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I know it doesn't make sense to find #logic in religious mythology but someone recently made me realize that if Satan rules #Hell and Hell is where sinners are punished, doesn't it make #Satan an upstanding moral character?

#religion #morality
@hypolite Take a look at the Old Testament some time. Lots of references to Satan working for God.

Interesting, especially since Hell is only mentioned in the New Testament. So the weak link in this argument would be that Satan rules Hell, which doesn't really make sense or add anything to the mythology. Or that Satan is expected to be immoral.

@hypolite I think there's some Greco-Roman influence there, with Satan taking over for Hades/Pluto as ruler of the underworld, which under Christianity consists of nothing but Tartarus.

Thanks for tracing this connection to antiquity

Just to add the opposing perspective.

In NT Mathew, hell is a designated place for Satan and other angels fallen from grace.

Dogmatic interpretation of the scripture (especially by Catholic theology) sees hell as eternal seperation from God .
This entry was edited (3 months ago)

Ah, interesting, thanks for the comments, I learned something today!

You highlights quite nicely how different logics partially contradict each other. That is the logic of folkloristic beliefs in contrast to that of scripture based theological dogmas.

Indeed, of course the whole myth (doctrine plus folklore) doesn't have to be coherent, but this example was interesting enough to get my attention.

Yes, that's exactly the nature of religion. It seems to be a hotchpotch of different things that don't necessarily fully add up.