What is the purpose of Satan in Christian theology?

Question: “What exactly is the purpose of Satan in Christian theology? Is he just a bogeyman type scare tactic? I ask because I remember being terrified on the bus in elementary school when an older girl told me all about Revelations, the anti-Christ, Satan, etc--this little Episcopalian had never heard any of that. And if he's not just something to scare waverers--if he represents an actual power that strives against God, then how is it a monotheistic religion?”

An Answer:

C.S. Lewis has a marvelous way of explaining the traditional view of the Devil/Satan for modern thinkers in his book Mere Christiantiy. Much of what I have to say here is inspired by his thoughts. Lewis points out that the concept of the Devil and Satan reveal several things about Christianity's view of existence:

‎1) God and the Devil are not equals. The philosophy that says good and evil are equal is called “dualism.” In dualism there is a never-ending struggle between good and evil and it is the opposition to the other that defines each. So a dualist would say, “We don’t know good times without the hard times.” The problem with dualism is that human existence is doomed to always know evil, wrong, and tragedy.  There is no possibility of existence without evil – a very grim forecast.

      The Christian view believes in a blissful paradise, an ideal state where good exists without evil. This is explained by the story of origin where good (God) exists before evil (the Devil). In short, the devil was the Archangel Lucifer, a created being who, though originally good, corrupted himself with envy, pride, malice, and self-deceit.  

Thus, Christianity teaches it is possible to have good without evil (God without the Devil) but evil without good cannot exist, just as Lucifer/the Devil would never have existed without God, his creator. The end result of which is that Christians don’t believe evil must exist, should exist, or will always exist. In other words, Christians have hope that evil will eventually not exist.   

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2) Evil cannot create. It can only corrupt.  Christianity believes that evil was never able to create, to make something from nothing. Evil can only take what is good and change it in some way God had not intended. There are several lessons here:

    - All created things are, by their original nature, good. There is nothing that exists that was ever   solely evil.

    - Many things that are good can be turned to evil. This is a warning against complacency. 

    - There is hope that anything evil might be turned back to good. This is called redemption.

    - If evil were ever successful in destroying good, evil would not be able to proliferate (since it cannot create) and would eventually die. Thus the end of evil is nihilism – self-destruction and non-existence.

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3) The names for evil specify its primary activity. The "Devil" means "deceiver" and "Satan" means "accuser". Thus in Job, the Satan is more like a lawyer making a case against Job. However, by the time of Revelation, Satan is in outright war with God, attempting to be Judge and Ruler of the world, accusing creation and God of abandoning each other. Revelation is the counter story, where neither God nor the People of God have abandoned one another. As the Deceiver, the Devil is attempting to convince God and Creation of the truth of a false reality – that neither loves, cares, or belongs to the other. 

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4) In continuing to teach about a "Devil" or "Satan", Christianity continues to assert that evil exists; can be recognized; is devious, cunning, adversarial, and even personal; and that we are currently in the middle of an epic conflict full of intention and not just random happenstance. Thus the Christian is likewise to be intentional in living life, carefully making choices and seeking God and not to naively or ignorantly stumble carelessly through life.

One last observation:  Our lives in the West are fairly shielded from some harsh realities - that's not to say life is easy here. I don’t mean that at all. What I do mean to say is that the idea of the Devil/Satan may look a lot more feasible to those of us in the world who have seen diabolical evil - millions injured or killed by plague, disaster, war, or genocide. 

In simple terms, without the Devil everything that happens, including tragedy, is a result of God's intention or negligence. Who else is left to attribute it to? And if God intends such tragedy, then we have to arrive at the conclusion that God is not supremely good.  

Why is there evil in the World? The Parable of "The Wheat and the Weeds"

When looking at the Parable of The Wheat and the Weeds (or traditionally "Tares") we could address many different topics, but lets talk about what this parable teaches about why evil, corruption, and sin are in the world.

First, notice that the owner of the field did not create the problem. Interestingly, neither is the problem attributed to angels or to the wheat. An "enemy" purposefully placed the seed. Thus, from the perspective of this parable, the existence of evil in our lives was originally intended, but intended by the "enemy", not by God.

Second, there is an option to remove evil from the world, but the result is catastrophic, though not complete, destruction of the world. Take a look at the story of Noah, his family, and the Flood, if you want to see what this might look like. Do notice in the story of the Flood that Noah's family returns to the old status-quo (imperfection) almost immediately after disembarking from the ark.

