by Theresa O'Riordan

Created on: April 29, 2008

Christianity is full of myths that have, over the millennia, have been taking on faith by many to be literal historical events. Thus, people believe heaven and hell are actual places, Satan is really a devil occupying the modern version of Hades, and that an actual virgin (not just a young woman, mind you, but a literal virgin) conceived a miraculous child.

For many people, believing these myths is a no-brainer. They've been told for the past two-thousand years, after all, and surely the Church knows what it's talking about. The concept of faith is applied to parables, and so many people with questions are told they have no faith in God. If from an ultra-religious background, the person with questions might be told that they have strayed from God. Throughout history the idea that some people "stray from the flock" translates into the notion that these people are, by default, somehow more fond of the Devil.

Personally, I'm not sure that I believe in God. How could I then justify the existance of a Devil? Many people, to comfort themselves and explain the difficulties in life, tell themselves that "God has a plan" or "God works in mysterious ways". These same people will wonder what they did to offend God when they are having a particularly bad time. The real question we should be asking ourselves is not whether we have angered God, but whether we have been living in accordance with our ideals and our sense of compassion and duty to others. We can have communion and a sense of peace with ourselves and with those around us if we act according to various morals and ethics and treat others as we would be treated. God is just a metaphor for that sense of peace we have when we help create a better world.

If God is merely a symbol for the grace and dignity and respect for life we have within ourselves, than surely the Devil is a mere representation of the acts we perform and ways that we think which are in conflict with those good ideals. If we constantly approach life with bad intent and we treat others terribly, we will soon feel that our lives are being run by the Devil. We could take this one step further and say that acts of pure intent and compassion bring us to a mental state of peace (heaven), and those acts that debase us and create anger and unrest in the world will lead us to a mental state of derangement (hell).

The "battle of good and evil" should not be seen as an inevitable event that will take place physically in history. It should be seen as the battle taking place within ourselves.

If it helps you to think that our bad intentions and our less-than-admirable acts in life are the result of a Devil taking up residence within our hearts, then yes. We do all have "Satan" inside of us.

Learn more about this author, Theresa O'Riordan.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.