Satan: Can you help with a question about the reality of Satan?

Question

Baha'is believe that the name "Satan" refers to man's selfish or earthly nature. If that is true, it explains quite a bit that might otherwise be unexplainable to mankind at the present. If it is not true, then there should be a sin and possibly many sins that could not be attributed to or explained by the selfishness of some individual or individuals. I am re-examining some of the Baha'i beliefs. Could you lend your assistance and list any and all sins that you feel are not attributable to man's selfish nature?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm not Satan though some would say that I have, put the fear of Satan (not God) into some people, when I very frustrated and not amused by idiotic behaviour. I found the explanation of Shaitan (Islamic for Satan) quite interesting:



In Islam, the Devil is known as ʾIblīs (Arabic: إبليس‎, plural: ابالسة ʾAbālisa) or Shayṭān (Arabic: شيطان‎, plural: شياطين Shayāṭīn). According to the Quran, God created Iblis out of "smokeless fire or from the pure flame of fire" (along with all of the other jinn) and created man out of clay. The primary characteristic of the Devil, besides hubris, is that he has no power other than the power to cast evil suggestions into the heart of men, women, and jinn, although the Quran does mention appointing jinn to assist those who are far from God in a general context. "We made the Shayatin (devils) ʾAwliyāʾ (protectors and helpers) for those who believe not." (سورة الأعراف al-ʾAʿraf, Chapter #7, Verse #27)



In popular Islamic culture, "Shaytan" (Arabic: شيطان‎, is often simply translated as "The Devil," but the term can refer to any of the beings who rebelled against God.

Answer 2

Satan is Hasatan of Canaanite/Hebrew lore.



Hasatan a Jewish title for any angel that opposes, blocks, or impedes.



Therefore, in Hebrew lore, Hasatan is not necessarily an evil, or fallen angel. For example, a guardian angel will "block" you from harm. The angel is literally being Hasatan. Another way of describing Hasatan is the great Adversary, or Accuser of God.



Many bible scripture writers assumed that the Accuser of God was actually accusing god. But, that was not necessarily the case. The Adversary was accusing Mankind on behalf of god.



But, with the emergence of Christianity 2000 years ago, the term and meaning of Hasatan, or Satan took a revised meaning. That revised meaning is of course what Satan is today, the epitome of all things evil.



Angels, or entities that are evil, or sinful in Jewish lore, have titles, or names such as Mastema, Azazel, Beliel, Heylel, (Lucifer) Samael, Dobael, Beelzebub, Abaddon, Leviathan, etc etc..



The Baha faith which uses Satan as a spiritual symbol for the evil side of human nature, are only doing so, because, it's easy. It's kind of an up yours to mainstream religion, because, Satan has over the past 2000 years, become a symbol for everything that goes against the norm.



That idiot Alastair Crowley and later Anton LeVay, pretty much did the same thing.

Answer 3

my answer will come from a Christian perspective so there may be some differences in our two views of satan and sin. To me sin is inherent in man as we are all born sinners. Satan is a fallen angel that lies, connives, and tricks man to keep him from God and God's will, so satan is an actual being like God is a being. I'm not sure that sin is necessarily based on man's selfish nature. God views lust as a sin and I don't think it's selfish to lust after an attractive woman. Lying can be done for unselfish reasons (telling your wife that that dress doesn't make her butt look big, for example). God views anger/hate in ones heart the same as murder. I'm not sure that's a selfish act either.



I guess the answer becomes, from my POV, the reasoning behind the sin. True, just about any sin can and usually is committed for a selfish motive, but they can also be done for other reasons as well. Sociopaths lie b/c they can and they often don't know the truth from the lie, but they are still sinning.



So sin is satan's way of keeping us from being connected with God. It is in our nature and thus hard to withstand, but with God's grace we are forgiven for the sins we have committed and will commit.

