Is There a Devil?

Ah, yes, well. This is certainly a difficult question. And, for me, one a bit different than believing in God. I believe in God because I've experienced God. I've encountered something for which God is the only word I have. I have never met the devil, Lucifer, or Satan. So, all my thinking must be second-hand and, well, less certain. If I believe in the devil, it is not the same as believing in God, which is more like believing in you, because I've met you. And one might reasonably make the claim that there is no evil on earth that humans cannot ultimately cause. There is another word for Satan, and he is us, all our darker nature. All the rest is metaphor.

However, this has not been an acceptable explanation for most people throughout most of history. Everyone has an adversary, which is Satan's biblical role. It is not a stable or central identity. In Scripture, Satan evolves from a snake in the garden to prosecuting attorney to a mysterious tempter to an opposing power and the ultimate beastly evil at the end of time. Most of the things people have heard about Satan, such as the rebellion in heaven and Satan's reign in hell (rather than wandering the earth) are additions of Christian and other traditions, and are not biblical teaching, though we would note that most all orthodox Christianity has indeed believed in the existence of the devil, whatever the details.

But the point is that the scriptures, and especially the Gospels, strongly posit a vision of two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world, with the latter being given over to the adversary. The powers and principalities of this world are fallen, corrupt, and not ultimately to be trusted for human welfare and salvation; they are the opposition. They are the instruments and dominion of the enemy. Jesus didn't want you to go kill Caesar, but he did want you to know that Caesar might be playing for the other team. So, Jesus opposed the devil. Christ clearly saw a spiritual dimension of existence to which we moderns are not accustomed, and treated elements of it as cursed and abhorrent parts of the anti-kingdom, the one opposed to God -it's not entirely implausible that the anti-kingdom would have a king, who tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

So, with my own experience not being applicable, based on tradition and scripture, especially in the witness of Christ, I would say that yes, the devil does exist. The wandering adversary has effects in this world, though I cannot describe the devil in any detail and doubt that anyone can, and cannot say to what degree the devil could make anyone do anything. The other point that scripture makes that doesn't, in my opinion, get enough mention, is how weak the devil's position actually is in this world. It's all provisional, it's all at the pleasure of God and can be taken away at any time. Demons ask Christ for permission to do what they do, and similar powers seem entirely under the authority of the first apostles, whose mandate scripture does nothing to diminish. Now, this puts God and God's servants in an interesting relation to evil and its agents, but that's a whole other theological problem, and quite beyond my ken.

The larger point, I think, is that the devil is ultimately weak and seems to serve a similar function to Israel's enemies in the Old Testament: God permits the devil to have his say for a while so that our chastening and salvation can occur through the action of our faith. Satan does not persist because of Satan's great powers, but because of God's permission and evil's slippery and multiform nature. We're not going up against the Dark Lord Sauron here. It's more like we're confronting Grima Wormtongue of Tolkein fame, or even Gollum. So it's not, I think, that the devil made you do it, so much as that God allowed Satan to do something to us all for a little while, even as our choices remain our own.

There is by exceedingly widespread testimony a part of the universe far larger than ourselves that seems to be arrayed against, or at best indifferent to, human flourishing - be it individual or corporate. The Greeks called it Fate, moderns call it chance or randomness. But for people who take seriously the spiritual dimension of our lives, Satan might actually be a more accurate description, because that seems to be his role: the opponent, the snake in the garden, the worm in the apple, the bump in the night that reminds us that not everyone's on our side, that death is at our door, that our parents will not always be able to protect us - that we are frail and ultimately alone, that our lives are fragile, that nothing in this world will deliver us, and that we ultimately depend on God and God alone for our existence and salvation. That's the devil, doing the devil's work.

Notice: Spring Semester is Here!

Since my academic calendar clearly has no relation to the Roman one, and is instead based entirely on the waxing and waning of my interest, I'm pleased to announce the begging of Curious Monk's first spring semester in Religious Studies at the University of You Made It Up!, the only academic institution devoted exclusively to individual whims. Scheduled are a series of editorials based on the common lectionary, some more love poems, and a project to be named later, though it looks like I'm done with the Qur'an. Well, everyone, have at it! We'll start you off with the Prince of Darkness.

