Satan: is he/she/it a real being or something else?


Kirkko
 Share

Recommended Posts

I've heard people say Satan is known as the adversary and is just that, the wrong decisions or choices we can make against Gods will, but do you believe Satan is an actual being who could show up as a spirit and that he controls evil spirit or is Satan a metaphor for our fallen state or something different? I know that it has been said that one of Satans tricks is to convince people that he doesn't exist; that's not what I'm asking, I think he exists but is he a real spirit ie in the temple or a metaphor or something else? I'm curious as to what people think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He is son of God, the son of the mourning, which fell due to rebellion.  He is just as real as you or I.  He is a spirit of the unjust, which can appear as an angel of light.  He is just as real as those who followed him and did not keep their first estate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard people say Satan is known as the adversary and is just that, the wrong decisions or choices we can make against Gods will, but do you believe Satan is an actual being who could show up as a spirit and that he controls evil spirit or is Satan a metaphor for our fallen state or something different?

It appears that you are not familiar with LDS doctrine.  The short answer is that we all existed as spirits before mortality.  We are all children of God, and are brothers and sisters.

 

Satan lead a rebellion against Father, and he and his minions chose not to  receive a mortal body here on earth, but to remain as spirits.

 

 He is just as real as you and I are real.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Joseph prefaces his first vision by speaking of what happened when he attempted to pray to God and find out which church to join. He says:

...I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But exerting all my power to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction - not to imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being - just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. (Joseph Smith History 1:15-16, bold mine)

Joseph says an actual being from the unseen world. 

Edited by james12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

He is son of God, the son of the mourning, which fell due to rebellion.  He is just as real as you or I.  He is a spirit of the unjust, which can appear as an angel of light.  He is just as real as those who followed him and did not keep their first estate.

 

 

Just a slight, but important correction: he is the son of the morning (not mourning).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard people say Satan is known as the adversary and is just that, the wrong decisions or choices we can make against Gods will, but do you believe Satan is an actual being who could show up as a spirit and that he controls evil spirit or is Satan a metaphor for our fallen state or something different? I know that it has been said that one of Satans tricks is to convince people that he doesn't exist; that's not what I'm asking, I think he exists but is he a real spirit ie in the temple or a metaphor or something else? I'm curious as to what people think.

yes he is a person.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Evil definitely has intelligence behind it. The way temptation has worked upon me over the years has certainly been quite organized and cunning. I can very often see after the event what the devil's plan was - but that doesn't always make it easier next time.

 

I suspect C.S. Lewis' depiction of devils in The Screwtape Letters is quite close to the truth - though of course I'm not suggesting that Hell is really organized along the lines of the British Civil Service. That was just a bit of satire on Lewis' part :)

Edited by Jamie123
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suspect C.S. Lewis' depiction of devils in The Screwtape Letters is quite close to the truth - though of course I'm not suggesting that Hell is really organized along the lines of the British Civil Service. That was just a bit of satire on Lewis' part :)

When I was younger, I was pretty sure it was organized along the lines of a public high school.  More recently I wondered if it was more along the lines of a phone center job. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

When I was younger, I was pretty sure [hell] was organized along the lines of a public high school.  More recently I wondered if it was more along the lines of a phone center job.

And what, prithee, is the difference between the two?

Lehi

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The scriptural references to Satan/Lucifer/the Devil are myriad.

Everything has its opposite: good and evil are one of these pairs. It may be claimed that Lucifer chose to be evil, but he did not invent it, not any more than he invented darkness in opposition to light.

He seeks to make all men miserable like unto himself. That is his only happiness, false and unfulfilling as it is.

One of the chiefest of contributions Joseph's work made to the understanding of Heaven is the placing of the personal being, Satan, in the garden of Eden, in the Sacred Grove, on the high mountain with Moses.

Oh, yes, Satan is real. His twin dreams, that he does not exist, and that people will spend too much time wondering about him, come into play in this topic. Or so I believe.

Lehi

Edited by LeSellers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share