THE CONCEPTS OF THE DEVIL AND OF EVIL

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   gmwilliamsposted 12 years ago

   It is totally astounding that 70% of Americans still believe in the devil in this postmodern era.   Of all the postindustrial and postmodern societies,  Americans are the most traditionally religious and believe that there is an actual and/or real devil.   This is totally incredulous, particularly in the 21st century.    Of course, there is the concept of evil.   Evil is omnipresent in the world.   However, humankind is responsible for the evil in the world, not any purported evil supernatural deity.    In essence, the devil is humankind,   Humankind must take the ultimate responsibility for its evil actions if it is ever going to evolve spiritually.   Let's begin the discussion!.

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      Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Nicely put. Thumbs up.
      
      The devil and demons do not exist in the Hebrew scriptures, it amazes me why this does not cause more people to ask why. When the Jews were influenced by Zoroastrianism, they assimilated the Ahriman into ther culture along with demons. By Jesus' time these were so ingrained in superstitious culture that people believed they were real. In time the Church jumped on this and wagon as a means of controlling people and introduced more pagan concepts of the devil. We now have a Frankenstein second god made up of centuries of pagan imagery.

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         gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         +1!  Hell and the devil are indeed the ultimate threat.   This mechanism is used with the purpose of controlling the more gullible and fearful among us.

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      Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you, mr gmwilliams. I can fully understand how the superstitious world operated 2000 years ago when the authors of the Bible (both Holy Bible and Hebrew Bible) thought demons existed and had no idea where the sun went every evening. But believing in that crazy #%&% in this day and age, c'mon folks, yes that includes people livingin Alabama and Missisippi, get an education! It's not too late!

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         gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Paul, you went there!   Yes, Alabama and Mississippi are what you may call, CHALLENGED states!

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      Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That the majority of citizens of the supposedly greatest country in the world believe in superstitious claptrap is beyond belief.
      
      How anyone can believe in demons and the devil is beyond me.

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         gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I was looking at a History Channel documentary which stated that 70% of Americans believed in the devil.   I was totally flabbergasted that in the 21st century, people STILL believe in this nonsense.    Also research shows that of all the industrialized nations,  Americans are the most religious.    I am going to use some deduction here.    This is one of the reasons why our scientific and sex education is below par and also religion is quite influential regarding absistence only education which result in American teenagers having the one of the highest rate of unplanned pregnancies among the industrialized nations.

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            Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            You have no idea. I was shocked to the core when I came here. You're behind in technology as well.

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            Sooner28posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Stupidity no longer surprises me, it just reinforces that people have no ability to think for themselves. 
            
            We won't keep our position as leader (if you can still even call us that now) if we do not get our act together.  The imperial wars, the tolerance of homophobia being translated into POLICIES, and religious dogma entering the science classroom are all symptoms of a diseased culture, and one that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon.

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         twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You should Google Bob Larson, or see some of his videos on You Tube. He's made quite a tidy living casting out demons.

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   Mikioposted 12 years ago

   This country was founded by the Puritans.  Today, their religion is being carried on by fanatical, misguided, insecure, and uninformed Jesus Freaks.  They are so dumb that they believe almost anything, including the devils and the supernatural evil forces.  It is kind of hopeless because they don't know the difference between facts and beliefs.  They treat their beliefs as REAL.  Beliefs are just beliefs.

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   1. 86

      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      +1!

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         Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         So we've identified the problem - which is the US seems to be stuck in the 1950's.  Except that we're no longer #1! Somy question is what do we do about this?

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            Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Scrap your government and all it's structures, and resubmit yourselves to Her Britanic Majesty Queen Elizabeth and her government. We'll sort you out.

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               kirstenblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Do you really think the queen would touch that mess with a 10 foot barge pole?

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               Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Been there, done that DH. it didn't work out so well for the crown the first go round. No reason to believe it would end any better with a second try.

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   SirDentposted 12 years ago

   I see another crucifixion has started.

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      kirstenblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      yup, people getting horrifically murdered right and left on this thread

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