is not an adversory of God, but rather an instrument of God, ie. God needs the devil to exist, as God who is good needs an agent to test/tempt man.  Now given that the devil was created by God, is he really to be hated as he is?  Is he not merely following orders from God, and if the Devil repented God would have to create something else to fill that void?
201224
welcome to Judaism my friend. We mearly see the "devil" as the angle of death and a servant of Gd. Personally I do not know where that whole fallen angel garbage came from.
610245
I'm not sure how I'm gonna answer this, but here goes.\nLet's see: God created Lucifer (now known as Satan) as His second in command. Lucifer then saw how much better than all the other angels he was and thought to himself, "If I'm so much better than them, why can't I be better than God himself?" No one knows where this thought came from, seeing how God only makes perfect creations. The only logical place that it could have came from is freedom of choice that God gave them when He created the Angels. This freedom also explains why 1/3 of the Angels chose to follow Lucifer in his rebellion against God. After Lucifer and his demons (fallen angels) were cast out of Heaven, God seperated His angels so far away from Lucifer's that the demons know that they can never get back. Lucifer is free to come and go as he pleases in God's throneroom (as evidenced in the first chapter of Job), but he can never return to what he once was. This fact has angered him so much over the millenia that he's esentially declared war on humanity, God's most prized creation. The first battle in this war was waged on the day of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall away from God when Satan successfully decieved them to eat of the tree that God explicitly said not to eat from. The victory was prophesied not even a day later when the Spirit of the Lord walked through the Garden looking for Adam and Eve to felowship with them as He normally did, only to find them hiding from them, dressed in fig leaves. God asked them why they were ashamed of themselves, and then they went through the whole "it's his/her fault" routine, blaming each other for what one did. When the truth finally did come out (not like God didn't already know), God pronounced consequences on humanity (a series of hardships which can be read in Genesis 3), and cursed the serpent (as this was the creature Satan used to decieve Adam and Eve). The curse on the serpent also held hope for the redemption of Mankind, as it fortold of the defeat of Satan through the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The war was over before it begun! \n\nSo, to answer your question: Yes, Satan invented the concept of sin. He then successfully marketed this concept to himself, his demons, and ultimately to humanity. He even tried to get Jesus to sin, but since Jesus is God in the flesh (and God is perfect), he couldn't do it. Jesus was the only man who ever lived here on earth that lead a perfect life, one completely without sinning.
277958
Satan isn't evil, he was an angel.  Satan is a title given to an angel who is an "adversary" of man, like "that angel was the satan"  They are our enemy, but they are still one of God's angels, loved by Him.  Not only has God killed way more people than the cliched Devil, but he also has angels whose only job is to kill people.  And they probably are still used, well, if God exists that is.
238794
Well, personally I don't believe in good and evil or a "good" god and an "evil" god. If there is "one" god then everything came into existence because of it, not only "good" also "evil". \n\nThe devil to me is a mythical character and even in Judaism he has no freewill, so what will be the point to worship it? I believe there are forces of creation and forces of destruction (call it gods if you will) maybe they are all manifestations of the highest "Mind of Creation" (all manifestations of "one" God or Godess).\n\nMaybe Christians needed someone to blame all the “bad” things on and so created this “Devil” guy. I think it is a bit far fetched and only makes their god look like a weakling that can’t manage his own creation. That is why I think their god is a fake.
476462
He practically has! But God is still in overall control. If you read the book of Job (in the Bible), you will understand that the devil can only go so far. God is more powerful than the devil.
239464
Devil worshippers feel that, for salvation through Jesus, there are too many strings attached, that the love of God and the forgiveness of God should be absolute, unquestioning and given without having to ask. They feel that, by creating Man, God took onto himself ALL responsibilities for the actions of Man. This all goes back to the story of creation along with the idea that God has foreknowledge of EVERYTHING.\n\nThe belief is that, when creating Adam, God knew that Adam would not be able to live up to the standards placed upon him, but God created him anyways. Then, when Adam did indeed fail to live up to the expectations, God then punished him even though he knew Adam was created without the ability to succeed. Then, when Jesus humbled himself to defeat sin, the precondition was placed on Man that he accept God before he would be saved.\n\nThis is why Satanists believe that God is a tyrant who should be defied. They know that the idea is hopeless.
85980
there is no devil and there is no god as these answers say,god isn`t an old man with a beard and big muscles with cosmic punishments if you are bad and rewards of everlasting life if you do as he says.Nor is the devil a man with horns and a pointed tail,this is superstition and it is going to cause terrible death and hardship in the not to distant future if we do not stop thinking this way.
317374
Well, you would too if you created the ENTIRE universe!  But seriously, God doesn't have an ego, Satan does, and that's why God threw him out of heaven.   No words can properly explain to the fullest who God is, the only way someone can know who God is, is to have a relationship with Him.  My father is an atheist and he wanted my mother who is catholic to raise us without a religion.  So, I grew up knowing in my heart as a child that there was a God, but not having a religion structure to explain to me.  Well, God gave me dreams as a teenager, which eventually led me to get saved when I was 18.  And by the way, God DID appear to people, as Jesus, and will return again in the future.  God doesn't have an ego, He wouldn't have died on the cross and suffered for our salvation.  God loves us and wants whats best for us.  Satan is jealous of God and people because he can't be god, and he can't get saved like humans.  God won't forgive him so he's jealous that God forgives us, and satan tries to lead us down a path of destruction to hell.
