jonw@azure.UUCP (Jonathan White) (04/09/84)
<> From Jeff Sargent: Actually, I infer that Rich Rosen, Jon White, et al. do not really want to know God at all, but rather to attack those who do believe (and the One in Whom we believe). ... Personally, I believe the opposition has been/is being deceived, manipulated, used by Satan and his minions. Well, I don't know how Rich and the rest of the "opposition" feel about this slander, but my attorney informs me that I have a pretty good case for defamation of character. Why, I haven't been in contact with the Satan for over three months! Well, er, now that you mention it, one of his minions did drop by yesterday and strongly suggest that I post the following explanation from Isaac Asimov on how the concept of Satan entered the Bible: "Such a concept [Satan, that is] was useful in that it helped explain the source of evil, for it is always difficult to explain the existence of evil and misery in the world and the frequent apparent triumph of bad over good in the face of the existence of an all-powerful, all-good God. ... "And the concept came, very likely, by way of the Persians. By 400 B.C., when the Chronicler [author of 1 and 2 Chronicles] was writing, the Persians had become the dominant nation in Asia, and Persian thought would be expected to be very influential among all nations which, like Judah, were under Persian rule.... "Zoroastrianism [the Persian religion] offered a dualistic view of the universe. There was a principle of good, Ahura-Mazda, and a principle of evil, Ahriman, which were viewed as virtually independent of each other and very nearly equal. The creation of the world, its development and history, were all incidents in the unending celestial warfare between these two principals... "There is a certain exciting drama to such a view of the universe, and Judaism was penetrated by it to a limited extent. A principal of evil, Satan, was conceived of, but never viewed as independent of God or equal to Him.... "In later times, he was described as having been an angel originally, and even the chief of angels.... "Satan is not mentioned, as such, in any of the books of the Bible before 1 Chronicles, but the workings of evil found here and there could be re- interpreted in a new light. Most importantly, Satan was equated with the Serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. (Asimov's Guide to the Bible [The Old Testament], pp. 409, 410)" It seems to me that the theists are one step closer to Satan worship than the non-theists; after all, you have to believe in the existence of Satan before you can worship him. And while I would stop short of accusing Jeff of believing in pagan mythology or devil worship, I do hope that Santa Claus gives him a few lumps of coal next Christmas. Jon White [decvax|ucbvax]!tektronix!tekmdp!azure!jonw