Satan

Satan is a particularly interesting character.

To hear some sermons about the subject, Satan is a very real force acting upon humanity.  Satan wants to sow discord and tear humanity apart through lies and deceit, while the real church endeavors to do the opposite.  I heard a sermon where the pastor was talking about driving up and down the road to the various churches in the area, and he could tell which ones had already been infiltrated by agents of Satan because of their false teachings.  Likewise, I’m sure most universities are already “fallen”, to say nothing of new age stuff, yoga, etc.

The most interesting part, though, is that according to doctrine, Satan doesn’t appear to work through traditionally evil ways.  Rather, he’s an imposter and a beguiler with a sweet tongue.  He tempts and leads people astray.

I think it’s safe to say that most Christians feel secure that they are following the true church, while the university student studying evolution or the hippy who owns the New Age bookstore have obviously been led astray.  But isn’t that too easy?  Surely Satan is clever enough not to be so blunt.  And, indeed, as in the reference sermon above, Satan was actually working his powers inside the churches themselves, unbeknownst (obviously) to the congregations in that church.

I wish I could have talked to the pastor in the referenced sermon.  He was going on and on about how subtle and clever Satan was, and how we all needed to beware of his charms.  I wish I could have asked the pastor to prove that he himself was not working for Satan and trying to beguile us.    It would have been great fun to say “Your words are so persuasive…  How can I be sure that you’re not trying to sow discord in the Body of Christ and turn us against the other churches?”  No matter what the response, there’s always the comeback of “Well, of course, that’s what Satan WOULD say…”  It’s grade school theology, but it would be fun.

The whole “problem of evil” and why God allows Satan to exist is a big one, and certainly more than I can cover.  The general answer that I understand is that God allows free will and Satanic influence as a test, much in the same way a girlfriend might ask “Do you think she is prettier than me?”  You’re free to answer the question, but if you answer the wrong way, you’ll hopefully learn from your mistake.  Also, and this is apparently crucial, God allows evil to exist because he’d already decided WAAAAY in advance that Jesus would come and pay the price for that sin.

Another answer is that God could have eliminated Satan, but since his influence had already entered into humanity, he’d have to kill Man as well (why?)  But he loves us so much, he decided not to do that.  The great flood seems to indicate that God is willing to take some pretty drastic measures, but apparently total and complete genocide is too much.  Again, why?  God allowed sin into the world (or, at least, didn’t do much to prevent it), and then kills nearly everyone as a result.

I’m losing my train of thought (probably Satan), so I’ll just stop here.