490863
Satan isn't really one single being in the bible. Like black_hole_gravity said, it means "adversary" and it's more of a title than a name. Although Lucifer still is a villain in christian mythology. He did rebel against god in the story.
207456
No amount of me telling you what is and what not ain't gonna convince you,The fact that u r asking this question is because deep down you know u r wrong,The christian God as u put it, and satan r not equal and whomever came up with the idea you being taught against the bible with the bible is really cunning must be the devil himself,Let me tell you what my God give me that no demon in hell can give you peace.God treated lucifer unjust r u kidding me? God could have killed him he should have, but look around you all the wickedness thats happening the Devil is very well in charge.Do you know your lucifer talk to God see in Job when God said to him have u considered my son Job he said To God do u think job serve u for nothing meaning the omly reason y job serve God is because he was rich God said to him take all he has Job stayed true to God anyways your devil is gonna burn in hell along with anyone who serve him, you can prove God for yourself just talk to him.Say if u r really up there do something to let me know u r real
408423
Question for you...You say you are Wiccan and hate the devil?  Why are you even believing in the devil?  He is a Christian concept, your Wiccan.  Wiccans do not acknowledge the existance of a being called "the devil".
409197
God had created us with "desire" , it belongs to the spiritual world.\nThis is the "desire" which will lead us towards good or evil.  It needs to be educated with religion so as to refrain it from doing evil.  As we all know the Satan will be ever ready to mislead and seduce our desire to follow their evil act against the God.  It is God's intention as to set trial on each individual as how faithful they are.  This is our choice as to choose to be faithful to the God or to follow the evil, as all our soul will return to where it belongs, we have no way to run.  The choice of Heaven or Hell is solely in our own hand, The "desire" in us to believe or not and to follow either Good or Evil.
121094
You raise several interesting points in your question. I am not entirely sure what specific answer you are looking for, but I will give it a shot.\n\nYou say that satan used Scripture to tempt Jesus. He did, indeed. Jesus also used Scripture to defend himself against these temptations. Ultimately, we see that Jesus overcame all temptation by using the Scripture as his sword. \n\nIt is at this point that I would like to point out that satan, and devil, are not proper names, and could be applied to any number of enemies. These adjectives are used to describe an accuser, adversary, and Jesus also called Peter satan. There are dozens of reference in the Bible, but it seems that translators used these words in place of several persons and personalities. One interesting name replaced by "satan" is Satyr, mentioned in Greek mythology as a creature composed of a man and a goat, supposed to inhabit wild and desolate regions.\n\nBack to your question.\n\nPaul never mentions hell in any of his writings. He does wish condemnation for those who fool Christians into believing lies. This condemnation he wishes for judaisers (those who want Christians to follow Jewish law), false prophets, and lying spirits. Condemnation is judgment, but it is not to be confused with a lake of fire.\n\nThe Church has existed since the time Jesus chose twelve disciples. But, it does not predate the writings of the Jewish Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament. It did, however exist without a printed version of the Christian "Bible" until the 1500's.\n\nSince the the Scriptures were first put onto paper, there have been countless translations. This was necessary to introduce the Bible to people and cultures all over the world. The original writings of the prophets and disciples have been gone for centuries. All we have left of the Scripture are translations. \n\nUnfortunately, Rome held "copyright" on Scripture, and would not allow the sacred writings to be seen by common people. For that reason, we have, as Christians, a Bible made up of books that we believe to be legitimate writings. But, there are dozens of writings that could also be just as legitimate as the ones we allow in our Bible.\n\nThe important thing to remember is that the Scriptures tell a story. This is the story of mankind, his history, his lineage. It is also a story about God, and his dealings with mankind. But, most importantly, it tells us we are loved by our Creator, and it offers us salvation.\n\nYes, many have tried to add books to the Bible. Many have tried to tell a different story. In my opinion, no book written after the apostles died can adequately describe the teachings of Jesus. But, they can all give us a version of the story that they have heard.\n\nWhat we do to become part of the God's eternal, yet evolving, story is more important than fighting over who wrote what.
213426
The book of Job suggests that Satan was created by God. He was the greatest of the Angels, and his pride caused him to rebel against God (very similar to the Adam and Eve Story).\nEvil is the result of the brokeness of creation. When God created he looked and it was good. The consequences of human rebellion against God lead to suffering and death.\n\nSo you would be right to thing that God created all things but not that he created evil. The next question however is if God knew that evil would happen why did he still create?
130027
I think that all things are from god and the devil merely manipulates them. This is how he deceives us.\n\n Good Luck and God Bless!!
23341
Why all the bashing with the devil? Why does there always have to be a bad guy?\n\nMaybe the devil is just trying to recruit people for his side. God tries to recruit people to his side. \n\nI'd bet the devil could tell a roaring joke! The devils kind of jokes are the tasteless ones. You know: What's red and white and goes 100 miles an hour? A baby in a blender.\nThat's a devil joke there.
599904
Does that primitive fairy tale sound right to you?  For example why wouldn't Satan use his powers to make Hell really nice so that people wanted to go to Hell?  He could gain power by being nice.  The whole good and evil nonsense in the Bible is really very silly if you actually analyze it.