Answer 4

Sin is a result of sinful desires, and can be traced all the way back to the first humans. Satan promised Eve, 'eat this fruit and you will be like God'. Selfish ambition, desire, caused Eve to snatch the fruit and eat, even though she knew full well Gods command and the consequences. Yes, all sin can be traced back to selfishness, a selfish act on the part of Eve. (Rom. 5:12)



Satan is real, not man's selfish nature, or the quality of evil in man's heart, as many religionists state.

Answer 5

The best way to get away with something is to make people think you don't exist.

This happened? It HAD to be someone else.

Who did that? No one knows.

There are plenty of "inexplicable" situations where no one else was around.

Just like Jehovah God whom no person has ever seen and angels

you cant see them, you can't "see" electricity, you can't see wind,

you can't see a lot of things it doesn't mean they are not there.



If you do something GOOD like GOD. You want your name known you want credit you

will say you exist, you take the credit for it, or try to.

If you are evil and do horrible things and want to blame someone else

you stay in the shadows.



I'm thinking mafia, heads of greedy organizations, and the one that "puts it in their minds"

much like the media moguls and sales and it makes me wonder where "they" got the idea from.



A list of sins?



Have you EVER heard of ANYONE that hated someone so much they tracked them

just to cause trouble for them, they paid others to put stumbling blocks in the way,

they stayed hidden so as not to take the blame? There are ALWAYS plenty of people

that will take the cash to harm others.



There are PLENTY of things people will do for money that make NO SENSE at all,

it seems to benefit NO ONE. It is JUST MEAN?



That is Satan. Letting you know you can be owned. Pure cruel, pure evil just for the sake of it.

I see more and more of that every day. There "seems" no rhyme nor reason other then pure

evil.

Answer 6

What ridiculous answers you can receive to a perfectly reasonable question.



Satan was one of millions of angels that God created. He was perfect and beautiful. According to the bible, Jehovah is a God of neatness and order. Everything in the universe has a place and a purpose.

Satan was put in charge of the garden of Eden as an overseer. Evidently his position went to his head and he decided that man should worship him instead of God.



Unfortunately, Adam and Eve choose to follow his advice instead of the advice of their creator. In so doing, they lost their perfection. Now, they could only pass on imperfection to their children. Our imperfection causes us to not be in complete control of ourselves and so we are subject to all sorts of weaknesses such as laziness ,anger, etc.



Imperfect, we offend God daily. Is this Satan's fault? Yes. It is ours as well, as man chose to follow him.



There is another kind of sin as well. Willful sin. If we know that something is displeasing to God and we do it anyway, this is our fault and not Satan's. It would be easy to say that he provides all sorts of temptation and this is true, however when Jesus was here, he showed that we are capable of resisting that temptation. Most people would like to blame Satan for their willful acts of sin, but the blame belongs to them.



So, no. There are no sins that can not be attributed to man's selfish nature.



Please, however, make no mistake. Satan is very real and being a Christian is a daily struggle against him. He has claimed that God cannot create a man that he, Satan, cannot turn against Him.



There are at least 8,000,000 of us who are proving him wrong.

Answer 7

Yes.



The Bible teaches that Satan is a very real spirit creature or angel. Ezekiel 28:13-18. He is going to be turned to ash on the face of the earth and will be no more.



He rebelled in Eden (he was the guardian cherub assigned to care for humans not exploit them). He told them they could be gods and know good and evil for themselves. Revelation calls him the great dragon and the original serpent. Gen. 3:4, 5, Revelation chapter 12, 20:1-3, 7-9. It also says he is thrown into the abyss for the 1,000 years so he can't mislead the earth. (IF it was just a bad tendency in ourselves/imperfection, he could not be banished for that time and let loose after it to deceive us).



He got 1/3 of the angels to sin and they all forsook their original estate in heaven to go to earth and marry all the women they wanted. The result was violent giants the women gave birth to. (Rev. 12:3, 4, 9, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6, 7, Genesis 6:1-4, Job 1:6, 2:1)



Jesus was perfect/sinless and had no evil tendencies, had no mental illness, no inclination to wrong doing. Satan tried to stop him from following God and tempted and argued with him. Matthew chapter 4.



