Deepak Chopra on Satan

[Sleeping in EQ]

"Satan is real under the following conditions:

People feel they deserve punishment instead of healing.

A culture believes in the Satan myth.

Believers pay attention to that myth and give it value.

Guilt is projected outward onto demons instead of healed inside.

Wrongdoing accumulates without a means for finding forgiveness, atonement, or purification.

Children are put in fear of demons and told that they have supernatural power."

(2006, 75-76)

[CardiacCoug]

"Satan is real under the following conditions:

People feel they deserve punishment instead of healing.

A culture believes in the Satan myth.

Believers pay attention to that myth and give it value.

Guilt is projected outward onto demons instead of healed inside.

Wrongdoing accumulates without a means for finding forgiveness, atonement, or purification.

Children are put in fear of demons and told that they have supernatural power."

(2006, 75-76)

I see the Satan myth as an interesting mind game that many people find useful and motivating. I personally don't find the idea of Satan and his influence very useful or motivating, however.

Does it really matter if something like the Satan myth is true, though? In my mind it's OK to accept something that may be false (or at least unproven/unprovable) if it serves as a useful mind game or motivational tool for some people.

[creekster]

I see the Satan myth as an interesting mind game that many people find useful and motivating. I personally don't find the idea of Satan and his influence very useful or motivating, however.

Does it really matter if something like the Satan myth is true, though? In my mind it's OK to accept something that may be false (or at least unproven/unprovable) if it serves as a useful mind game or motivational tool for some people.

IS that how you see God?

[CardiacCoug]

IS that how you see God?

Yeah, to a certain degree.

I like going to church and think many things that the Church teaches are very beneficial. I like pretty much all of the practical Christian-living aspects and teachings of the gospel.

But I personally find it very difficult to accept abstract, speculative theology at face value (things like the three degrees of glory or the spirit correctional facility, etc). To me, abstract theology is mainly an interesting mind game.

[SeattleUte]

I see the Satan myth as an interesting mind game that many people find useful and motivating. I personally don't find the idea of Satan and his influence very useful or motivating, however.

Does it really matter if something like the Satan myth is true, though? In my mind it's OK to accept something that may be false (or at least unproven/unprovable) if it serves as a useful mind game or motivational tool for some people.

If it's real to you why isn't it real?

This is one thing I find interesting about spectator sports. Depending on your perspective it's either important enough to commit suicide over or not real or just an annoyance. So much of life falls into that vast estuary that mingles dreams or imagination and reality.

[CardiacCoug]

If it's real to you why isn't it real?

This is one thing I find interesting about spectator sports. Depending on your perspective it's either important enough to commit suicide over or not real or just an annoyance. So much of life falls into that vast estuary that mingles dreams or imagination and reality.

Yeah, that is interesting. Like sporting events, the ideas of God and Satan have great importance to some people and no importance to others. But a sporting event is a real event. You can see it and even people who don't care about the outcome don't argue about the event's existence. In that way the analogy only partially fits.

When spiritual gifts were distributed I was just not given the gift to "know" things that are unprovable and abstract. Others seem to have received that gift in spades.

[SoonerCoug]

When spiritual gifts were distributed I was just not given the gift to "know" things that are unprovable and abstract.

Yeah, I didn't get that gift either. However, I was given the gift to appreciate good advice from Jocelyn Elders when I heard it.

WARNING: Do not watch around kids or at work.

[YOUTUBE]If0AW0FHT2A[/YOUTUBE]