Does the Devil exist?

[Squall_Leonhart]

This is how I get along with people who believe the devil does exist. I'd like to think that those people embody evil into a singular being, because otherwise they would not be able to believe that evil can be created and done by the hands of their own kind and would hence, explode. metaphorically or literally works well. I think the problem with people who do believe this is that they rarely target the true root of the cause of evil, rather than attributing the blame, " ITZ ZEE DEVEEL!" or something like that, but in a less dramatic manner.

[Black Jeebus]

I prefer to think no ever says "It's the Devil," but rather they always proclaim with much gusto "It iz zee Deveel!"

EDIT: Of course this is always with eyes wide and arms flailing.

[PerfectKnight42]

i believe that no person, unless they have a mental disability, truely believes that they do wrong of any kind. sure we make "mistakes" and simple errors, but on the whole, we're the ones in the right, correct? i mean, even Hitler thought he was justified.

as a result of this, people feel the need, no... the pure animalistic instinct, to place the blaim on one particular person or thing. thereby making it completely out of their control. blaiming something that everyone can basically agree is bad is a safe and easy way out of admiting to yourself that you are wrong. that you are in fact the one at fault.

so hell, you lead your country into economic ruin? "it must be those satan worshiping pinko commies. bloody heathens." they say with eyes wide and arms flailing. (kudos jeebus)

whats really amusing to watch is when people commit a horribly evil act and then say that it was not in fact a wrongdoing, but exactly what they were told to do by god himself. (see "crusades")

and remember all, god bless the pope

[swordwench]

Originally Posted by PerfectKnight42

i believe that no person, unless they have a mental disability, truely believes that they do wrong of any kind. sure we make "mistakes" and simple errors, but on the whole, we're the ones in the right, correct? i mean, even Hitler thought he was justified.

You had me with the rest of the post, but not this paragraph. I disagree.

I have done quite a few things that I knew were wrong, but I did them anyway. Why? Because I felt like it, and it felt good at the time. And I probably hoped I wouldn't get caught. Yet I did do them, knowing they were just plain wrong.

Just count your blessings I'm not running for public office anytime soon.

[Zilverzmurfen]

Originally Posted by PerfectKnight42

and remember all, god bless the pope

I thought the current pope was the Devil...

[PerfectKnight42]

I have done quite a few things that I knew were wrong, but I did them anyway. Why? Because I felt like it, and it felt good at the time. And I probably hoped I wouldn't get caught. Yet I did do them, knowing they were just plain wrong.

i guess what i meant was that as long as you felt good doing it, you thought that it was and probably would be worth it in the future. as much as people like to think they do, they cant get over the fact that they will almost always do what is best for them rather than what is best for everyone else, with very few exceptions. sure the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, but only when you arent the few.

an amusing situation comes to mind when i say this.

recently, the fox news and their resident hard-hitting nutcase Bill O'Reilly have come out with a new book, titled The War on Christmas.
evidently, they are outraged by the fact that christians must tolerate hearing and reading the "politically correct" phrase 'Happy Holidays'. its obviously another example liberals controling the media. its not like jews are offended by being told merry christmas. however, the christians are such an opressed minority (78% of americans are in fact christians, btw) that they just cant take it anymore. the phrase 'happy holidays' offends them, and god forbid any other holiday than their own is used instead...

bill O'reilly is a nut and a loser, but he puts the blame on others. whats worse is that he really honestly thinks that he's right.... is that so evil?

