I noticed that when people are having problems within the church, mormons like to blame things on satan. If you're questioning church doctrines or church history or the church's "every member a janitor" program, it's because of satan.

It's like telling children if they don't behave, Santa won't bring them presents. Anyone else feel this way?

I wish there was such a thing as Satan.

Maybe he would give the cult some competition.

It's a religious version of, "Just shut up!" No need to make convincing counter arguments, no need to provide evidence. Just tell them they're being tricked by the evil one. But the real evil one is the person telling you you're being tricked by the evil one.

If they blame Satan for turning tbms into apostates, they accomplish two thing. 1) They are able to pretend tscc did no wrong and tscc is perfect and 2) it also keeps tbms from listening to apostates and learning the truth about tscc. After all, if you teach tbms that Satan leads ppl away from tscc, they will run away from apostates and never even try to hear what we are saying.

All Satan needs to do to thwart God's plan is to simply not bother with us or be a nice guy. THEN who can God blame for "testing" us and wreaking havoc?

If Satan has "free agency" and is sooooo evil, why would he play along fulfilling God's "bad guy" role?

Lame.

Anything that doesn't seem quite right about our little sca ... er, I mean church, oh, that's just Satan. He's workin' overtime to destroy it, don'tcha know.

The problem is Satan, and you listening to him--not those old men taking your money.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2013 01:48PM by munchybotaz.

Pretty damned convenient if you ask me. Satan never gets to defend himself/herself/itself.

How can Satan put thoughts in my my mind? He's a loser, fallen
angel, been kicked out of heaven etc. but somehow he has the
power to put thoughts into people's minds. I, evidently, was
among the more righteous majority in the pre-existence but I
don't have the power to put thoughts into people's minds. Where
did Satan get that power from?

God gave it to him and allows him to keep it.

Supposedly to test people.

Since he made people flawed, they have to be redeemed and tested in the refiner's fire and proved through a series of games and tests.

Because God is bored.

There is really no other conclusion because since he was perfect, all-powerful and almighty, needing nothing, he didn't need to create a damn thing.

Of course, if God IS bored, then he isn't perfect, which is why arguments about a First Cause are often so circular.

People created Satan to explain why reasonable people leave the fold-- and to create a state of fear about trying to leave. It is totally manipulative and a childish attempt to hold on to power when you've obviously lost the debate.

Reality always wins unless you can scare people into being irrational.

Now IF Satan exists and has been luring people out of the church, then I raise my hand to thank him. I AM SO MUCH HAPPIER and my children thank me for having gotten them out(including out of Utah I might add) before they married a Mormon.

These are not naturally thankful children, take my word for it, so when they thank me for anything, it's a big deal.

See, in my book Satan is working for the good to free people from cult chains where they are forced to obey and pretend they are volunteering their money and their time. This is so obviously evil, isn't it?

That sort of spins your head all you lurkers. Think about it- which side of the War in Heaven is the LDS, Inc. church on? Jesus' side of free choice or Satan's side of compulsion--forcing people to be "good" at the cost of not being able to see their children marry, being shunned, being humiliated publicly, being excommunicated in a sham court ridiculously named "Court of Love?"


Anagrammy

Yes, well, I've realized the church desperately NEEDS the concept of satan. That whole "opposition" thing is incredibly important to answer and blame any attempts to question the status quo.

Even as a pretty green missionary, I found myself cautioning people against blaming satan for their personal frailties.

Remember Geraldine?
"The devil made me do it!"

"The Devil made me buy this dress."

People who are immature and who can't understand reality tend to blame things on a boogy man like Satan, or global warming etc.

Except there is an actual scientific consensus of the existence of global warming, therefore making it slightly more rational than blaming satan.

It's like blaming SBDs on the dog.

Great post about Satan...Bye the way, Satan made me enjoy port wines...mmmmmm..port wines...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2013 03:57PM by nofear.

Satan has more power in Mormonism than Jesus Christ does. Jesus Christ is a nice idea but he can't really save Mormons. They have to do it themselves. They also have to save everyone around them. They don't even bother to have a picture of Jesus up in their chapels, nor do they talk about him at length most Sacrament meetings. Why bother? He came, did his thing, set his example and now it's up to Mormons to do the rest. Kind of like the ancestor you admire for crossing the plains or establish a company that made the family fortune for generations or who was a hero in WWII. Nice guy - kinda want to be like him, proud of coming from his clan but really - what good is he now?

Satan, on the other had, can hide entire civilizations from history just to mess with your mind. He has millions of anti-Mormon forces, flooding the internet with porn and lies against Mormonism, just to thwart your eternal progress. Every minute of every day he is scheming, tempting, giving you a flat tire so you can't go to the temple etc. He can get inside your very mind and confuse you. He's even gotten control of a number of people you know - and they are so confused they aren't even aware they are doomed. This guy has the GOODS. He's a super power - an evil villain who is practically unstoppable, without your constant vigilance. That's why Mormons are so focused on him - because in Mormonism, it's Satan that has all the power.

Well said, CA!

Maybe I should join Satan's team? I bet he has more fun!

Blaming everything on Satan makes it so members are afraid of the logical aspects of their ability to reason. It makes it so, instead of being a natural thought process that helps you to evaluate things in a way that makes it so you can see truth, you see Satan tempting you away from God. It makes it so you don't analyze any doctrine, dogma, or action of church leaders because you fear that it is Satan, not what it is - common sense. This is a big part of why many members are perpetually denying anything that could cause doubts. It is also why many members are so insistent on believing things without giving those things fair consideration. It is an incredibly effective and powerful tool.

As a kid, I remember watching cartoons where the character had an angel on one shoulder, and a devil on the other. Each was pleading its case into the respective ear of the character.

I can't help but thinking about those cartoons when people talk about the make-believe battle of forces going on around them, regarding them! Maybe it makes them feel important.

One could say the "force" of egoism, except that in spiritual philosophy, "ego" is not a thing but rather a pattern--a mistaken belief in separate identity--a pattern superimposed on (and apparently hijacking) a divine unity. The Genesis myth is the temptation to view oneself as an ego, with separate god-like powers, and the "fallen world" that resulted is the world as perceived by ego. If "Satan" is said to rule this world, isn't this evident in the competing play of its separate parts for self-interested survival? Even the concept of Hell is a way of maintaining separative ego consciousness after bodily death.

All the depictions of God vs. Satan in religions and popular culture represent the conflict within each being between unbounded awareness and localized, defensive individual consciousness.