Who’s Afraid?
Of the Big Bad Devil?
Go to hell! That's a curse, or command depending on who is saying it, and in which language. Nevertheless, it is a fairly universal rejoinder when a person runs out of intelligent things to say. I've been cursed with that expression many times, and guess what? I never have taken it very seriously.
Horns and hoofs, fire and brimstone, eternal damnation. Who invented this? Does anybody really believe this? Well yes; millions of people around the world not only believe that there is a real devil, but fear him in a most petrified way!
“Literal burning hell” is a phrase often used by fundamentalist Christians (both Roman Catholic and Protestant) as well as millions of Muslims as well. It is a theological term that defines their belief in the notion that anyone who does not believe as they do, at his or her death, will be immediately condemned to an eternal never-ending searing punishment for their disbelief.
This back-at-ya philosophy is a New Testament construct. The Old Testament has none of it – save for exactly two references to “Satan” by name and a few other allusions to an “adversary” who may or may not be the exact same personality as the character in the new. The fightin' Fundies point right to the Garden of Eden story to prove that Satan was right there in the beginning-tempting and beguiling mankind to disobey God.
Act one:
When the adversary character first makes the scene on stage in the Genesis account, it is in chapter three. He is called “the serpent”. The omnipotent god had created the heavens and the earth, plant life, wild animals and livestock, one man and one woman in the first two chapters. Then the omniscient god didn't know if the pair really loved him, so in order to determine whether of not they did, he put them to the test. He put a magic tree right in the middle of the garden and forbade them to touch it or eat its fruit.
Well, as the Bible says: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?” She replied: “We must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, for if we touch it we will die.” (Gen. 3:1-3).
Whereupon the serpent croons: “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.” (Gen 3:4,5).Well, you know how the story goes. The omniscient god finds out what happened and blows a gasket. Then the cursing begins. He curses the serpent first. (Note: the serpent was not a conventional snake prior to this – he/it was more akin to some kind of a wild animal. And certainly not a personage resembling President Barak Obama as depicted by the History Channel's hoaky mini-series entitled The Bible).
God's curse on the serpent is: “Cursed are you above all livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.” (Gen. 3:14). Now it becomes a snake.
Then God curses the woman thusly: “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.” (Gen. 3:16). Next comes the first sexist put-down in the Bible...”Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (Gen. 3:16).
But it's not over! Then God curses the Earth! Fundamentalists have a decided contempt for our planet. It is cursed by God. They refer to it as “God's footstool”, a miserable place that is all going to burn some day, so why take care of it? He notifies Adam: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. (Gen. 3;17) End of Act One.
