How Does the Devil affect us?

[Anonymous]

For some reason I was really down the past few days and was thinking negative about alot of stuff. Some people had upset me and I was also feeling crummy about my life. Like so many of the desires and wishes I had for my life have not come true. I usually don’t think this negative or feel gloom and doom, but did the past two days. I was trying to analyize whether it was Satan just working on me to think this negative and personalize things, or if it was a chemical/hormonal problem. That is when I began to wonder what exactly according to church doctrine is the devil allowed to do in making our lives miserable?

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry you have been feeling down and negative. I hope you feel more positive soon. I think up and down’s are a normal part of life. (((hugs)))

[Anonymous]

bridget_night wrote:

…whether it was Satan just working on me to think this negative and personalize things, or if it was a chemical/hormonal problem.

I’ll give you my (extremely) oblique response to this, Bridget. We tend to look at Satan, God, Spirit, etc., as literal “transformed humans” with the same sorts of thoughts and processes as we have.

Consider it all as metaphorical…what if instead of viewing “right and wrong,” “good and evil,” “God and Satan,” the way we traditionally do…view everything as coming from LOVE and fear (fear being the lack of LOVE). Compare LOVE to light, and fear to darkness (lack of light). Love is the pure energy that makes the universe work…fear is the lack thereof.

If you look at it that way, traits such as worrying, pessimism, lack of hope, etc….all come from fear — no matter what happens internally in our bodies. In fact, more and more, we are coming to understand that one of the most powerful “drugs” is our own thoughts. If we have positive thoughts, life works better. Of course, we all have the kind of dreams and thoughts that take away our optimism, but if we do the kinds of things that bring us back to “LOVE” (like good nutrition, exercise, meditation, a walk in nature, etc.), we can transition our attitude and state of being back to a more positive place.

At least I’ve found that to work for me…

[Anonymous]

Rix wrote:

Consider it all as metaphorical…what if instead of viewing “right and wrong,” “good and evil,” “God and Satan,” the way we traditionally do…view everything as coming from LOVE and fear (fear being the lack of LOVE). Compare LOVE to light, and fear to darkness (lack of light). Love is the pure energy that makes the universe work…fear is the lack thereof.

I really like this, Rix. Thanks.

Good questions, Bridget. I sometimes wonder if it is helpful to people to believe the “evil” or the negativity or the temptations are outside of us, trying to be put upon us. Almost like that way we separate that from who we are, and then have the choice and the courage to fight against those external forces. In many ways, I think that can be helpful to think of that, if it allows one to feel empowered they can have control over it.

I guess based on the theory of opposites, whatever power or effect I think Jesus can have in my life, the devil will have that opposite effect, and I will try to fight the evil and choose the good.

[Anonymous]

Rix wrote:

…Consider it all as metaphorical…what if instead of viewing “right and wrong,” “good and evil,” “God and Satan,” the way we traditionally do…view everything as coming from LOVE and fear (fear being the lack of LOVE). Compare LOVE to light, and fear to darkness (lack of light). Love is the pure energy that makes the universe work…fear is the lack thereof.

Yeah, I agree with this. Your question is difficult for me to respond to because I don’t really believe in “the devil”. I believe in energy and spirit, very similar to way Rix says. I really think most of the things we consider to be “satan” or the “devil” are our own creations within our psyche — and it is our responsibility to figure out how to “control” and deal with those negative emotions (this is where pure religion has value and benefits ie prayer, meditation, health code, uplifting thoughts and messages, clean living etc.)

fwiw – I actually think “Dr. Monreau” would have beaten the “devil” on his island had he been given more time.

