In church we are taught to fear God, fear the Devil, fear Hell, fear retribution, and I did, until I learned I didn't have to. Now I know, there is nothing to fear in God or the Devil.
As a child, I went to sunday school to learn about the love and grace of God and the first thing I was taught was about the evil and power of the devil. Wow-!! Talk about a scary concept! The visual and conceptual idea of the devil can have a huge impact on a persons mind, especially if you are a child. I truly believed in all that I was told by the great ordained ministers who stood at the alter and spoke with divine authority. Orating on how Heaven and Hell represents our eternal salvation or damnation. Speaking on how God and the devil is the ultimate parable of our battle between good and evil.
Each of these spiritual entities are constantly fighting over possession of our souls to claim us in their own separate versions of eternity; Heaven and Hell. During my religious instruction I was led to believe that just as God is always with us in our hearts, the devil was also constantly around us trying to lead us astray. That we have to remain vigilant and aware at all times and that life would be a never ending battle of resisting the temptations that the dark side of life has to offer. For that is the lure of the devil and the road to sin.
I vividly remember the Sunday school classes we had on this subject and recall the story I was told of how the devil came into being. According to my Sunday school teacher, the devil was originally an angel in Gods personal army, named Lucifer. Now more commonly known as the "fallen angel". As the story goes, over time Lucifer became increasingly consumed by his jealousy of God and lusted after His great power and total control. Eventually the situation came to a head and a great war ensued in Heaven and (now here is where I was taught two different versions depending on the church I attended) the fight for control of the ultimate power of Heaven was fought between Lucifer and archangel Michael, OR Lucifer and God. Either way, the battle was on and as the church teaches us, the good and pure of heart always prevails over evil in the end. So, of course God's side won. Was there ever any doubt?
As a result of the defeat, the saga continues that Lucifer was then cast from Heaven down to earth. Banished from Gods perfect realm of existence for all eternity. In some versions I was told he was tossed out alone and in others I was told he had a legion of angels cast out with him ~ his supporters. Thus creating earth as the new battle ground for the ultimate struggle of good versus evil.
As I got older (and wiser) I decided to research the history of the devil and find out what the real version of the story should be. What I discovered was far more shocking then I ever could have imagined and it changed my views forever. The phrase that began my quest for the truth was; The devil was cast down to earth. Therefore re-enforcing that Earth must be hell. It does not say he was not cast to a different realm, vibration or level such as Heaven exists on, he was cast to earth. When you think about it, hell on earth, that is what life is like here. Especially with this thick fog of negativity that blankets our atmosphere like the foreboding mushroom cloud of an atom bomb. How could a place like this not be hell for the enlightened spiritual souls that we really are? How can we possibly find love and beauty in a place like this? Unless... that is the test.
I searched through the bible to find any reference to the devil and found a biblical version I had never heard in church. In the King James version of the bible, Revelations 12: 5 a description of the devil is written:
Rev 12:5 And there appeared another wonder in Heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads.
Revelations 12: 7-9, describes the war fought between the Devil and archangel Michael:
Rev 12:7 And there was a war in Heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.
Rev 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found anymore in Heaven
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
This was a far different version then I had ever heard before. I'm sure I would have remembered a seven headed dragon if I was told about one. No where else in the bible could I find any other reference to the story of the devil. Of course then I had to wonder, if this was the only reference to the devil and the bible states that the devil was a seven headed dragon, why was I led to believe he was almost human in qualities? We all know what the image of the devil is suppose to look like. A man-beast with cloven hooves, long pointed tail, horns growing from his head, walks upright and carries a trident with a somewhat sunburnt complexion, so what happened here? How, why and when did he change in appearance?
You seem quite sure that the "other side" has no negetive qualities, and certain souls are black, and reincarnation exists and all. But how do you know this? You just read it in a book somewhere and for some reason it sounded good to you so you excepted it as truth. How is that any different than what you read in the Bible and now except as an untruth. If you can't trust the bible to be true, you cannot trust any other religious book to be true. Think about that. You are on earth, not on the "other side" so you cannot possibly say that you know what the "other side" is like. You just can't, you aren't there! You've made up a belief in your mind, just as you accuse Christians of doing.
#2 by Abraham, May 24, 2008
Some guy my brother's freind knew once thought there was "nothing to fear in God" He soon changed his mind when the Lord bestowed him with a horrific rash of agonising boils!
Only when he found the humility to fall to his knees and beg forgiveness was the curse of boils lifted. And even then not before several weeks of prayer. Today, even the village doctor has warned him that next time it will be the big H (Hell) if he doesn't get back to reading the scriptures.
#3 by Soulblood, Jun 2, 2008
What you have just expressed is an educated, well though out opinion, a philosophy if you will. Surmised by your own human logic. A philosophy is one man's opinion - and we all have opinions.
This type of thinking is called 'reasoning'. Let me put it to you like this: A man depending on reason alone to guide him in religous matters is like a traveler in a dense forest who carries only a tiny candle or lantern. Such a traveler will see something, but not everything, and he will inevitably go astray.
