Say the personification of evil is actually real. Horns and a tail and all of that.

He tempts man, right?

What is the purpose of this tempting? To bring out the evil already in us, or to create more of it?

Isn't it to test our faith in God?

Yeah, thats part of it.

But is the test a measurement of how faithful we are, or is it trying to make us less faithful?

Well if everything is God's creation then so is Satan so it's probably to test how faithful we are. But what the hell do I know? I'll let DS explain it.

All this afterlife thinking makes me want to kill something just to validate my existence.

Bump.

Someone has to have a better insight into this than I do.

Satan was originally an angelic type entity thats job was to report sins to "God". The Christians have perversed him, stolen his image from Cernunnos, Cernunnos pets, and Pan, and made satan the mighty tempter. His purpose is to test our fate, and even to weed out the good from the not so good.

It depends. If it is believed that God is in ultimate control of everything that goes on, then Satan is just a test of faith. If it is believed that everyone living has freewill and the ability to choose their actions, then Satan is most likely trying to over throw God.

As Azazel pointed out though, the horned Satan isn't really biblical canon but other religions that have filtered into christian teachings or that christians tried to adapt as a way to bring more people to their faith.

Originally "satan" was an atribute, and was someone or something that went against God, rebeling or disagreeing with him.

In Job God basically has a debate with "Satan" (an angel that disagrees with him) trusting satan with Job. In this case, Job gives evidence that the satan angel is a test of faith.

quote:In Job God basically has a debate with "Satan" (an angel that disagrees with him) trusting satan with Job. In this case, Job gives evidence that the satan angel is a test of faith.

no where does it suggest that the 'satan' of job was any sort of supernatural being.

quote:Originally posted by The Happy Chemical:



What is the purpose of this tempting?

Pure entertainment. http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

quote:Originally posted by Social Junker:

Pure entertainment. http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

lol