God and the Devil

Not only did the devil try and convince the the two progranist that evil is of human nature, but his appearance caused fear into their hearts. In the young Gary story, he had “burning eyes…...tiny rows of sharp teeth,” his appearance didn’t invite a happy atmosphere, but a dark one (831). He wore a nice suit with fine black shoes, which is appealing, but his physical appearance was terrifying. Young Gary watched as “the grass beneath it turned yellow and died,” this caused Gary to have fear. He had “fingers that ended not in nails, but in talons,” the devil’s presence was like a nightmare; you could not wake up from (830). His appearance, his presence, his every move caused the young boy to be afraid. In Young Goodman story the devil wore decent attire, his physical appearance was normal, but his appearance still gave a dark vibe. He carried a staff in the shape of a black snake, which caused his appearance to be dark, along with his language. The appearance did cause fear in Gary’s heart, he believed human nature was evil, but for Goodman Brown not as much.

During the early 1700s, a traveler met a man in the Massachusetts forest. However, this was no mortal human, but the devil. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” two short stories, both start out this way. Washington Irving wrote the latter in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker profited by working for the devil. In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” which describes Goodman Brown’s encounter with the devil. Despite minor deviations between their themes, the two stories share ideas regarding the devil, specifically his appearance and connection with man’s depravity. overpowering minor deviations between their themes. [MAYBE DELETE THE LAST HALF OF THE THESIS, AND ADD SPECIFICITY TO THE FIRST HALF (WHICH IDEAS OF THE DEVIL ARE SIMILAR?)]]

The devil at the dawn of Christianity bore little resemblance to the ruler of hell, the antichrist and agent of evil that he is known as in present day. Satan makes few overt or implied appearances in the Old Testament. For the important role of God’s greatest adversary, early Christians had to flesh out great parts of Satan’s story in order to develop him into his present, fearsome persona. The Christian story of the Devil is heavily influenced by earlier Greek mythology, and early Christian writings about the Devil co-opted local mythology in order to gain new converts and discredit popular pagan beliefs.

The devil tries to trivialize our day to day life and make our choices seem unimportant. This can be seen in how flippantly The Patient treats his mother. The Patient makes the decision to become irritated with his mother instead of trying to witness to her. This seemingly small choice might’ve changed the course of his mothers life, but The Patient gives into the desire to avoid his mother at all costs (Lewis 6). The devil makes humanity over complicate easy decisions. He makes people put their needs over the needs of others, so that when easy choices present themselves, like witnessing to a close family member, people refuse to because it’s an inconvenience to them (O’Flaherty

In (Revelation 12:3) Satan appeared as a 7 headed dragon that had a crown on every head. He became so jealous and full of pride that he threw a rebellion against God. Isaiah 14 says “ I will raise my throne above the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14 12-15 NIV). A war broke out in Heaven, Michael and his angles fought Satan (Revelation 12:7). This next verse proves that Satan is truly evil, It says “Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.” (Revelation 12:4 NIV) That clearly shows that he wants nothing good for us and wants to destroy us. Hell was originally for Satan only, but in Genesis God gave us the choice to live in eternally in heaven or go to hell. The

In the beginning all was good; there was no evil. The start of evil was marked when a jealous angel, Satan, desired equality to God. He thrust an ever-lasting battle into play when he battled God for supremacy. One-third of all the angels in heaven, including Satan, were thrown from heaven onto Earth. God’s perfect creation became faulted when the fallen angel, Satan, tempted Adam and Eve into eating a forbidden fruit. By partaking of the forbidden fruit, sin was born on Earth. The birthing of such catastrophe--evil--has affected even the modern millennial generation. That occurrence marked the beginning of the perennial conflict of good versus evil--light versus darkness. The conflicts are traced all the way back to the very beginning

I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud – God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” (The Crucible) In this quote, it discloses the thoughts of both the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust. Those who stood accused of making dealings with the Devil felt that god had abandoned them as they were served unfair trials. In the Holocaust, people felt that they saw Lucifer in the face of Hitler and that he was there to bring them to the fiery depths of hell. He did this through his gassings of masses of Jews and then cremating them. Those who suffered in the Holocaust began to lose faith in God as they saw more of the Devil everyday right before their eyes. The same happened to those in the Trials as they continued to stand accused even though they pled their

   Satan's primary operational problem in Paradise Lost is his lack of obedience. The fundamental misunderstanding which leads to Satan's disobedience is his separation of free will from God's hierarchical power. In the angel Raphael's account, Satan tells his dominions, "Orders and Degrees/Jarr not with liberty" (5.792-93). Tempting as this differentiation seems, Satan is mistaken. Free will and hierarchical power are not mutually exclusive, as Satan suggests, but overlapping concepts. Even though Satan has been created with sufficient freedom to choose to disobey, he tacitly acknowledges God's sovereignty when he exercises his choice. Satan is constrained existentially, from the outset, by

Just as each Devil’s motivation for enlarging his kingdom varies, so do their relationships with God. This differing in goals also reflects the change in humanity’s religious pursuits between the time periods. When Faustus tries to seek God’s forgiveness, Lucifer expresses his displeasure when he says “We come to tell thee thou dost injure us […] Thou shouldst not think of God: think of the Devil” (Marlow 5). This Devil’s dislike for God is evident in his jealousy over Faustus’s pledge of allegiance. He can’t seem to stand it when Faustus talks about Paradise or creation. This ultimatum to only think of the Devil, as well as the previously identified thirst for power, alludes to some sort of conflict between the Devil and God in Dr. Faustus.

God has a plan to reconcile His relationship with man after sin entered the world. This plan revolves around making His name known throughout all tribes and nations. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Bible presents God’s missionary purpose for humanity. For this reason, Christians involved in missions will travel to dangerous places to proclaim God’s name and saving power.

Christians are commanded in the Bible to take the gospel into all the world. God desires that all people know Him. However, since He is in heaven and not on the earth now, it is up to His people to show others the way to Him. Much of that testimony for Christ is through the way Christians lives are lived. It is well known that

Following the standards of classic tragic heroes, Satan is a determined leader with an extreme amount of hubris. He knows that God is the most powerful being and yet he still

Satan has a relationship with his “evil” followers much like a king to his noble subjects (or God to his followers). This is especially evident in lines 436-459, when Satan appears like a commoner until he ascends his throne and is suddenly clad in glory. The hundreds of thousands of demons are all condensed around the capital of Hell, waiting with bated breath for “their great adventurer from the search / of foreign worlds,” “whom they wished beheld, /

Satan comes to man with his temptations as an angel of light, as he came to Christ. He has been working to bring man into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may overcome him with his temptations, and then triumph over his ruin. ...He well knows that it is impossible for man to discharge his obligations to God and to his fellow-men, while he impairs the faculties God has given him. The brain is the capital of the body... pg. 236

Aside from his ability to reason, and also to bring others to think for themselves, Satan is also highly independent and refuses to let himself be controlled by someone who he does not think to be worthy of