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Some References from the Bible
Tucanwarrior13
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Registered User regular
I may get slapped on the hand for this one, but I'm doing a paper in which I have to Compare/Contrast two topics. I've chosen The Lord, and The Devil.
Could some of you good people give me some good quotes to put into my paper that help to show the difference between the two.
I plan on looking in the bible myself, but it might be easier if some of you already have some stored up in your noggins. haha.
Could some of you good people give me some good quotes to put into my paper that help to show the difference between the two.
I plan on looking in the bible myself, but it might be easier if some of you already have some stored up in your noggins. haha.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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Contrast: In terms of behaviour, at least when one looks at christian mythology, God is overconfident to the point of incompetence, and Satan couldonly be described as a calculating politician.
I also think I worded my first post a bit wonky. I meant to ask for references, not direct quotes. Sorry about that.
"One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job;&version=31;
The devil is not always called Satan, there is a Prince Mastema (sometimes spelled Mestema) who is actually the prince of darkness in the Old Testament, in the New Testament the religious leaders called him Belzebu, Prince of Demons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastema
I agree with those that recommend reading Paradise Lost, but keep in mind that this poem was based on books considered apocryphal, and were not included in the bible.
I came in here to say the exact same thing. I think the devil actually has lines in this part, but I may be confused and it's done in narrative.
Nah, I'm just joking. I was totally going to post that. :P
Basically the concept is, if you an idea you think might be correct, you should put it to the test. This is the role of satan, who's job it is/was to find holes or problems with any theory put forward as being correct.
In the story of Job for example, the question being asked is if righteous people are such because it it easy to uphold certain standards in a pressure free environment. When Job was put to the test, it was to see if an upright man would crumble under pressure, or hold to his way of being when there was no apparent or immediate benefit in doing so.
It was later when the ideas of satan and the individual known as Lucifer became combined. Lucifer took on a satanic role when he decided that angelic creatures no longer had to follow what was right, and instead could use their power for their own benefit. Angels have always been considered as creatures very closely linked with God, and so to go against God, to go against what is inherently correct, put the rebel hosts in the position of vanguard to evil (wrongness) in terms of their mortal relationships.
Lucifer became a symbolic figure, deeply personified by cultural terms, much like God was personified and granted individual status by the same terms. Satan the being was created by the ideas of men and credited with his own agenda, much as YHWH was similarily personified as God and credited with an agenda in line with certain men. Both beings have been transitioned from thier original ideas and been assimilated into positions which do not truly reflect their origins or descriptions.
Lucifer for example, is now often culturally credited with as much or more influence in the world as in active, aggressive enemy against God, often presentedas an almost absentee or sleeping entity who holds only a subtle influence. In original terms, God is correctness personifed to give meaning and direction, while Lucifer is an actual being, a product of an unseen dimension to the natural world. These two could not be opponents any more than say, a man angry with gravity. Cultural perceptions and definitions of these forces have shaped the ideas surrounding them to place them in a type of conflict easily recognized and understood by almost everyone.
Both are now so far removed from thier original descriptors that they can often seem at odds with thier original backdrop. Demons for example, are portrayed as ugly horrible things when in fact they are the same exact beings as angels. God and the portrayal of his unyielding stance on certain moral issues places him in a supervisory position over a great number of evils, when in fact 'being correct' is a somewhat flexible position which changes its recommendations as new information presents itself to mankind.
Just food for thought, though if you're just looking for quotes, Genesis has a few when God is speaking to Adam, The Temptation of Christ in the gospels is a classic, Peter has some very interesting things to say about God, and Job as mentioned already. Sounds like a really neat idea for a paper, good luck!
Anyways, here is a list of bible passages referencing the Devil in Multiple fashions (you could also try searching for him as Satan or Lucifer--if you're looking for multiple ways).
http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_resource.php?source=1&tid=4264
I'd recommend using that site for a lot or most of the biblical references you do. Some popular Bible stories involving the Devil include the aforementioned stories of Job and the Temptation of Christ.
You could also include: The Fall of Man (Adam & Eve), and the Devil's confrontation with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemone (you can see this in the beginning of the Passion of the Christ movie), also the story of how He was cast out of heaven--believing himself to be better than God, his perfect form etc etc.
Also if you're going for outside Biblical Text References.... (Goethe's) Faust is a very very good reference (he is known as Mephistopholes), you could also reference Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus", and of course Dante's inferno
if you're sticking to strictly christian references, I think another poster may have posted this link (I only saw wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_in_Christianity
This article talks about a bunch of additional references.