Editorial: The Beggar King

I steal from Athanasius:

Once upon a time there was a good and kind king who had a great kingdom with many cities. In one distant city, some people took advantage of the freedom the king gave them and started doing evil. They profited by their evil and began to fear that the king would interfere and throw them in jail. Eventually these rebels seethed with hatred for the king. They convinced the city that everyone would be better off without the king, and the city declared its independence from the kingdom.

But soon, with everyone doing whatever they wanted, disorder reigned in the city. There was violence, hatred, lying, oppression, murder, rape, slavery, and fear. The king thought; What should I do? If I take my army and conquer the city by force, the people will fight against me, and I'll have to kill so many of them, and the rest will only submit through fear or intimidation, which will make them hate me and all I stand for even more. How does that help them—to be either dead or imprisoned or secretly seething with rage? But if I leave them alone, they'll destroy each other, and it breaks my heart to think of the pain they're causing and experiencing.

So the king did something very surprising. He took off his robes and dressed in the rags of a homeless wanderer. Incognito, he entered the city and began living in a vacant lot near a garbage dump. He took up a trade—fixing broken pottery and furniture. Whenever people came to him, his kindness and goodness and fairness and respect were so striking that they would linger just to be in his presence. They would tell him their fears and questions, and ask his advice. He told them that the rebels had fooled them, and that the true king had a better way to live, which he exemplified and taught.

One by one, then two by two, and then by the hundreds, people began to have confidence in him and live in his way. Their influence spread to others, and the movement grew and grew until the whole city regretted its rebellion and wanted to return to the kingdom again. But, ashamed of their horrible mistake, they were afraid to approach the king, believing he would certainly destroy them for their rebellion.

But the king-in-disguise told them the good news: he was himself the king, and he loved them. He held nothing against them, and he welcomed them back into his kingdom, having accomplished by a gentle, subtle presence what never could have been accomplished through brute force.

Qur'an: Daybreak

By the Daybreak, by the Ten Nights, by the even and the odd, by the passing night - is this oath strong enough for a rational person?

Have you Prophet considered how your Lord dealth with the people of Ad, of Iram, the city of lofty pillars, whose like has never been made in any land, and the Thamud who hewed into the rocks of the valley, and the might and powerful Pharaoh? All of them committed excesses in their lands, and spread corruption there: your Lord is always watchful.

The nature of man is that, when his Lord tries him through nonour and blessings, he says, 'My Lord has honoured me' but when He tries him through the restriction of his provision, he says, 'My Lord has humiliated me.' No indeed! You people do not honour orphans, you do not urge one another to feed the poor, you consume inheritance greedily, and you love weath with a passion. No indeed! When the earth is pounded to dust, pounded and pounded, when your Lord comes with the angles, rank upon rank, when Hell is that Day brought near - on that Day man will make heed, but what good will that be to him then? He will say, Would that I had provided for this life to come! On that Day, no one will punish as he punishes, and no one will bind as He binds. But you, soul at peace: return to your Lord well pleased and well pleasing; go in among My servants; and into my Garden.

Qur'an: The City

In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy,

I swear by this city - and you [Prophet] are an inhabitant of this city - I swear by parent and offspring, that We have created man for toil and trial.* Does he think that no one will have power over him? I have squandered great wealth, he says. Does he think no one observes him? Did We not give him eyes, a tongue, lips, and point out to him the two clear ways of good and evil? Yet he has not attempted the steep path. What will explain to you what the steep path is? It is to free a slave, to feed at a time of hunager an orphaned relative or a poor person in distress, and to be one of those who believe and urge one another to steadfastness and compassion. Those who do this will be on the right-hand side, but those who disbelieve in Our revelations will be on the left-hand side, and the Fire will close in on them.

*really? not paradise and obedience? I wonder how far this goes. Beyond that, this sura is beautiful in its own right.

Love Poem: Don't Flee

Don't Flee

In love's slaughterhouse
only the pure
are ever at risk.

The arrogant and devious
are never pure or desired.

If you heart is pure,
then never flee
the butcher's knife.

Whoever won't be killed
is already dead meat.

Sarmad

Love Poem: His Living Proof

His Living Proof

The eternal mysteries,
following wisdom's lead,
brought forth
the human form
as their living proof.

As long as the drop
hadn't emerged from the sea,
the ocean
didn't notice
the depths of its splendor.

-Mirza 'Abd al-Qadir Bidil