I will make the case that, provided one believes the teachings of the bible to be literally true, Satan might be actually a heroic character, and that philosophically he represents traits that are desireable from a modern point of view, and that historically and politically he represents elements that the ruling elites had interest in surpressing. I will argue that his role is similar to that of Prometheus in Greek mythology.
Here is the central question: What kind of god would create living and feeling creatures, bestow the freedom to make choices on them, but keep the wisdom to make the right choices from them? What kind of god would then say, „I give you a choice, but blindly choose me, or I will cast you into the flames“?
Let's examine the teachings of Genesis and what role Lucifer actually did play in that story. God created humans and gave them consciousness and free will. He gave them the power to name things. He created them „in his own image“ except for one thing: They did not know good from evil. So essentially, they had to rely on god for any decision of relevance. He stored the fruit of knowledge in a special place of his realm, and ordered humans not to eat or suffer death. He created angels to watch over the humans and created Lucifer as his assistant. He essentially created humans as toys, creatures who are a nice decoration to a nice garden, but with no real substance.
So what did Lucifer do? Apparently, he got fed up with the situation. He said onto himself, „I will set these poor dumb creatures free.“. So he came to Eve and said „Eat this fruit and you will be like god and know good from evil. And you will not die.“. Lucifer had enough foresight to realize that, even if god could keep humans from eating from the tree of life also, the knowledge of good and evil would empower them, to a point where they would surpass god, and would in fact not die.
God of course punished humans severely for eating, and moreover damned Lucifer to eternal suffering. Here is how this story resembles greek mythology: Prometheus stole the fire from the gods and brought it to the humans. The fire is often said to represent enlightenment. The gods punished Prometheus by tying him to a rock and having his liver be eaten over and over for all eternity, but the damage was done: Humans knew good from evil. Even the name „Lucifer“ i.e. bringer of light, implies this analogy.
All throughout the bible, god's will alway appears in form of a command. The new testament is no better than the old one in this regard, but we will get to that. Let's fast forward the story a little: So Moses gets the ten commandments. Those commandments which people like to advocate as the prime source of morality in our society. But are they really good? At first glance it may seem so, but I think there is a better alternative. Aside from the first commandment, which is god's jelousy in the purest form, what are the others? Thou shalt not kill, steal or desire, and thou shalt love thy neighbour. Pretty good right? But what they really say is „love your neighbour or I will cast you into the flames“, „don't steal or I will cast you into the flames“ and so on. Always there is an implied threat behind them. How can one truly love, if one is forced to love? What did Lucifer say in contrast? He said „Thou shalt not anything. Here I offer you the knowledge of good and evil. The same knowledge I and the gods have. No go forth and put it to use, and make your own decisions“. Wouldn't it be much better if, instead of having rules forced upon them, humans relied on their knowledge of good and evil instead? Is it always bad to steal? What if I am stealing something that is making the owner sick?
Christianity will tell us that humans are sinful, because of our original sin of knowing good from evil. But how can it be a sin, if it is the same powers that god is putting to use? What kind of god would keep this knowledge from us. Christians will tell us, that our efforts are doomed to fail, and that god will end the experiment at some point, when we admit our failures. But the signs are pointing the other way. Violence between humans has been on steady decline, from century to century, and our lifespans and number have ever increased. As a species, it is becoming less and less probably that we will become extinct completely, and as individuals, knowledge and science will put immortality within our reach and some point.
Ok, someone might say, that was the god of the old testament. Jesus is better right? But is he really? We are told he died for our sins. But again, the sins he died for are essentially the sin of knowledge of good from evil. Moreover, it is claimed he died for all the sinners who were not able to live Leviticus by the letter, because humans are inherently sinful and unable to follow all these rules.
But the thing is, is it really impossible to live a flawless live in accordance with Leiviticus, if that is what one desires? I would never choose to even try, but as an orthodox Jew for instance. They actually do follow all the rules, at least the ones modern society allows them to follow, and if it weren't for modern laws preventing it, there would be people who really follow every rule to the letter. It is not desireable, but not impossible either.
In the parables of Jesus, the element of force is ever present. „What you have done to the least of my brothers you have done to me.“ In other words, „treat others well or I will cast you into the flames.“ Not „treat others well because you know good from evil“. God is always the judge. No where is stated the Satan will burn anyone. Satan will lead people away from god's rule, but god is the one who casts you into the flames. Jesus said „no one comes to the Lord except through me“. So in many ways, his rule is even more strict than that of god the father.
