The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

So let’s talk about God, and the Devil, and what to do about it.

Let’s say you’re at the end of your rope. Your house burned down, your wife/husband left you, your kids don’t like you, you’re out of a job, and your dog died.

And the devil appears.

“Sell me your soul,” he says, “and I will make you rich, give you another, more wonderful house, and a more wonderful wife and dog.”

Now what do you do? Faust evidently said “where do I sign?” But that was not logical.  Because if the devil pops up in front of me, offering me all that wonderful stuff, I suddenly realize he’s real. There is a devil. And since he’s real, he can, I am sure, give me all those things. All I have to do is consign my soul, tattered and unappealing item that it is, to him.

And why not? What use do I have for it? I’ve never used it much, never saw any real benefit from it. It hasn’t done me any good so far. But wait.

If the devil is real, that means a lot of other things are real. Like hell. And God. And angels. And if I sell him my soul, that may mean all that stuff I’ve heard about is true, too. Like unending torture. Which a minute ago sounded like a dark fairy tale, and right now sounds like someplace I really don’t want to be.

So that’s at least one strike against the devil, except he really is pretty appealing, the kind of person you’d trust and want to have for an advisor and friend. God help me, I really like him. And lord also knows I’d like to have all those things he says he can give me.

Oops. There’s that other big problem. If he’s real, so is God. Darn. So is this really a decision about whether I want to go to heaven or to hell? Well, I actually haven’t lived the kind of life I think would automatically qualify for heaven. So I might wind up going to hell, anyway. Except if you’re truly sorry for all your sins, you’re forgiven them, and qualify.

But can I trust that? Heck, I don’t know.

What I do know is the devil’s a bad guy, and God’s a good guy.

But wait.

My study of the old testament has caused me to believe that God is a narcissistic, malevolent personality, killing or having killed millions of people just because they don’t believe in Him. Umm. Did the devil ever do that? Well, the bible tells us God is the only entity with power over life and death. With some odd exceptions, such as Satan killing Job’s children and servants – with, however, God’s permission.

So… God, bad guy; Satan, not so bad guy? Is a puzzlement.

But wait again. That all happened in the old testament. What about the new one, in which Jesus portrays God as a loving God, who cares about us, who clothes the wildflowers and marks the death of even a sparrow? And who says His father’s house has many rooms, and He will prepare one for us?

Besides, Jesus said Satan was: a roaring lion seeking to devour Christians, the evil one, the enemy, the prince of this world, and a lot of other things.

I think the thing for me is that – if Satan popped up before me, in the flesh, so to speak, offering me dominion over the world or some such extravagance, I’d have to opt out. Not that I’d think I have something better going for me, but that a) if Satan exists, then probably Hell does, too, and by signing with him that’s where I’d be sure to end up, and b) if he does exist, then probably heaven, and repentance, and forgiveness do, too. And though I’m by no means sure I’ll wind up walking through those pearly gates, at least I figure I might have a shot at it.

So… thanks for the generous offer, Mr. Satan, but I think I’ll pass.