan must in fact be exercising the power of God!! So here we are left with a dilemma, for a Satan powerful enough to lead billions into adhering to false faiths is surely sufficiently powerful that any particular adherant to
any faith might be one who has been lead into falsity. And again, as powerful as Satan is claimed to be, well there's really no fairness in pitting man against him in a test of cunning, is there?
So what, then, is the purpose and the power of Satan, exactly? And why would so intelligent a being as the brightest of God's own creations feel compelled to act in a manner which we believe would merit God's disapproval, even having full knowledge of its God's power and intentions?