The Bible also speaks often of demon possession and Jesus having authority over Satan and the demons casting them out of people as well as curing people's illnesses and such. He is always spoken of as a real person



Satan and diabolos are the Greek words for adversary, opposer, slanderer. The title only is Christian, but not the existance of the spirit creature.



Job 1:6, 2:1 use the term Satan in the OT.in Christian Bibles. The Tanakkah translates Satan by its English meaning adversary. Means the same, but different language.





http://www.studylight.org/isb/bible.cgi?query=Job+1%3A6§ion=0&it=kjv&ot=bhs&nt=na

at# from (07853)

Transliterated Word Phonetic Spelling

Satan saw-tawn'

Parts of Speech TWOT

Noun Masculine 2252a

Definition

adversary, one who withstands

adversary (in general - personal or national)

superhuman adversary

Satan (as noun pr)



Translated Words

KJV (27) - Satan, 19; adversary, 7; withstand, 1;

NAS (27) - Satan, 18; accuser, 1; adversary, 8;



The online version uses Satan. My hard copy uses adversary.



Tanakkah

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Job1.html

Job 1

8 And HaShem said unto Satan: 'Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a whole-hearted and an upright man, one that feareth G-d, and shunneth evil?'



Job 2

1 Again it fell upon a day, that the sons of G-d came to present themselves before HaShem, and Satan came also among them to present himself before HaShem.



Job 38

13 thou wast in Eden the garden of G-d; every precious stone was thy covering, the carnelian, the topaz, and the emerald, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the smaragd, and gold; the workmanship of thy settings and of thy sockets was in thee, in the day that thou wast created they were prepared.



14 Thou wast the far-covering cherub; and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of G-d; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of stones of fire.



15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee.



The Scriptures say Satan, this cherub (a class of angels) was PERFECT to start with just like Jesus.



Devil is another word for him. John 8:44 He is said to be the lie and Father of the lie. He did not stand fast in the truth and is a murderer/manslayer.



There is at least 1 NT verse that calls him Devil and Satan both. I can't find it right now though.



Debbie



Though the term Satan may not be used in non Christian religions, almost all have some beings who were cast out of heaven and do harm. Wiccans, some more obscure Christian sects, maybe Christian Scientists I'm pretty sure) don't believe in him at all or just believe it is human's own bad inclination.

Answer 8

I've known of too many people who have had supernatural encounters to believe that Satan and demons don't exist. Sometime I'll tell you some things.

Answer 9

human beings ignore that there are a number of interpretations of God and a great form of religions. I see angels and devils as literary instruments utilized in connection with the darker factors of our very own minds. devil seems to exist, yet purely as that deluded area of our very own psyche's.

Answer 10

Salaams dear brother:



Satanic Pride is the cause of the Fall.

"Pride cometh before a fall."



We are taught to overcome this sinful nature through prayer and seeking refuge in our LORD.



Psalm 23.

Psalm 131.

Psalm 102

Psalm 103



and Allahu a'lam. God Knows Best.



Subhan-Allahi wa biHamdihi.

[x]



edit: add Psalm 133

and Alhamdulillah.



i know Santa is Real...

so i suppose Satan is too... insha'Allah.



and furthermore the Holy Qur'an tells us that Satan is Real.



all Judgment is Left up to our LORD.

[Lord's Prayer. Al-Fatiha. amen. ameen. amin.]

Answer 11

The term 'satan' means 'resister'.



It can be applied to anyone who resists someone, or something.



'Satanic', then, would mean 'resistant'.





"In many places in the Hebrew Scriptures, the word sa·tan′ appears without the definite article. Used in this way, it applies in its first appearance to the angel that stood in the road to resist Balaam as he set out with the objective of cursing the Israelites. (Nu 22:22, 32)



"In other instances it refers to individuals as resisters of other men.

(1Sa 29:4; 2Sa 19:21, 22; 1Ki 5:4; 11:14, 23, 25)



"But it is used with the definite article ha to refer to Satan the Devil,

the chief Adversary of God. (Job 1:6, ftn; Job 2:1-7; Zec 3:1, 2)







The term 'sin' means 'missing the mark of perfection.'



