Now, I'm not one to believe in Christianity, but for the sake of the arguement, let's pretend I do. OK, we have God, the good guy. If you are good, he will save you from the evil devil. He will bring you up through the clouds into the heavens. Eternal bliss is your reward. Now, if you AREN'T good, you will be DAMNED to hell. You will suffer in burning pits of fire and brimstone for all of eternity. At first glance, it would seem obvious that God is the protaganist and the Devil would be the antagonist in this story called "the Bible". After comtemplating this, I have arrived at the conclusion that both characters are "good". "The Devil?.. is good!? Are you mad!?" you might be thinking. Well, let's look at it like this: If we are to assume that the laws of the bible are just (as most Christians WOULD see them as, or else they wouldn't be Christians), then what more is the Devil than a 'policeman' who punishes those who break the laws [of the Bible]? If the biblical laws are just (justified) laws, which we are assuming most Christians would agree with, than the policeman wouldn't be evil, he would be a good person upholding the rightful law. Now, if this policeman was to enforce corrupt laws, that would be another story, but we are aggreeing that these laws of the Bible are justified. What do you want to look out for, being a Christian? Sinning of course! And why do you not want to sin? Because you will go to hell. Let's face it, the idea of a hell is a very scary idea. Nobody would want that in a million years. Given the two paths of retribution (heaven and hell), I think we came agree that this idea of a 'hell' and a 'devil' motivates the Christian masses not to 'sin', therefor enabling them to a 'heaven' in the afterlife. This is called retribution, the abstance of sin motivated by fear rather than the love of God. The puritan Johnathan Edwards mastered this style of preaching, "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours."*. If there were no devil or hell and everybody could get into to heaven, regardless of what they've done, do you think many people would try their hardest to abstain from sin? Probably not. It would be a free for all, it would be anarchy! Well, maybe not as extreme as sheer anarchy, but you can bet that there would be a lot more sinning going on if it weren't for fear of hell. So who's wrath will make men think twice about getting drunk and breaking into your house? The Devil. Who makes them think twice about rape? The Devil. Who makes them think twice about commiting original sin? The Devil. In my eyes, it seems that Christians should view the Devil as a hero.
*Excerpt from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards.
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