The Devil and God

Does it make sense to believe in God and not The Devil. I think it really depends on a person's idea of what God is. For people who see God as The Creator and in a natural theology or intelligent design way I don't see why that belief would lead to believing in The Devil as a Being

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

SW-User

As I see it there are the opposites (in this case "God" and the "Devil") Then there is the ultimate Source that manifests those opposites.

Isaiah (OT) "I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things"

The problem for Christianity is that any talk of the Godhead [i]beyond[/i] God is frowned upon and is only found in the Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart. Therefore it is often left with a God who represents just one side and therefore a world of ultimate dualities i.e. eternal heavens and hells, absolutes of "good" and "evil", and the Devil is seen as totally the opposite of God.

The ultimate path, of [i]realising[/i] non-duality [i]within[/i] duality, is left more to our "eastern" friends.

SW-User

@SW-User Just to add, to show this whole subject has various "issues" as far as Christianity is concerned, a couple of excerpts from a dialogue between Thomas Merton (Catholic) and D T Suzuki (zen) The dialogue can be found in Merton's book "Zen and the Birds of Appetite" as the last section, "Wisdom in Emptiness".

Thomas Merton:-

[i]In cautiously walking around the distinction between “God and Godhead” I am simply avoiding a thorny theological problem. This distinction.........has been technically condemned by the Church.[/i]

Merton has to keep looking over his shoulder at the Catholic censors. The days of racks and thumbscrews are fortunately long gone, but one has to remain circumspect.....😀

Suzuki:-

[i]Father Merton’s emptiness, when he uses this term, does not go far and deep enough, I am afraid. I do not know who first made the distinction between the Godhead and God as Creator. This distinction is strikingly illustrative. Father Merton’s emptiness is still on the level of God as Creator and does not go up to the Godhead...... In my view, this way of interpreting “suchness” is the emptiness of God as Creator, and not of the Godhead. Zen emptiness is not the emptiness of nothingness, but the emptiness of fullness in which there is “no gain, no loss, no increase, no decrease,” in which this equation takes place: zero = infinity. The Godhead is no other than this equation.[/i]

All clever stuff if you like that sort of thing (😀) but it does lead to different ideas of eschatology (the last things) Suzuki advocates an eschatology of the present moment, while Merton remains looking ahead to some future fulfilment and revelation.

(Dogen, a zen man, would seem in ways to reconcile these two views - but I'll leave it for now)

Axeroberts · 56-60, M

@SW-User the Isaiah verse is perfect. The Creator does it all. No devil required