Fond Memories of the Devil
 

Remember the good old days? When we had a Devil
everyone believed in, literally, and feared.
Well, the best the Devil can scrape up these days
is a weak designation as symbol of the evil within
the human heart/society. Maybe, a tenuous connection with the dark side of God, himself???

Myself, I think it high time we revive the Devil
and once again make him the instrument of Christian
spiritual growth that he long ago set out to be.

No, I don't want to go back to medieval imagery. You know, the guy in the red flannels and the horns
on top. That fellow hit the big time in Dante's
Inferno but modern science and the waning of super-
stition have pretty well sidelined him. Nowadays,
Halloween is the only time he gets any respect or
mention. Oh yes, he's still big in the fundamentalist pulpits.

The thing is this: human nature almost demands a
devil. Something to hate and thereby integrate the
psyche and the mob with a group frenzy of hate and loathing. For example, the Protestants instead of despising the Pope
and his flock, would direct their dark thinking toward the negative forces and powers of  life - the Devil, Satan or whatever. This would
energize the Protestant movement and the ensuing fight
against  the common enemy would draw Lutherans, Anglicans, Mormons, etc. etc. together. In fact,
if Protestants and Catholics both had a Devil they could really believe in they, too, would no doubt kiss up and  be more appreciative of each other as they strive  together to undermine the all pervasive Devil's Evil Empire that rules the world.

Seriously, the human psyche does need a hate figure
to get stirred up (filled with godly devotion). Yes, I know God is glorious and the universal love
object. But folk really get revved up and throw lots of money the Lord's way when they have Satan to prod them. The thought of living with the mean devil in a dark and dreary place and roasting at a million degrees at the same time is certainly enough to turn one's thoughts towards our heavenly Father and Savior. Right?

You see, though they're made in the image of God
many folk have enough evolutionary baggage they're
carrying to somehow despise, hate themselves. This
is really bad because if you can't love yourself who can you love? Now, if Satan could be restored to some level of credibility folk could leave off
hating themselves and each other and start loving God and everyone else. To clarify, they would be fixed fanatically on that scoundrel Beelzebub and quickly dump all their loathing on him. And, with no animosity left for their fellow man, this earth would soon be the pristine Kingdom of God on earth. No? Yes!

I must confess all this thinking arose in my brain when I was exposed to Eric Hoffer's The True Believer.
 

It seems that when we are oppressed by
the knowledge of our worthlessness we do not
see ourselves as lower than some and higher
than others, but as lower and than the
lowest of mankind. We hate then the whole
world, and we would pour our wrath upon the
whole of creation.

There is a deep reassurance for the
frustrated in witnessing the downfall
of the fortunate and the disgrace of the
righteous. They see in a general down-
fall an approach to the brotherhood of all.
Chaos, like the grave, is a haven of
equality. Their burning conviction that
there must be a new life and a new order is
fueled by the realization that the old will
have to be razed to the ground before the new
can be built. Their clamor for a millennium
is shot through with a hatred for all that
exists, and a craving for the end of the
world.

Now, since Christians are big into the fanatic... Seems to go with the territory of being religious.
I really don't see much wrong with being obsessed
with Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. But,
self hatred and a "craving for the end of the world" seemed a wee bit misdirected (=sick) to me.
So this is where Satan comes in. An all consuming
passion of Christ can stay. But, that self loathing has begs absolute termination. And, so, let's replace it (sublimate it) with Satan-hating and an all out loathing for that eternal Prince of Darkness.

I don't exactly know how we go about restoring Satan's image and credibility. Take some ideas
from medieval Christianity, stir in  a
bucket of modern psychology, a dash of LP album
covers for 70's and 90's rock groups, and fold
in some of Jung's thinking on mythology. Then,
modern Christians might bake up a new lively Evil
Force. One that modern men and women should take seriously.

Then folks would not say "The Devil made me do it"
in jest. Rather, shaking in their boots, they would
gladly cling to God for rescue from Satan, and Hell, his eternal abode.