THE DEVIL

REYNOLDS RAP

October 16, 2010







WHAT THE DEVIL!



Satan, — archfiend, chief of devils, rival of God, instigator of all evil. The word means literally “to oppose.” In Greek or Latin it is diabolus, the devil.



Why do we picture the devil with horns and hooves? I read somewhere, some time ago, that when England was being settled by the Anglo Saxons, who had driven the dark peoples (the Celts) back into the mountains and settled in the fertile valleys, the people from the mountains would come down into the valleys at night and raid the farms of the settlers, the light coloured Anglo Saxons. For the Anglo Saxons, the dark people from the hills were devils who, after the raid, would retire to their camp in the hills, would put on the head (with horns) of an animal they had killed, would tie the animal’s legs, with hooves, to their legs, and dance around the fire.



An earlier and more significant influence came from Persia (roughly what today we call Iran) and the later development of Zoroastrianism, a developed expression of “dualism,” that all existence is a battle between the forces of good (light) and evil (darkness).



In our culture, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, continues to exert influence on our understanding of Satan. There is something sadly heroic in Milton’s picture of Satan astride the world, not omnipotent but very powerful. In spite of his power, Satan is in misery and despair,

…which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell.

… all good to me is lost;

Evil, be thou my good!



In the Bible, the figure of Satan, obstructer of human happiness and prosperity, does not appear until after Israel was in exile in Babylonia and no doubt influenced by the religious beliefs of the Babylonians and Assyrians. In the New Testament, the name “Satan” appears 33 times, and the word “devil” appears 32 times, enough to be of real significance, especially the recorded words of Jesus for whom evil seems to have been very real. Satan, or the devil, is the tempter, the evil one, the enemy, the prince of demons, the ruler of this world.



That’s all background. What about the reality today?



I think we cannot deny the reality of evil. Read your newspaper any day. But we don’t talk much about the devil, at least seriously. The devil has become a kind of joke, a comic figure in red underwear. Can we dismiss the devil?



There is certainly danger is concentrating on evil or the figure of evil. A part of my ordination vows was the instruction to rebuke evil, and once in my ministry I felt it necessary to rebuke, formally, a member of the congregation who was focussed on evil, seeking to cast out devils in other members of the congregation, with several disastrous consequences. It seems the more we become concerned about the devil, the more powerful the devil become. But on the other hand, to dismiss the power of evil, even the reality of an objective force of evil, seems to me to be incredibly naïve and dangerous.



For me, the devil is not a person, Not at all. C. S. Lewis, in a space novel entitled Voyage to Venice, has a figure of evil called “the unman.” That’s what the devil is to me, the anti-human, the destroyer of human peace and happiness, a “what” not a “who.” I have found the following, by anthropologist Rene Girard, helpful (though this quotation is only part of a carefully developed and very difficult study):



The devil does not have a stable foundation; he has no being at all. To clothe himself in the semblance of being, he must act as a parasite on God’s creatures. He is totally mimetic, which amounts to saying non-existent as an individual self.

The mimetic concept of Satan enables the New Testament to give evil its due without granting it any reality or ontological substance in its own right. Satan does not "create" by his own means. Rather he sustains himself as a parasite on what God creates by imitating God in manner that is jealous, grotesque, perverse, and as contrary as possible to the upright and obedient imitation of Jesus. To repeat, Satan is imitator…. His kingdom is a caricature of the kingdom of God. Satan is the ape of God. To affirm that Satan has no actual being, as Christian theology has done, means that Christianity does not oblige us to see him as someone who really exists. (I see Satan falling like lightning, pp. 42f.)



So what do you think?





AFTER WORDS



In reply to last week’s Rap on Gratitude, Cliff Moase wrote:



A time of giving thanks. What popped into my mind as I read this week's rap was the time when I was finishing my ministry at Grace Church, Dartmouth, and entering into retirement--some quiet moments in the empty church and reflecting, with thanksgiving, on the opportunities to be of some use in 40 years of ministry, the blessing of strengths which came in difficult moments, and the amazement that I seemed to have been of some use in God's work.

Giving thanks--is there ever an end to such a response? I haven't lived long enough to even glimpse such an end.

Thanks be to God. Cliff



And from Gordie and Kirsten Bowles:



Tonight our little family sat around the table and took turns naming what we were thankful to God for: Mommy, daddy, Charlie, mama and papa; our warm house, Dylan's soft bed...

2 year-old Charlie was taking it all in but we weren't sure that he could relate to being "thankful" just yet. After a long silence Charlie announced "I gayful for Lambie!!"--his soft, worn, weathered little lamb that he tucks under his arm and sleeps with every night. Of course we all beamed. It was a lovely few minutes of peace and gratitude we all shared....

Then, Dylan threw his spoon and Charlie decided his food was especially yucky and I was transported back to life.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom, I always enjoy reading it.

Kirsten





LAST GASP



Another church joke:

There was a congregation which decided to have four worship services every Sunday. There was one for those new to the faith; another for those who liked traditional worship; one for those who had lost their faith and would like to get it back; and another for those who had a bad experience with church and were complaining about it. They had names for each of these services: Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers.



Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.



It’s a Rap. Grace and peace. Alan