Lucifer

[Guest guest]

:

> It was often said that the greatest feat Satan could ever accomplish would be to convince Man that he does not exist. If he could do this, then people would begin to question the existence of evil itself. If they no longer believed in evil, or at least in Divine Judgement, then what would restrain them from following their basest instincts and indeed being more drawn to unrighteousness?

Their own conscience...? ;-)

Just like I very much doubt that you would start stealing, raping, killing or abusing drugs even if it became legal, you may have noticed that even with much of he Western world becoming secularised and atheist - especially here in Scandinavia - there is still a rise in charity and concern for animals, the environment, the poor, sick and disabled, and a growing distaste for use of fur, war, inequality, conducting unethical business etc.

And this springs from people's own hearts, from genuine compassion, rather than from 'acting good' so that God will judge us more favorably later on (or so that we will get a better karma in the next life for those who believe in that). Thus I see it as more genuine now, and something I'm sure will please any possible divine powers a lot more than people behaving themselves out of FEAR.

Sure, with the oppression of religious restriction removed, there also follows a lot of freedom that can, has been and is being abused in the extreme. But I really think that is something temporary and that the 'natural consequences' (to borrow a phrase from Raven) will make people rethink their choices and start choosing more wisely in the future.

If I were God or a parent, I'd prefer to see my children grow and learn at their own pace and REALLY learn rather than just pretending to behave out of fear of punishment. The latter would be hollow, shallow, on the surface only, and subject to high risk of falling for temptation as soon as restriction or supervision was removed. Whereas the self-taught way is permanent, as a lesson learned by suffering the painful consequences of one's own actions (as an individual, or as part of humanity) is not one is likely to want to repeat ever again.

I thus see the love in how things work, even when it looks bad, and don't feel the same fear as you seem to do. I personally believe that this love, compassion and trust that all is good even when it doesn't look like it comes from God, and that fear comes from you-know-who. ;-)

See, fear is a real trickster. It makes us see things only from the darkest angle, and then magnifies it so they look a lot worse than they are, temporarily clouding our awareness of everything good and beautiful in this world and in our fellow man, often in ourselves too. And when we act on fear, we usually end up creating the very thing we are trying to avoid. Doesn't that sound more like the inspiration of a less-than-devine influence?

Whereas when we have complete trust and faith that even when seemingly bad things happen, it is always for us to learn something and grow, rather than as punishment, bad luck or worse. With that faith, there is really nothing to be afraid of in this world, and the only thing there is to 'fight' is our own illusory fear and other self-created demons.

Inger