Journal - 11/5/01

Monday, 5 November 2001

I had my Systematic Theology class this past weekend. On Saturday, in a very brief overview of "Evil," Walter Bouman quickly covered his lecture on evil, which I need to go over again to familiarize myself with all of Walter's ideas. He, as do many non-Evangelical theologians, discounts the existence of a literal being known as Satan, or the Devil. Likewise, he cannot accept the notion of demonic entities. He would allow that "Satan" exists, but it is a force of our own making -- with real power over us, but in the end a force created by us and not an actual being.

I've never really understood why it is so difficult for someone to believe in the existence of an evil being. Walter relegates the belief to Persian Dualism that infiltrated Jewish thought. It seems to me that people have to go through mental gymnastics to explain away the Biblical references to Satan and the demonic (as traditionally understood) and over come the philosophical (theological) arguments for the existence of Satan and demons. After all, there isn't a problem with the existence of God (the one who has the final word, according to Walter) nor with angels. From what I presently know of the arguments against the existence of the "evil one," which admittedly is limited, I just don't think they are as persuasive as those for the literal existence of Satan. In the same way, I think the arguments for the acceptance of homosexuality within Christian practice are more persuasive, Biblically and theologically, then are the arguments against acceptance of homosexual people.

So, in my quiet-times, I am going to delve into, first of all, what the Bible says about the Devil/Satan/Lucifer, and the demonic.

Oh, and the past year has crept up on me. This website of mine has now been up for one year. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by! I have planned on unveiling my new design (which has caused me much frustration!) by now, but it still isn't finished. I'm just not satisfied with the design, although the structure is much better! I'm going to put it up and go from there, else it will never be up.