[Krazyhades]

I definitely feel that one should do what is right out of one's own sense of morality, but this does not make me believe that everybody's sense of right and wrong is correct. A wonderful example would be that of Adolf Hitler and NAZI Germany. He was clearly did evil things, and employed more people to do evil things, namely the Holocaust.
And if any neo-nazi type wants to get into a flamewar with me over this (and I doubt that there are any here who are. I'm sure most of the people on this site will agree with me) then bring it on (I'm a Jew, and much of my family is from Europe. I shouldn't have to mention the number of family members my family had lost in the Holocaust.)
However, whilie I do not feel that people should do what is right in the name of a religion (think about it. The religious have never really had a problem with murder. More people have died in religious wars than all other wars in the history of the world combined). A philosophiy, thats something else all together. For example, Buddhism is a philosophy (The Buddah himself said he didn't know if a god existed) which teaches peace and kindness. A philosphy that does not say "Do this or god/gods will do such-and-such to you. If you do it you will get such-and-such reward" and supports doing the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing (can be good effects, such as "a happy and stable society" or whatever, as long as there is no holy/profane reward/punishment).
The only sense in which I believe the Devil exists is in a symbolic way, showing the evil nature which can be present in humans.

[LUDICROUS]

Originally Posted by Zilverzmurfen

I thought the current pope was the Devil...

Why do you think that? From what I've seen (or in reality, the lack of it) he seems an ok pope, seems like a stop-gap pope though.

I hope it's not the "HE WAS A NAZI!" thing again. Really, you didn't join the Hitler Youth because you were a Nazi..

[Zilverzmurfen]

Originally Posted by LUDICROUS

I hope it's not the "HE WAS A NAZI!" thing again. Really, you didn't join the Hitler Youth because you were a Nazi..

Indeed; as I never joined the Hitler Jugend...

Well, besides the popes Nazi connections it's just the general fascist/homophobic attitude.

Luckily I'm not catholic (or religious, for that matter) so I'm not personally affected by him. It's more like having an itch you can't scratch, you know?

[RITFencing]

Don't believe in the devil? Hello! I'm right here!

And if you don't believe me, ask the RIT crew after I lead footwork.

[sabreur]

Originally Posted by RITFencing

Don't believe in the devil? Hello! I'm right here!

And if you don't believe me, ask the RIT crew after I lead footwork.

Dude,

Anyone who has Opus for an avatar is way out of the running for title of devil.

Evil is a human construct and a thing that men do, not an attribute of nature.

[Inquartata]

Originally Posted by PerfectKnight42

i believe that no person, unless they have a mental disability, truely believes that they do wrong of any kind.

If this were true there'd be no such thing as guilt, and neither Catholicism nor Judaism would probably ever have flourished.

[Inquartata]

Originally Posted by sabreur

Dude,

Anyone who has Opus for an avatar is way out of the running for title of devil.

Ah, but the Devil's greatest power is to assume a pleasing disguise. I've never trusted that penguin, no, not at all.

[RITFencing]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

Ah, but the Devil's greatest power is to assume a pleasing disguise. I've never trusted that penguin, no, not at all.

Huh, I was never good at that "pleasing to the eye" bit... Opus is everything I'm not

[latenight]

Originally Posted by sabreur

Dude,

Anyone who has Opus for an avatar is way out of the running for title of devil.

Evil is a human construct and a thing that men do, not an attribute of nature.

Well said, I would also point out that evil is in the eye of the beholder, one man's social norm is another man's damnation.

[PerfectKnight42]

Inquartata
Quote:
Originally Posted by PerfectKnight42
i believe that no person, unless they have a mental disability, truely believes that they do wrong of any kind.


If this were true there'd be no such thing as guilt, and neither Catholicism nor Judaism would probably ever have flourished.

this point was already brought up and i gave an answer a few posts after that. page three, four posts from the bottom

[Inquartata]

Huh. If it wasn't written in English, complete with capitalization and punctuation, I probably skipped reading it. I tend to do that. Life is too short to decipher the Lazy Code.

[PerfectKnight42]

well, im glad to see that you took the time to read the response to your own post just now, otherwise you wouldnt have been able to degrade me for the amusment of our peers. i mean... whoops i missed some capitals in there. my bad, im sure that ill do better with said problem in the future.

[Inquartata]

No, somehow I suspect that you regard laziness as a noble art of some sort. Either that or you just have too little respect for all of us to bother using proper English when speaking to us. ( In which case, why should we extend any respect to you? )

Really, is hitting the shift key now and then THAT gruelling?

[Aqua_volans]

if you are the devil , make me die in 10 seconds after i post this.