does that make christianity polytheistic?
i mean technically we might not call satan a god but he definately dresses the part.
No.
People make Satan appear to be God by their actions. Was this the only point you wished to make?
Depends on what you mean by “god.” By strict Christian theological definition, Satan isn’t a god. To the ancient pagans, though, he would certainly have seemed like one, as would all of the saints worshiped in some forms of Christianity (e.g. Roman Catholicism).
Muslims consider Christians polytheistic, or leaning that direction, because of the concepts of the Trinity and of the Incarnation. Most people consider Hindus polytheistic, but Hindus don’t think they are, because they recognize a Unity underlying all the Hindu deities.
My own view? In practice, everyone’s either polytheistic or atheist. But some religions have a self-imposed standard of monotheism, so they have to find ways to explain the diversity as really being unity.
no no… not that satan and god are one but that they are two gods.
I dont understand, what is that idea based on, and the answer is still no.
See? He dismisses your theory before he even understands it! From his own mouth!
im not saying that god is the devil im saying theres two gods. the devil and god.
It really depends on your definition of a god. To the Christian religion, satan is not a God and there are many complex reason for that. The main reason is, however, that satan wants nothing good for anything. God, and why he is termed God, is because of God’s relationship with his people and his creation. We, as humans, have termed God a being or spirit or person who whatever you want to call God, someone who offers salvation to those who believe. Satan on the other hand, offerns no salvation. In fact, to say there are 2 gods would be contradictory, because satan is everything God is not, and wants everything God does not want.
The other point that is worth addressing is that, in the Christian belief, satan bends to the power of God, that is to say, God is all powerful. Satan has no power when it comes to God, and whatever power he has is because God allows him that power for Gods own perfect plan.
If, however, you were to say that the term god applies to any being which has more power than us mere humans, than i guess satan would be called a God. But than still, it would be argued that satan is not THE God.
That part I understood and that is why I answered NO. Satan is in no way a God. This could be a lot more interesting if you would care to make an argument as to why you think Satan is a God or thought of as such. As it is, its kinda dead.
Allow me. (with permission, of course, of the author)
…most notably … the fact that “Satan” and “God” each bring to mind specific attributes and stories with which we are associated through the popular religions which acknowledge them in story and psalm, etc…
When we examine the nature of personality, which religion does as it paints God, gods, and devils, we see the parallel between such deities and human spirits, making every conceivable entity a God, in theory.
In reality, (there’s an interesting thread in the Philosophy section which deals with this), you can’t settle the argument where it comes to a choice of how you use the language.
In truth, both “characters” ------- God and Satan symbolize approaches to power and living, obedience and rebellion. In technical terms outside of faith-based allegiances, neither one intrinsically exhibits any kind of rational superiority, outside the familiar sense of one of them seeming to have more territory, or seniority, if you will…
theyre both immortals with superhuman powers.
pagans as was noted earlier would view satan as a god. hades… similar to satan and the relationships the guardians of the dead/evil have with the supreme or ruling god is similar. so as far as distancing satan from god it wouldnt really make much of a difference. youd have to distance christianity from polytheistic religions but i dont think you really can. i was just curious to see how christians would argue this because from the perspective of anyone else i think it would be almost impossible to refute. not that it really matters either way though.
historically if i remember correctly satan was elaborated and not really in the base of the christian religion though. so maybe… it was a monotheistic religion at a point. now i dont think it is if it ever was.
Is it possible for 2 (or any other number greater than 1) immortal beings to coexist ?
If so what ultimately happens if there is an unresolvable dispute between the 2 immortals?
One cannot destroy the other, by definition.
So there exists a situation for eternity where 2 immortals are in constant dispute. Is this the God Satan situation?
And if multiple immortals can coexist, there can’t be degrees of immortality, and one immortal must be equal to any other immortal.
This unveils many possibilties and problems for many religions. Either we are all God incarnate or there is no imortality,
Satan has no power, only deception to divert you away from the Truth and we are all technically immortal in that the Spirit of Life is of God the same as in Satan. Only the flesh dies and Satan has no flesh.
Satan is nothing but poison in the well of Truth and it can be avoided.
Thus spake Zarathrustra. That is something like Zoroastrianism, where there is a good god and an evil god.
But that’s not Christianity, where the devil is a created being.
all greek gods are created.
how does a powerless being decieve? and how does a powerless god defy the real god?
granted both those things humans can do but immortality is a superhuman quality in itself.
What does that have to do with Christianity – which is Hebraic in origin?
But even the Greek gods do not come out of nothing. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, they were born of Heaven and Earth. Likewise the Norse gods were born from the Ice where it was licked by a Cow resulting from the conflict of Fire and Ice.
The uncreated Christian God creates heaven and earth out of nothing.
cba, I think you’re using too many terms to describe one being; the God of classical thiesm is not only superhuman but must be anthropomorphic because of his supposed superior omnipotence, I’m not sure whether many Christians think Satan is the same ie. either he takes on a human form or works through humans, yet he must still be superhuman in either case.
im comparing satan to the concept of a god historically.
greek gods came out of all sorts of things. but you said satan was created so i said greek gods were created. theres no difference in that sense was the point.
the christian god yea creates everything. im not saying that gods not a god though. drawing differences between christian god and say zeus does nothing for satan.
I think it is a semantic issue, really.
In Christianity, there is only one God. Any definition that would consider other beings as gods is clearly incorrect.
Now, from a non-Christian standpoint, Satan sure looks, walks, and quacks like a God, I’ve gotta say. Loki wasn’t terribly powerful, but he was a pretty fine liar.
Satan is a metaphysical entity beyond the material world and seemingly independent of it, while holding dominion over an alternate piece of reality (Hell). Even if Satan doesn’t have dominion over Hell, as I’ve heard argued, he remains an entity that is in opposition and seemingly independent of God.
Granted, Angels look like Gods too. But it is very much an issue of definitions. Zen Buddhists can believe in devahs while still saying they are atheists (since Devahs are trapped in samsara like everything else), but they could also be considered gods.