Is "The Devil" Real?

If you’re a resident of earth, there is an important concept I want you to consider, because it helps explain a lot about the struggles we go through. It is simply this: Satan is real. No, he doesn’t make appearances dressed in red and carrying a pitchfork, but he’s as real as you and me.

I understand, of course, that even bringing up the topic of Satan conjures up the issue of “Why is there evil in the world?” This is an extremely difficult issue for many people, because of the “Big Three” common beliefs that most people share: 1) God is Perfect Goodness 2) God is All-powerful 3) Evil exists

This is a real mind-warper for the human brain, because our logic tells us that “for evil to exist, God must either not be all-powerful, or He must not be perfectly good.” Human logic tells us two of these truths can co-exist, but not all three.

I asked my buddy Rev. Trip Cormeny about this, and he explained that for Christians the answer comes from the Bible, which tells us, “God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing the existence of evil.”

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t explain the details. It just states the fact. And it appears to come down to this: God operates on an entirely different plain than us. He’s not just a really, really, really smart/wise/moral MegaHuman, but instead a God who operates within a set of perfectly just rules we cannot fathom.

His decisions and actions are unfettered by our understanding of time, space, logic, or human morality. In short, he gets the Big Picture, and we do not. Because of this, God does allow evil in the universe He created, and the Christian Bible explains that the primary source of evil is Satan.

As the source of evil in the world, Satan wants us to ignore God. He wants everyone to choose his way to happiness, and he knows our appetites very well: Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. These are the things that feel good to our human bodies and brains, and they are where we drift if our spiritual side is not actively working against them. I don’t know about you, but I can experience all seven of the deadly sins just sitting on the couch with a beer and some Doritos watching Bay Watch re-runs.

Anyway, the Devil is one smart cookie. It’s been said that Satan’s greatest trick was convincing the world he doesn’t exist, and I believe that’s true. If you give no thought to him, then his job is that much easier.

The Devil is also very efficient: He doesn’t spend a lot of effort working on those he already owns. (If you think about it, you’ll probably agree Satan doesn’t have to do much work within the Mafia). He works hardest on those he is in the process of losing, and those who have committed themselves to following Christ. If you are a non-believer, and something inspires you to look further into Christianity, you will find yourself on the frontline of the battle between God and Satan. Satan will work his fanny off trying to get you to give up on the process, and get you thinking, “This isn’t worth the effort.”

Everyone knows the old cliché, “The Devil made me do it.” The truth is, however, that short of demonic possession, the Devil can’t make you do anything. Satan is like is a really cool friend from the wrong side of the tracks, who encourages you to think only about yourself, and tells you that what you do, think, and say is your business and no one else’s.

Most people know beforehand when they are going to do something wrong, and they know the thing is wrong because all humans are hard-wired with a moral compass that instinctively differentiates between right and wrong. But we do these things anyway. Why? They are fun, or feel good, or feel rewarding. And they are easier to do (then forget about) because Satan is there with us beforehand rubbing our shoulders and saying, “Go get ‘em, Champ,” and afterward to say, “That wasn’t wrong; you were just doing what you wanted to do.”

Now, let’s say you think the idea of Satan “being real” and playing “an active role in your life” is a bit much. You prefer to think of evil as simply a choice men make. Then how do you account for the hard-core evil in the world? Men who rape their own children? Serial killers who roam the country? Men who kidnap and torture their victims?

Yes, some hard-core evil is catalyzed by insanity, but not all. Often times these people have a fully-operational moral compass, and they know right from wrong, but they choose to do evil. I think this kind of hard-core evil is the best proof that Satan exists. These people know that what they are doing is the darkest kind of evil, but Satan convinces them that their needs are above those of the rest of the world.

With the rest of us, Satan never much raises his voice above a whisper. He whispers that life isn’t fair, so we’ve got to get what we can. It’s funny how this works, because according to C.S. Lewis a sane person always knows right from wrong through their moral compass, and while it’s possible to “do good for the sake of good, no one does bad for the sake of bad.”

This is easier to understand with an analogy: You might very well share your lunch with someone who is hungry because it’s the right thing to do, but you’d never refuse to share your lunch because it’s the wrong thing to do. Yes, you might fail to share because you’re really hungry yourself, or you don’t like the hungry person, or you believe the person will use the energy the lunch provides to commit a crime, but these reasons for refusing to share all have a reason (and a reward) attached to them. No one, however, would refuse to share their lunch purely because it’s the wrong thing to do.

To that end, “doing the right thing” is a stronger drive than “doing the wrong thing,” and is thus the greater of the two human realities. Only through the work of Satan do we recognize wrong, acknowledge it’s wrong, and still do it.

If you’re interested in learning more about Satan, and how he works, I recommend you read, The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. In this book, Mr. Lewis takes on the character of Uncle Screwtape, who is writing a series of letters to his nephew Wormwood about the proper techniques and tactics for capturing the human soul.

In fact, I should point out that C.S. Lewis is the author of a number of brilliant books on Christianity, most of which are written not to preach but to explain; if you want to read the ideas of a brilliant atheist-turned-Christian, you can’t go wrong with Mr. Lewis. (Interesting fact: C.S. Lewis was converted to Christianity through the efforts of his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, the Lord of the Rings guy, mostly through conversations they had in a bar).

For those of you interested in something a little quicker and easier, there is a brilliant a movie called, The Devil’s Advocate (Rated R) starring Al Pacino as Lucifer himself. I do not know who wrote the script, but the end result is genius.

Some Christians really struggle with the idea of a real, actual Satan. That’s cool. I didn’t always believe in a real, actual Satan myself. However, when you’re considering the topic, remember that Jesus asked God to “deliver us from the Evil One” when He said The Lord’s Prayer. And these days, I’ve got a pretty strong suspicion He wasn’t speaking about a non-existent entity.