The Evolving Origin of Satan


In story telling that predates the Bible, there were evil beings. Somehow, three evil beings, Satan, devil and the snake got combined into one in the Bible.

"The word of God" has been slip sliding its way through time since it was invented by ancient Jews. Paul thought it would not catch on, and he would not be a big time celeb, if circumcision was required.  So that was dropped early on. God supposedly wrote a commandment, "Do not kill." But authors of the Bible thought it better that God kill so they had him killing two million.

That God was supposed to "love" humans but he killed those two million. As the centuries past authors thought they should develop a "God lite" so his persona was improved. All this, even though the "faith never changes."

I had never read about the changing villain until I came across the link. Here were see not only the Bible's god changing but the Bible's evil beings as well. As the link explains, "Satan isn't what he used to be."

Neither Satan nor the devil are mentioned in Genesis. There is only that wily snake who has no supernatural powers. The original word for Satan meant "to obstruct" or "to oppose." I read that Jews even today do not hold to the Protestant concept of an evil Satan or devil.

It is thought by many that between the first references to a devil and others to Satan back 1,000 years BCE into the period of the New Testament authors there was influence from Zoroastrianism. It was filled with devious and evil forces. The New Testament writers liked what they heard and a new figure was created which combined the concepts of Satan, devil and snake into something so good it buried the older guys.

Today we are seeing but growing groups calling themselves Satan worshipers. Maybe the original concept of a Satan that is simply the opponent will emerge. And, maybe devil worshipers will have a spat with Satan worshipers so we will go back the concepts of 1,000 BCE when they were different persons.

I, for one, would be pleased if I could hear a snake talk like the one in the Bible. I'm sure he/she would deny being evil like those other two.


Comments

  1. Ardy BDecember 4, 2019 at 10:29 AM

    Satan the mischievous, integrity challenging, evil spirit. The Evil One in three other-than-human persons. Unholy trinity. Interesting post Jon.

    ReplyDelete

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