Comment on Religion

• samus12345@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I do, and I’m not sure why what I said would make you think otherwise… The way Satan is popularly depicted today makes him indistinguishable from the “evil gods” of other religions.

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  • galanthus@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Well, the way Satan is depicted in pop culture has little to do with actual christianity, and I am not sure why you felt the need to include him, despite the fact he is a very minor character in christianity, and also even in the popular depiction he is not nearly on the same level, as he was created by God, is not omnipotent, omniscient, unlike God, etc.

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    • samus12345@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Listen to Evangelicals rant about Satan. They won’t say he’s on the same level,. but they act like he is.

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      • psud@aussie.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Evangelicals are decidedly not Catholic

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    • AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If Satan is less powerful, that means god can stop evil but chooses not to?

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      • underwire212@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Oh boy… I think there have been entire books written about this argument like , 100’s of years ago?

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      • PanArab@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Satan doesn’t do evil. He merely tricks people into doing evil. Kind of like a criminal lawyer than an evil god.

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      • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Either that or:-

        • is not as powerful as advertised

        • has a different definition of evil

        • doesn’t exist

        Maybe some other possibilities.

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      • galanthus@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Google “theodicy”.

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    • Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      he is a very minor character in christianity

      In the text, definitely. In the practiced religion (especially in America), not so much. And even in the text he has a much larger role than in its predecessor Judaism.

      I think the pop culture versions of religions have become so deeply ingrained that they became a part of many adherent’s actual beliefs. For example, ask the average Catholic to describe hell and see how long it takes for something from Paradise Lost to pop up.

      even in the popular depiction he is not nearly on the same level, as he was created by God, is not omnipotent, omniscient, unlike God, etc.

      Why would that disqualify him as god-like? Polytheistic religions had gods of varying strengths, many created by other gods - the Greek pantheon is a tangle of lesser gods created by greater ones, and even Zeus came from Chronos, a Titan (which is somehow different from a god).

      The whole assigning of godhood seems completely arbitrary to me. Archangels are more powerful than many full-on gods from other mythologies yet somehow don’t count, whereas even humans could have been (or will become) gods in other lives in religions such as Jainism or Mormonism.

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      • galanthus@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Ok, I will concede to you that pop culture should be considered, however I would not say angels are gods.

        The christian God is the supreme power, he is the monarch of the universe, so to speak, everything is under his authority. An angel is not a god, because he is a creature, not the creator, he is subordinate. He is not all-powerful, he is a servant. Within the logic of christianity there is absolute difference between god and everything else.

        In greek paganism Zeus was the king of the gods. However, he was not allpowerful(there were some henoteistic tendencies, however), other gods were still powerful in their own right, and there were gods he was afraid of(in a famous passage from the Iliad that I do not quite remember, it is mentioned that he was afraid of Nyx). There was a revolution when Kronos was overthrown, as you mentioned. So those two religions are quite different.

        In Jainism, the so called “gods” are a different thing altogether, no need to mention it.

        I do not know much about mormons, aren’t they christians? I thought they were.

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  • MBM@lemmings.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Back when I still went to (Catholic) Church I don’t remember ever hearing about Satan/the devil/Lucifer/whatever

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    • samus12345@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Catholics don’t tend to obsess over him like Evengelicals, that’s for sure.

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  • mholiv@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    True if all of your knowledge of religion comes from pop culture I can see how someone might see it that way.

    Like in Family Guy or other Seth Rogan shows Satan, Jesus and “God” are all depicted as equals bickering.

    Thanks for your thoughts here. They’re interesting.

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    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yesyes, it’s actually a fallen angel, servant of god. Same animal, different cloth.

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    • samus12345@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      No pop culture needed, just listen to Evangelicals. To hear them tell it, Satan is this huge powerful force that meddles in human affairs constantly.

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      • SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        That just sounds like evangelicals.

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  • RoidingOldMan@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Older versions of the Bible contain references to “Hades” which was changed to “hell” in the King James Version.

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• ayyy@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  American Christianity has very little to do with the Bible.

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  • mholiv@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I mean Americans do a lot of dumb stuff. And I don’t think we need to make every thread American centric.

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• kandoh@reddthat.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  American christianity is basically zoroastrianism

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