[Anonymous]

From what the lds church teaches and from reading the Bible, I believe Satan and his angels are real beings:

http://www.dianedew.com/satan.htm Jesus was tempted by Satan, cast out devils and it says Lucifer tempted Adam and Eve. He can tempt us to lie etc. We are told that Satan will be bound in the millenium and I have wondered how that will make a difference in being able to be a better person. Sometimes, I have wondered if humans are assigned so many evil spirits to work on them and try to get them to fail by tempting them. We are not supposed to tempted more than we can bear according to the scriptures or that would take away our free agency. I know of people who I respect that have had experiences with a real being that they believe was Satan. It would be nice if you could know the difference between your own negative thinking, what are temptations or thoughts that Satan gives you, also when he is appearing as an angel of light, and when you are actually feeling the Holy Spirit.

[Anonymous]

First of all the whole concept of a devil I have a problem with. It does not seem consistent with a generous and caring god to allow one of his children to so torment others, but maybe that is a subject for another thread. I do agree with Rix. Doom and gloom or anxiety is fear based. It is the natural reaction when you are faced with situations beyond your control. We want to recoil and sometimes run from hard issues. Personally in my life getting over the fear as much as possible was the best approach, but then again that is me and I am not a therapist.

If you have not seen the movie “Defending Your Life” it is a semi comedy on after dying how you are judged not on your good works but on how well you overcame fear. I thought it was an interesting take on mortality.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I can see benefits for lots of people to take the idea of a personified devil (Satan/Lucifer) literally – and I can see benefits for lots of people (even some of the same ones) to take that idea fuguratively and symbolically. I have no idea, really, if a personified devil exists – but I do believe totally that evil exists, so I take the best of both views and go from there.

Now, to address your actual title question:

I think all of us are tempted to do things that are destructive to us – and I think all of us succumb to that temptation. However, I also believe all of us can overcome temptation, generally – IF it is important enough to us. Having said that, I also believe there are some temptations that we will never overcome – that are too deeply ingrained into our physical being through heredity. That’s where the idea of grace and an Atonement has great meaning for me – again, like with the devil and evil, I take certain aspects literally or figuratively.

[Anonymous]

bridget_night wrote:

I was trying to analyize whether it was Satan just working on me to think this negative and personalize things…That is when I began to wonder what exactly according to church doctrine is the devil allowed to do in making our lives miserable?

Old-Timer wrote:

…I have no idea, really, if a personified devil exists – but I do believe totally that evil exists

bridget_night wrote:

From what the lds church teaches and from reading the Bible, I believe Satan and his angels are real beings…I know of people who I respect that have had experiences with a real being that they believe was Satan. It would be nice if you could know the difference between your own negative thinking, what are temptations or thoughts that Satan gives you…

Even though I don’t believe the majority of what I read in the Bible is really the “word of God”, I still believe the devil and evil spirits exist as separate non-physical beings with their own independent personality, knowledge, and intelligence. In fact, there is probably more evidence to support this idea than there is for a single benevolent and personal God at least in terms of the number of witnesses throughout history including recent times as well. I know that die-hard skeptics think this is all superstition and folklore in the same category as Bigfoot and UFOs and that any legitimate experiences like this are merely hallucinations or some other craziness that exists only in people’s minds but I don’t really believe this explanation myself.

As far as how much power these “evil entities” have to directly harm people I think there are definite limits to what they can really do by most accounts. For example, I don’t believe they can directly kill people or spin someone’s head around like you see in “The Exorcist.” They are mostly just a nuisance and can probably accomplish more in most cases simply by giving people evil ideas rather than by scaring them. I don’t think it makes much of a difference whether evil originates from some external source or from within, either way all you can do is try to fight it as much as possible and not give up hope.

[Anonymous]

DevilsAdvocate wrote:

… I still believe the devil and evil spirits exist as separate non-physical beings with their own independent personality, knowledge, and intelligence… I know that die-hard skeptics think this is all superstition and folklore in the same category as Bigfoot and UFOs and that any legitimate experiences like this are merely hallucinations or some other craziness that exists only in people’s minds but I don’t really believe this explanation myself.

Yeah DA – I certainly believe in “evil spirits” and/or ‘evil ghosts.” I just don’t know if I believe in the “devil” as taught by the mormon church, and I personally AM NOT a die hard skeptic about folklore, UFOs and what not.