„Blessed are the meek“, but what about those who rise against oppressive power? Why are they not blessed?
One of my favorites is the story of the adulteress. This is always presented as the prime example of how wise and forgiving Jesus is. But is he really? Let's look at the story. A woman get's brought forward to be stoned, as the rules imposed by Jesus (or god, they are the same right?) demand. People gather around to carry out god's will. What does Jesus do? At least, what he doesn't do is say „listen people, this rule was stupid to begin with, let's not stone her.“ No, he says „Who is without sin shall cast the first stone“. But what sin is he talking about? Chances are, there were a few people who led pretty decent lives among those who gathered around. What he is saying is, „You creatures are unworthy of carrying out MY justice. You creatures who think you know good from evil come here and pretend like you want to carry out MY word, while in reality you are questioning whether all of this even makes sense. Go from my eyes you sinners“. And then he tells the woman „go forth and sin no more“ and spares her. So finally he does demonstrate that the rules that he imposed were flawed. They are not universal. He is above them and can negate them if he wishes. Thus he establishes himself as the ruler once more and demonstrates that his word is above and beyond any rules. We are told that Lucifer would have probably said „go and stone the woman“. I find it more likely that he would have said „Use your knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps you will find that the rule that was imposed by god was evil and the woman should not die“.
Judge not or you will be judged yourself. But justice deliverd by a „jury of peers“ seems to be quite effective these days.
I like it when people say that the USA founding fathers were Christians. But in fact, the founding documents rather suggest that they were inspired by Lucifer. Take the declaration of independence. The first, and most crucial sentence is „We the people hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and are thus equipped with the same inalienable right.“ In other words, we humans are setting an axiom. The equality of all is nothing that can be proven or disproven, or derived from some deeper principle. It is something that has to be „seen as self evident“, in other words, derived from the divine knowledge of good and evil. The document does not say „We the people pledge to live by the rule of the Lord“, it says „WE hold these truths as self evident“. And the church and the British crown hunted them down for this blatant heresy.
One more of my favorites is gods unwillingless to reveal himself. God demands „blind“ obedience. He does not come forth and say, here I am. He leaves us in doubt of his existence, but demands obedience regardless. How cruel is that? Lucifer realized this, when he came to Jesus and said, „Ok, so if you are god's son, then fly up this tower“. In other words, „prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt, instead of tormenting humans with uncertainty.“ But Jesus of course is dismissive and says „do not try god“. „Don't pick a fight with me“. Again the implied threat.
And of course he died for our alledged sins, but what kind of death is it if you are really god and can rise from the grave?
We are told that at the end of times, human society will fail, and god will return to sit on the throne once more, with all the sheep who blindly followed below his feet. Lucifer, and those he could tempt to use their knowledge of good and evil will be destroyed, and will be damned live in the wasteland, the ruins of the world they were to flawed to maintain. But what if that is not how it plays out? What if humans, with their knowledge of good and evil, are indeed able to create paradise on earth? Would that not prove god wrong? I am not convinced that this will not eventually occur. The claim that Satan is evil appears as heavy propaganda to me. He is depicted with a distorted and ugly face, much like what the nazis did to their enemies. How can that even be true, if he was once Lucifer, „the bringer of light“, the most beautiful of all angels?
People tell us, well the fundamentalist Christians are bad, but only because they are not TRULY following the teachings of the Christ. You know, loving your neighbour and all that, and not casting the stone since you are a sinner yourself. They are only bad because they are hypocrites. Sometimes Christians sound like Libertarians who say, „oh come on, the only reason why the deregulated markets failed were because they were not deregulated enough. What we need is even MORE of the same“.I am thinking, maybe the real reason why Christianity sucks is because even as a philosophical concept it is a failed ideology. Maybe humans should dwell less on their alledged sinfulness, and rely more on their personal ability to see good from evil, which Lucifer brought them and god and the churches did not want them to have and have defined and condemned as the original sin from which all other sins follow.
Perhaps Adam was lucky that his wife Eve was smart enough to accept Lucifer's offer and convince him to accept it as well.
(this text represents my own original work. I bestow it with a GNU public license, see
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
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- But most of us have since eaten the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of myths and facts.......
