The Existence of the Devil - Essay Example

The Devil The devil is a mystical depiction of an arch nemesis of God who is spiritual in nature and always tormenting man. According to Pagels (34), all throughout the history of man, different eras have had profound ways of describing this being. The common thing in understanding and description of the devil is that it is always depicted as personification of evil which opposes God and His good intentions for man. He is seen as an antagonist of God and the two are described as having been locked in eons of contentions over the possession of souls of human beings. Still, other people perceive this creature as a conditioning in the human mind through teachings of the mainstream religions. There is however unanimous agreement about the evil nature of the devil and how he derails the progress of human kind (Baker 211). The existence of the devil is mostly conceptualized within the religious culture which is quite prevalent in the human race. Man is naturally a religious being and through religion, he finds ways in which he can connect with higher and supernatural beings to pay his homage. In all religions, there is the concept of good and evil whereby the good always triumphs over evil. In all religions, the evil is always associated with the devil although there are many names that each religion uses to refer to the devil. In the context of religion, many supernatural phenomenon are attributed to the devil especially those that are tragic. Moreover, in the sociopolitical conflicts, people often claim that the devil is quite influential in pushing them to make unethical or wrong choices (Gregory 274). In the mainstream religions, the devil is mostly described as a fallen arch-angel that was highly favored by God. There are many reasons that are given for the fallout between God and the devil but the main one is always shown to be pride. The fallout happened long time ago before the creation of man and when man was created, the devil found a way of getting back at God. As much as a lot of evil powers are attributed to this evil being, it was created by God and therefore it cannot be an exact equal of God. However, he possesses a lot of power with which he uses to convince men to indulge in evil activities. All throughout the existence of man according to the teachings of most religions, the devil has no good attributes except causing chaos and turmoil (Dyrendal 83). Evil is synonymous with the devil which is directly connected to a sinful life within the religious culture. The name Satan and the devil are used interchangeably to mean the same and bring about the ominous character of the being. In the devil being supernatural, it is often regarded as the axis of all evil and cause of unfortunate events on the earth. Religion is always juxtaposed within the axiom of righteous life which is essentially living a pure life without sin. Attaining and living a righteous life is not always something easy because the devil and his demons cause human beings to falter in their walk. In most religions, the devil is seen as an adversary of righteous life and manifests in human beings’ life through temptations and sin (Pagels 37). All throughout the existence of man, there have been many attempts to bring out the human perception of the devil through drawings. The challenge however lies in the facts that there is no consensus on how he looks like and he is mystical and spiritual in nature. Most of the religious drawings are usually pictorial depictions of beings that have human and animal body parts. In others, there are evil angels that have horns and fangs protruding from their mouths to show the damnation of the being. The most interesting thing is that in many of these drawings, the dominant theme is the ugly nature of the devil in the way he messes peoples’ lives with misfortunes and ill luck (Hong 18). By the fact that the devil is mystical in nature and lot of negativity is associated with him, he fits perfectly in the theme of the monsters around us. The best way that people can understand him is through descriptions that are available through religious texts. Although there are a lot of explanations on how he interacts with the human soul to lead man to sin or bad luck, it is usually almost impossible to understand it. This is because the interactions are subtle and take place within the spiritual realm where the soul or spirit of man can only ascend. The physical body which has the brains and other organs necessary to perceive the devil only exist within the physical realm (Dyrendal 72). The importance of the devil within the religious culture is that it brings about the fear of eternal condemnation by God. Man was created to fear and reverence his creator which is always manifested through living a righteous life. A righteous life alludes to morally upright life without sin but the devil comes into man’s life to tempt him to sin. Man is always struggling to live a righteous life and part of this struggle is largely blamed on the devil due to the perceived contentions over the possession of souls of human beings (Hong 5). There is however a free will of choice as far as man is concerned when it comes to living a righteous life. In order to influence the choices of man in life, the devil entices man to sin through many ways such as promises of prominence (Baker 218). In this regards, popular culture of contemporary music and movies are always associated with Satanism. There have been many allegations that the devil offers fame to celebrities in music and movie industry in exchange for their souls. In this arrangement, the people are to worship the devil and the devil in return gives them wealth, fame and glorious status around the globe (Dyrendal 88). Conclusion The devil is a mystical depiction of an arch nemesis of God who is spiritual in nature and always tormenting man. Much of the information about this mystical creature revolves around its antagonistic activities towards God with regards to contentions over the possession of souls of human beings. The devil existence is within the religious culture where man is extorted to live a holy life free of sin. However, this mystical and supernatural being distorts the reality and good intentions of God to man by tempting him to sin. Understanding and conceptualizing of the devil is only through bad and unfortunate events that happen in the society with no good traits attributed to him. Outside religion, there is a close association of the devil’s activities in the music and film industry where he induces people with wealth and fame to worship him. Works Cited Baker, Joseph. “Who believes in religious evil? An Investigation of Sociological Patterns of Belief in Satan, Hell, and Demons.” Review of Religious Research, 50.2(2008): 206-220. This article delves into the activities that are deemed to have been caused by the devil. Many of these mystical happenings take place within the sociological lattice. This is largely due to the religious nature of man. The importance of this resource to this research is underpinned by the fact that it provides a discourse analysis of the religious happenings that are directly attributed to devils activities and his agents. Dyrendal, Asbjorn. "Devilish Consumption: Popular Culture in Satanic Socialization." Numen: International Review for the History of Religions, 55.1 (2008): 68-98. The authors focus on the ways through which the devil influences and works within the society. Trickery and unorthodox ways are investigated and studied as the primary means through which the devil ensnares the human kind. All this happenings take place within the normal social interactions between people with no physical presence of the devil. However, the devil acts covertly to influence and overturn decisions that people make in everyday. Gregory Dodds. “The Devil and Demonism in Early Modern England (Review).” Renaissance Quarterly, 60.1 (2007): 274-275. The author of this article reviews the understanding of the demon in the pre modern era. It is believed that the portrayal of the devil keeps on changing depending on the different eras in history. During the medieval era, there were a lot of demonic activities that were because of devil influence. Religious people in that era did a lot of studies on the devil in order to establish ways on how to combat him. The prominence of the devil’s activities has diminished with time which is attributed to subtle ways of operation that he has adopted. Hong, Seung M. "Redemptive Fear: A Review of Sacred Terror and Further Analyses of Religious Horror Films." Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 22.2 (2010): 1-24. A discourse analysis of the religious fear induced by the devil is done. In order to comprehensively finish the picture, this analysis is done within the context of horror movies. Movies are very important in educating the public about different phenomenon that affect people and their lives. This article is important as a source of information of the fears that people have with regards to the devil. This fear is strictly limited within social and religious spheres where the devil interacts mostly with people. Pagels, Elaine. The social history of Satan, Part II. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 62.1 (1994): 17-59. The author is concerned with tracing the origins and history of the devil within the course of human history. Much of the discussions are based on the Christian faith which draws its teachings from the bible. There are however, few connections with the Islam faith which seem to share roots as far as their history are concerned. The history provided here is quite phenomenal in understanding how the devil works and causes havoc among Christians. Read More