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Jan. 12th, 2006 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaIn Hebrew, ha-satan means "the adversary."
Elaine Pagels argued in The Origin of Satan that the term evolved as the Tanakh was written so that by the time of Jesus it referred to the spirit of social discord. That is, Satan was not necessarily God's adversary, so much as Satan was the embodiment of adversity between people.
Jesus placed above all of the laws and commandments two which he called the greatest: to love God with all of one's heart, mind, and soul, and to love one's neighbor as oneself. If these principles indeed took center stage for Jesus, then that casts his workings against Satan in a new light. Satan is then his opponent not for opposing God but more for causing people to oppress and abuse one another.
Combine this with an argument i made in the past, that Jesus was far less concerned with the transgressions of ordinary people than he was with oppression and exploitation. In fact, to recast God's judgment so that it seems to be about everyday transgressions is to subvert and misappropriate the message of the prophets, who were concerned with social justice. It then becomes a tool of the oppressors, as many ex-Christians can tell you it was used against them to hound them into submission.
During the course of events in the early church 'heretics' were accused agents of discord and therefore were called antichrists or agents of Satan. This is further misappropriation: dissidence is not discord.
By this interpretation, then, to promote peace, understanding and togetherness, to promote justice and equality, no matter what your beliefs or background, is to be in accord with the wishes of God and Jesus, and to promote intolerance, discrimination, and abuse, to promote war and exploitation, is to be an agent of Satan.
It is more truly Satanic to misuse religious teachings to promote discrimination against or abuse of others than to commit individual transgressions.
In fact, Jesus gave special attention to those who take on the appearance of being righteous while acting as agents of Satan. This is why he gave so much of his scorn to hypocrites: he knew that this particular guise of Satan would be the hardest for people to see and understand.
Elaine Pagels argued in The Origin of Satan that the term evolved as the Tanakh was written so that by the time of Jesus it referred to the spirit of social discord. That is, Satan was not necessarily God's adversary, so much as Satan was the embodiment of adversity between people.
Jesus placed above all of the laws and commandments two which he called the greatest: to love God with all of one's heart, mind, and soul, and to love one's neighbor as oneself. If these principles indeed took center stage for Jesus, then that casts his workings against Satan in a new light. Satan is then his opponent not for opposing God but more for causing people to oppress and abuse one another.
Combine this with an argument i made in the past, that Jesus was far less concerned with the transgressions of ordinary people than he was with oppression and exploitation. In fact, to recast God's judgment so that it seems to be about everyday transgressions is to subvert and misappropriate the message of the prophets, who were concerned with social justice. It then becomes a tool of the oppressors, as many ex-Christians can tell you it was used against them to hound them into submission.
During the course of events in the early church 'heretics' were accused agents of discord and therefore were called antichrists or agents of Satan. This is further misappropriation: dissidence is not discord.
By this interpretation, then, to promote peace, understanding and togetherness, to promote justice and equality, no matter what your beliefs or background, is to be in accord with the wishes of God and Jesus, and to promote intolerance, discrimination, and abuse, to promote war and exploitation, is to be an agent of Satan.
It is more truly Satanic to misuse religious teachings to promote discrimination against or abuse of others than to commit individual transgressions.
In fact, Jesus gave special attention to those who take on the appearance of being righteous while acting as agents of Satan. This is why he gave so much of his scorn to hypocrites: he knew that this particular guise of Satan would be the hardest for people to see and understand.
