Assuming the Bible to be correct, how would Satan initially appear today?
Not too long ago, I came across an article, conveyed in video or text form, which said the modern day mainstream view of Satan (i.e. some giant, cloven-footed, muscular, Pan-faced Colossus of a demon) exists primarily due to a work entitled Dante's Inferno, and is not actually based much on anything found in the Judeo-Christian Bible at all.
In fact, in many passages, Satan is described as Angelic, perhaps even Christ-Like, though, after a period of time which may in fact be extremely lengthy, and not particularly easy to determine except for the most devoted and regular Bible readers, he eventually reveals himself as a Dragon, in many ways as, if not more, terrible than the creature Dante described.
I'm interested in how people here would respond to that assertion, as well, of course, to the main title question.
For even many that now call themselves agnostic or atheist say they once were Christian, and so are presumably familiar with what the Bible says regarding Satan, his qualities, his actions, appearances, etcetera,
and the rest, especially those I've seen refer to themselves as "Gnostic" philosophers, well, any of those that know the Bible should have very interesting opinions to offer, too.
I'll start with 2 passages widely accredited as descriptions of Bible Satan that are nearly opposite of the Dante Inferno Satan to illustrate the contrast to modern mainstream view that I mentioned above:
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God;
Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;
every precious stone was thy covering,
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper,
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold:
the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes
was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;
thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity was found in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise
they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned:
therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God:
and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub,
from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty,
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness:
I will cast thee to the ground,
I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities,
by the iniquity of thy traffick;
therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee,
it shall devour thee,
and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth
in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee:
thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
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13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
[topical]He'd probably appear as Justin Bieber hur hur hur hur hur hur hur hur[/topical]
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
Satan, using the term as normally applied today, is nearly synonymous with Lucifer who was, IIRC, a seraphim. Lucifer has to do with being the 'morning star/fallen star', while seraphim means 'burning' or 'ember' and Satan is often associated with 'fire/dragon', so there's a strong connection there. Therefore, you have the 'enemy', Satan, likely appearing as something associated with fire/stars/dragon.
Therefore, Satan will likely appear like a beast wreathed in flame, or Sauron. Take your pick.
__________________ "Compounding these trickster aspects, the Joker ethos is verbally explicated as such by his psychiatrist, who describes his madness as "super-sanity." Where "sanity" previously suggested acquiescence with cultural codes, the addition of "super" implies that this common "sanity" has been replaced by a superior form, in which perception and processing are completely ungoverned and unconstrained"
__________________ Recently Produced and Distributed Young but High-Ranking Political Figure of Royal Ancestry within the Modern American Town Affectionately Referred To as Bel-Air.
He wouldn't appear as anything more than fiction, because according to the Bible, he will attempt to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. He will become more myth than truth, and many will see him in this light. His goal is for people to believe that he does not exist, and thus he will be able to roam freely without fear of being known. The great deceiver of nations, and defiler of faith. Not sure if this was what you were looking for in an answer, but it was the very first thing that came to mind.
When did I say that? What I understand is that you are a tree that has fruit, but refuses to feed the hungry. That makes you a very dangerous person spiritually (not sure if that's what you're aiming at?). I can understand the trees that have no fruit to bring forth due to a lack of knowledge, but you... Well you do. You are on bad ground with God according to the Bible, but I guess that you already knew that. And if God does exist, what will you be told on the day of judgement if you continue to follow the path that you are on? You ask questions feigning ignorance, when we both know full well that you know exactly my meaning. My faith is not up for debate nor am I a fundy, or religious. I hate religion, it's the relationship that I'm after.
Ask another question like the one that you did, and I will likely not respond. That would be like throwing pearls to swine, only to have them trampled under their feet. Like I said, if you indeed have studied the bible, you are a very dangerous person spiritually.
So if you don't believe in God, why in the world do you bother hanging around topics that would not concern someone claiming as much? What are you after? Who are you after? Put on your armor, and pick up your sword or don't. The choice is yours.
Stoic's answer has more resonance than any of the other responses I've heard in this thread. Assuming the Bible IS true, it seems intuitively correct.
On the other hand, I want to honor the time people spent on replying here with a response that acknowledges their view each in his or her own turn.
I'll do this at random, likely until I've responded to all, in no particular order.
For instance ...
Oneness' response above, and perhaps in some small measure his screenname, reminded me of the following.
I no longer remember where I first came upon this; think one of the websites that features this actually says there is a set of tablets in Georgia or Washington DC where the entirety of this creed is carved in stone.
The bolded portion is most relevant to Oneness' reply:
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An illusion it will be, so large, so vast it will escape their perception.
Those who will see it will be thought of as insane.
We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the connection between us.
We will behave as if we are not connected to keep the illusion alive. Our goal will be accomplished one drop at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from seeing the changes as they occur.
We will always stand above the relative field of their experience for we know the secrets of the absolute.
We will work together always and will remain bound by blood and secrecy. Death will come to he who speaks.
We will keep their lifespan short and their minds weak while pretending to do the opposite.
We will use our knowledge of science and technology in subtle ways so they will never see what is happening.