". . . The common Hebrew term translated “sin” is chat·taʼth′; in Greek the usual word is ha·mar·ti′a. In both languages the verb forms (Heb., cha·taʼ′; Gr., ha·mar·ta′no) mean “miss,” in the sense of missing or not reaching a goal, way, mark, or right point. . . . Both of these words were used to mean missing or failing to reach not merely physical objects or goals (Job 5:24) but also moral or intellectual goals or marks. . . .



"Paul ties in God’s glory with the matter of human sin in saying that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Ro 3:23; compare Ro 1:21-23; Ho 4:7.) . . . The apostle Peter quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures in stating God’s express will for his earthly servants, saying: “In accord with the holy one who called you, do you also become holy yourselves in all your conduct, because it is written: ‘You must be holy, because I am holy.’”—1Pe 1:15, 16; Le 19:2; De 18:13.



"Sin, therefore, mars man’s reflection of God’s likeness and glory; it makes man unholy, that is, unclean, impure, tarnished in a spiritual and moral sense.—Compare Isa 6:5-7; Ps 51:1, 2; Eze 37:23"





The Bible book of Job tells us:

“Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean? There is not one.” (Job 14:4)



Also, at Romans 5:12 the Bible explains:

“Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin,

and thus death spread to all men.”





"Just as a perfect piece of machinery cannot be produced from an imperfect mold, so Adam in his imperfection could not produce perfect children, free from sin."



"Look! With *error* I was brought forth with birth pains."---Psalm 51:5a #





"The entire human family was plunged into sin and imperfection. Adam now could not pass on to his offspring the perfection that he no longer had. As in making copies of something from a mold or pattern that is itself defective—all the copies will have the same defect. So, all of Adam’s offspring were born in sin, with an inherited tendency toward selfishness. (Genesis 8:21)"





New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

- Reference Edition

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/binav/r1/lp-e







You ask for a list of 'sins that cannot be attributed to --or explained by-- man's selfish nature' . . . ?



". . . Each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed* by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn, sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death."---James 1:14-15



That even applied to Eve & Adam, before they had sinned.

It is our God-given right to make decisions for ourselves, either right, or, wrong:



"Jehovah Gives Us a Choice"

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2009817

.

Answer 12

The sins of not being logical, reasonable or not requiring evidence (also known as 'faith').

Answer 13

My dear friend,God is truth and Satan is a myth!

Answer 14

Interesting question and appears to be an issue in many ways today. I will give you what I see after decades of examining scripture and using logic. Someone said and I quote; "Satan is a Christian concept"...I say to you, not really. You see there are about 45,000 branches of the "so-called" Christian tree! Each one has a different slant. I really appreciate the truth as stated at James 1:13-15 When under trial, let no one say: "I am being tried by God. For with evil things God cannot be tried...So our desires and imperfect flesh does play into it. Is our own desire the only problem we have in this world? It is fair to say that the answer is No! There is a spirit world which includes the devil and demons even though they are unseen by us mere humans. Their influence is apparent to many; especially in the last days we are experiencing. 2 Tim. 3:1-5 <<<
I do appreciate that Jehovah has supplied us with a full suit of spiritual armor to enable us “to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil.” (Ephesians 6:11-18) Our love for the truth will gird our loins, or prepare us, for Christian activity. Our determination to hold to Jehovah’s standards of righteousness will be like a breastplate protecting our heart. If our feet are shod with the good news, they will regularly take us into the preaching work, and this will strengthen and protect us spiritually. Our strong faith will be like a large shield, protecting us...Our confident hope in the fulfillment of Jehovah’s promises will be like a helmet protecting our thinking abilities and giving us peace of mind. (Philippians 4:7) If we become expert at handling God’s Word, it will be like a sword we can use to help free people from spiritual bondage to Satan. We can also wield it to defend ourselves, even as Jesus did when tempted. (John 17:15; 1 Corinthians 10:13)

Answer 15

Satan is a Christian concept.

Answer 16

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