What’s in a name?
Satan is often defined as meaning “the accuser,” “the one who opposes,” and “the prosecutor.” The term is derived from the Hebrew ha-satan, meaning “the opposer.” This is the extent to which the Talmud defines the word.
Satan in Christianity and Islam
In Christianity, satan becomes Satan, the personification of evil. He is described as a fallen angel who questioned God’s authority and led a rebellion. God subsequently casts Satan and his rebellious angels down to Earth—not Hell—Earth.
Satan is known as a ruler of both Earth and Hell. He controls an army of demons and fallen angels in an attempt to draw humans away from God.
In the book of Job, Satan is seen as a member of a divine council under God whose sole purpose is to tempt man and report those who indulge back to God.
The problem with Satan and Hell
The main problem with Satan as a being is that his origins lie in the meaning of his name. At first mention, Satan wasn’t an entity, he was an idea. And, in the beginning, there wasn’t a Hell for the torture of lost souls. There was only Sheol, Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus.
Sheol is merely “the grave”—the place all souls went in early Judaism when they died. Gehenna is a physical place—a valley—outside of Jerusalem where Holocaust-esque events took place. Hades and Tartarus both find their place in Greek mythology as both gods and physical places for the dead.
That brings up the issue of Satan and his demons in Hell. The Christian idea is that Satan controls his demons, and his demons torture souls that go to Hell after death. This doesn’t make sense because in Revelation, Satan is tortured in Hell just like lost human souls. If this is the case, then the demons work for God—since God created Hell as a place of punishment—making the demons holy since they carry out God’s work. This causes a huge debate when the idea of demonic possession is brought up. Demons are thought to be evil, but if they work for God, how can that be?
Other problems with Hell include the idea of pain and suffering. Pain is a negative sensation caused when signals from a damaged area of the body are sent via nerve pathways to the brain. Without a brain or a physical, nerve-filled body to perceive pain, there will be no pain—or any other sensation—at all. The soul is supposed to be ethereal, immaterial. If the soul is not physical, it can’t feel pain. On top of that, a physical place would not be able to influence an ethereal thing. So the fear of torment and suffering in Hell for all of eternity is moot. It simply cannot happen.
So what are Hell and Satan?
Scare tactics. The best way to get someone else to believe something you do is to make them afraid of what might happen if they don’t believe. If you can get someone to believe that they will be tortured forever if they don’t worship your god, they will be more than happy to accept him and his laws.
Anton Szandor LaVey sees Satan as a symbolic force. He finds it interesting that the seven deadly sins are the seven things that make us human. Instead of turning away from Satan, he calls for mankind to embrace it—to embrace what makes us human. LaVey’s followers often perform symbolic rituals that mock Christianity and celebrate human feelings like lust and greed.
Some Satanists see Satan the way the Christians do—as an actual entity. But instead of avoiding him, they worship him as a deity.
Ultimately, it’s up to people to decide for themselves, but a little common sense can go a long way.
Works Cited
King James Version of the Bible
www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=satan
Glen Miller - I am currently a junior studying writing and legal studies at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. I am due to graduate in ...
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