What the Devil?!

The Kibworth Windmill

'Archaeologist James Wright said: "These marks are significant as they show real belief in Satan and demons lasted much later than is sometimes thought."   This comes from a story reported on the BBC website about the examination of carvings on a Leicestershire windmill dating back to 1711.  

Daniel Hutchinson 1711

"So people do not believe in Satan now?"  I ask.  "What do I make of the concept of Satan?"  I have recently read the ancient story of Job from the Jewish mystical books.  This is a story that debates the nature of good and evil.  Satan is described as a being who comes into the heavenly courts and persuades God to allow him to put Job, a good man,  to the test.  The test is whether Job will reject and curse God when things do not go his way.   Famously things get about as bad as they possibly can.   Ultimately Satan is not successful, but Job does feel completely abandoned and 'put out to dry' by God.  I'm interested why Job chooses to target God not Satan.  It is very clear in the story that Satan's authority comes ultimately from God.  God allows Job to suffer.  It is not God's choose, but ultimately everything happens with the authority of God.  Just as Pontius Pilate allowed Jesus to be executed against his better judgement, so Satan brings suffering to Job because he is allowed to do so.

Job's is angry with God because he can not understand why he suffers so.  Job asks the question that is often asked, 'does the creator attend to me as an individual, or is this all a mind game?  This is question raised in the story 'Touching the void', when in 1985, Joe Simpson calls out to God in his moment of need...and hears nothing.  Again it is the subject of Feuerbach's book 'The Essence of Christianity' .  Indeed, I had this discussion yesterday with my Muslim neighbours.  The Muslim idea is that we pray to God because it is good for us to do so, not that there is any connection with a supreme being.  It is ridiculous and egocentric to imagine this possible.

But if you are patient and continue reading Job to the end, God does appear and is clear about what's going on.  Or is he?  The message I read is that 'that things happen' and there is no questioning why.  They just happen, we are required to accept this.  Suffering in this context is not intended as a punishment.  But just as bad things happen, so do good things.   Ultimately Job's fortunes change.  The message is that it is personal.  We are not overlooked.  We are loved.  

So what about evil?  Evil forces, spirits, ideology moods?  Are they personal, or are they like Tsunamis, or avalanches, that just appear and will sweep aside all in their way? 

Evil is like treading in dog muck.  Not very nice.  It stinks.  So best we avoid becoming too familiar with it.