Yeah, either way, I like this idea,

Quote:

I don’t think it makes much of a difference whether evil originates from some external source or from within, either way all you can do is try to fight it as much as possible and not give up hope.

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

Honestly, I can see benefits for lots of people to take the idea of a personified devil (Satan/Lucifer) literally – and I can see benefits for lots of people (even some of the same ones) to take that idea fuguratively and symbolically. I have no idea, really, if a personified devil exists – but I do believe totally that evil exists, so I take the best of both views and go from there.

Yup, that’s how I see it. I think for many people, personifying God, Satan, etc…really helps to understand things. For others, it doesn’t make sense, and/or the story and legend are sufficient for a foundation. I go back to “it’s all an illusion anyway,” so whatever works is great!

Where we seem to get in trouble is when we are deadset on our perception being the only “true” perception. I’ve done that way too many times, and it’s just a pride thing. I’m just fine to say “You may be right, I may be crazy…” (ala Billy Joel…)

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I think we place too much blame/credit on God AND the Devil. I don’t think God directs all the minutiae of our lives, and neither does the devil. Sometimes things are simply hormonal changes–not Satan. Sometimes a tornado is a tornado, not an act of God. God uses both hormones and tornadoes to test and try us and see how we will react. Satan does the same thing. I think sometimes people use God and Satan as crutches to avoid personal responsibility for difficult trials in life. Trials are simply trials; God and Satan try to influence us to do the right/wrong thing, but God and Satan often aren’t responsible for placing the obstacles in our path. We just need to keep succeeding/failing when the obstacles come our way.

[Anonymous]

bridget_night wrote:

For some reason I was really down the past few days and was thinking negative about alot of stuff. Some people had upset me and I was also feeling crummy about my life. Like so many of the desires and wishes I had for my life have not come true. I usually don’t think this negative or feel gloom and doom, but did the past two days. I was trying to analyize whether it was Satan just working on me to think this negative and personalize things, or if it was a chemical/hormonal problem. That is when I began to wonder what exactly according to church doctrine is the devil allowed to do in making our lives miserable?

I’ve been thinking about this. To me, it’s upsetting when people associate questioning with the devil. Actually, if you believe the LDS version of Satan & how he wanted to produce mindless robots, then they’ve got it backwards. Arguing isn’t exactly uplifting, but sometimes it is necessary. Also not all bad feelings are going to lead us downhill. Sometimes, they help us get out of the hole, by realizing we’re in a hole, even if it is feels scarey to realize.

Bridget, I don’t know if you’re depressed, or if it’s just “one of those days.” Either way, I hope you feel better soon. I do think that there must be “opposition in all things.” God created everything, even Satan. Some say to deny what you feel & just repeat or think of good things & it is good to be positive, but feelings need to be aknowledged so you can move on. I don’t think we should fear evil, as much as be aware of it. I also think that feeling gloomy can enlarge us spiritually, so we have more compassion & capacity to love.

[Anonymous]

I have always enjoyed the account in Moses 5 that describes Moses and the battle between good and evil:

Quote:

Moses 5:18 And again Moses said: I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his glory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. Depart hence, Satan.

19 And now, when Moses had said these words, Satan cried with a loud voice, and ranted upon the earth, and commanded, saying: I am the Only Begotten, worship me.

20 And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.

21 And now Satan began to tremble, and the earth shook; and Moses received strength, and called upon God, saying: In the name of the Only Begotten, depart hence, Satan.

22 And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not.

I think this is a great symbolic struggle we all go through in our days. We are faced with evil influences or feelings, and sometimes we are weak and fear them.

But if we seek strength and positive thoughts, we can take control and tell those negative and evil thoughts to get behind us or depart…and work to keep a positive mind that we can overcome those and find strength and peace. Sometimes we don’t want to, but we if we try, we can find the strength.

[Author]

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