We will use soft metals, aging accelerators and sedatives in food and water, also in the air.
They will be blanketed by poisons everywhere they turn.
The soft metals will cause them to lose their minds. We will promise to find a cure from our many fronts, yet we will feed them more poison.
The poisons will be absorbed trough their skin and mouths, they will destroy their minds and reproductive systems.
From all this, their children will be born dead, and we will conceal this information.
The poisons will be hidden in everything that surrounds them, in what they drink, eat, breathe and wear.
We must be ingenious in dispensing the poisons for they can see far.
We will teach them that the poisons are good, with fun images and musical tones.
Those they look up to will help. We will enlist them to push our poisons.
They will see our products being used in film and will grow accustomed to them and will never know their true effect.
When they give birth we will inject poisons into the blood of their children and convince them its for their help.
We will start early on, when their minds are young, we will target their children with what children love most, sweet things.
When their teeth decay we will fill them with metals that will kill their mind and steal their future.
When their ability to learn has been affected, we will create medicine that will make them sicker and cause other diseases for which we will create yet more medicine.
We will render them docile and weak before us by our power.
They will grow depressed, slow and obese, and when they come to us for help, we will give them more poison.
We will focus their attention toward money and material goods so they many never connect with their inner self. We will distract them with fornication, external pleasures and games so they may never be one with the oneness of it all.
Their minds will belong to us and they will do as we say. If they refuse we shall find ways to implement mind-altering technology into their lives. We will use fear as our weapon.
We will establish their governments and establish opposites within. We will own both sides.
We will always hide our objective but carry out our plan.
They will perform the labor for us and we shall prosper from their toil.
Our families will never mix with theirs. Our blood must be pure always, for it is the way.
We will make them kill each other when it suits us.
We will keep them separated from the oneness by dogma and religion.
We will control all aspects of their lives and tell them what to think and how.
We will guide them kindly and gently letting them think they are guiding themselves.
We will foment animosity between them through our factions.
When a light shall shine among them, we shall extinguish it by ridicule, or death, whichever suits us best.
We will make them rip each other's hearts apart and kill their own children.
We will accomplish this by using hate as our ally, anger as our friend.
The hate will blind them totally, and never shall they see that from their conflicts we emerge as their rulers. They will be busy killing each other.
They will bathe in their own blood and kill their neighbors for as long as we see fit.
We will benefit greatly from this, for they will not see us, for they cannot see us.
We will continue to prosper from their wars and their deaths.
We shall repeat this over and over until our ultimate goal is accomplished.
We will continue to make them live in fear and anger though images and sounds.
We will use all the tools we have to accomplish this.
The tools will be provided by their labor.
We will make them hate themselves and their neighbors.
We will always hide the divine truth from them, that we are all one. This they must never know!
They must never know that color is an illusion, they must always think they are not equal.
Drop by drop, drop by drop we will advance our goal.
We will take over their land, resources and wealth to exercise total control over them.
We will deceive them into accepting laws that will steal the little freedom they will have.
We will establish a money system that will imprison them forever, keeping them and their children in debt.
When they shall ban together, we shall accuse them of crimes and present a
different story to the world for we shall own all the media.
We will use our media to control the flow of information and their sentiment
in our favor.
When they shall rise up against us we will crush them like insects, for they are less than that.
They will be helpless to do anything for they will have no weapons.
We will recruit some of their own to carry out our plans, we will promise them
eternal life, but eternal life they will never have for they are not of us.
The recruits will be called "initiates" and will be indoctrinated to believe false rites of passage to higher realms. Members of these groups will think they are one with us never knowing the truth. They must never learn this truth for they will turn against us.
For their work they will be rewarded with earthly things and great titles, but never will they become immortal and join us, never will they receive the light and travel the stars.
They will never reach the higher realms, for the killing of their own kind will prevent passage to the realm of enlightenment. This they will never know.
The truth will be hidden in their face, so close they will not be able to focus
on it until its too late.
Oh yes, so grand the illusion of freedom will be, that they will never know they
are our slaves.
When all is in place, the reality we will have created for them will own them.
This reality will be their prison. They will live in self-delusion.
When our goal is accomplished a new era of domination will begin.
Their minds will be bound by their beliefs, the beliefs we have established from time immemorial.
But if they ever find out they are our equal, we shall perish then. THIS THEY
MUST NEVER KNOW.
If they ever find out that together they can vanquish us, they will take action.
They must never, ever find out what we have done, for if they do, we shall have no place to run, for it will be easy to see who we are once the veil has fallen. Our actions will have revealed who we are and they will hunt us down and no person shall give us shelter.
This is the secret covenant by which we shall live the rest of our present and future lives, for this reality will transcend many generations and life spans.
This covenant is sealed by blood, our blood. We, the ones who from heaven to earth came.
This covenant must NEVER, EVER be known to exist. It must NEVER, EVER be written or spoken of for if it is, the consciousness it will spawn will release the fury of the PRIME CREATOR upon us and we shall be cast to the depths from whence we came and remain there until the end time of infinity itself.
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KMC Community Forums
May 15th, 2014 04:59 PM