Getting back to the parable, removing the weeds from the wheat would require identifying them early before their roots are entangled, so as not to uproot both, but the challenge here is that early sprouts may look much the same. Errors in judgement would presumable be frequent.

Alternatively, reapers could wait for the plants to bear fruit, and identify each by its fruit. This would be best done at the harvest when all is ripe, because now the roots are entwined and pulling up one would mean pulling up the other. Problem is, the wheat and the weeds exist in conflict and competition.

The parable says that God has chosen to allow the weeds for now to preserve the wheat. In a sense, God allows for evil and for pain, so as not to destroy what good there is. Difficult to accept? Yes. But then faith is trusting that God, who is omniscient (all-knowing), has a better perspective of this problem than we do. And this makes sense. After all, our perspective comes from maybe 80 years of personal experience and the perspective on one individual, namely "me". God's perspective, even if God weren't omniscient, comes with a great deal more knowledge and experience. So, personally, I think God might be the expert here.

That doesn't make evil any more tolerable. Nor does that make God's decision any easier to bear. Thus Christ says, "Take up your cross and follow me." Life is a mixed bag. And perhaps some fields will have more weeds that wheat or vice versa.

What does give us hope is the end of the parable. God collects all of the field, weeds and wheat, and separates the two. For those who are worried about that separation and its implications, keep in mind that the weeds want to dominate (choke out the wheat) and the wheat wants to grow in peace. No one, however, wishes to be thrown in the fire, but burning was a common method for containing that which is contagious or spreads unchecked.

The point here is that there is consequence and justice. Both what we do and who we are have meaning and purpose. And that is the Christian Hope, the aspiration of the Church - to be what God has intended and do what good and right and pure, as God intended. We want to see God's creation, including ourselves, made whole. We want to be wheat in God's fields, citizens of Heaven even while on earth.
 

The Demise of the Episcopal Church

Prologue

In his blog post "Reversing the Numerical Decline of the Episcopal Church", the Rev. George Clifford makes a prophetic call for turning around the declining membership of the Episcopal Church. Clifford accurately highlights the dismal stats and dim prognosis of TEC (The Episcopal Church) that has become all too familiar rhetoric for those of us Heaven-bent on renewal. He also gives a vision of hope. I commend the post to you. And I want to add my own observations.

Maundy Thursday

We are approaching Maundy Thursday when Jesus forms the community of the Church centered around the Passover, the commemoration of the first and greatest trauma that birthed the People of Israel - namely a story of trial, success, oppression, slavery, revolt, exodus, and rebirth.

We all wish wish to escape this. We want to go from "glory to glory" (II Cor. 3:18, KJV) and we pray "save us from the time of trial" (The Lord's Prayer, contemporary). But I don't think we in TEC will escape, nor should we.

I believe the Way of Resurrection is to be had in the Way of the Cross. I believe suffering and death, when borne in connection with doing God's will, leads to God's active re-creation of us. In terms of the TEC, parishes will decline and close. History, traditions and theologies may be abandoned (at least for a generation or ten). Our image and identity will change. We will lose much. But, in walking the way of the Cross we are also promised much!

Our Time is at Hand

I sometimes play a little mental game. If the house were on fire and I had only a few minutes to grab a few things (and all my family were safe) what would I take? Pictures? My computer? Memorabilia? Jewelry?  I think this is not a mental game for TEC. The house may not be on fire, but it is crumbling. Our time is at hand - not for the glory of worldly success, but for walking with Jesus the way of the Cross.

The house, our house, can no longer stand as it was once built. Parts will crumble. What will be saved? We can lose ourselves in trying to save the house or we can choose the few, most important things to keep. What does Christ call us to hold on to and what does Christ call us to let go of? The Cross looms in front of us.

Jesus faced very similar decisions on Maundy Thursday. His time was at hand. The Cross was looming in front of him. The disciples still didn't understand. What else could he say to get through to them? What else could he do? The house was coming down. There was precious little time. What are the essentials? What can be saved?

The answer we make together in TEC and how we determine that answer will determine our common future. My own recommendation is to follow Jesus' actions at the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane. Whatever we do, I don't think we can take the option to run from the Cross, to escape "decline". If we run we might escape death for the moment, but will we gain the Resurrection? Will we be truly Christian?

For the TEC, it's time to own the Cross, to make Christ's Way, our Way, to be the People of the Cross that God might also make us the People of the Resurrection.