A few nights ago I was fortunate to attend a wonderful dinner party at some friends home in Atlanta, During the general conversation I got into a conversation with a friend about the nature and existence of the Devil. What follows is what I would like to have said. It is not new to me and I suspect not completely original in concept.

Satan

"I’d yield me to the Devil instantly,

Did it not happen that myself am he!"

–J. W. von Goethe: Faust: A Tragedy

“Do you believe in the Devil?” she asked.

“I am a monotheist,” I said.

“And – ”

“If you mean by the devil, a rival deity to God, then no I do not. If you mean, do I think the devil, I prefer Satan, is real then my answer is yes.”

“Explain.”

I grew up in South Atlanta and in Augusta, Georgia in near constant fear of the Devil. Like a preternatural Boogie Man he stalked my every move. He was always ready to tempt with the right sin, at the right time, and in just the right way. He pitched evil thoughts and desires into my mind with his trident and encouraged my self indulgent spirit with uncanny aplomb.

The Devil was a tangible presence in my life and the lives of most of the strict-as-Scrooge Metho-Bapterians I knew as a preteen aged child in the religious South. God was more nebulous, less vivid. His works seemed restricted to the times and pages of the Bible. I could feel the Devil working his way in my heart with every improper desire. He twisted his trident in my brain each time an impure thought sprung to life inside my mind. God lived in church and in the Bible, but the Devil was behind every bush, under my bed, and somewhere inside me.

Ranting preachers warned that Satan lurked in the shadows always ready to pounce on the ungodly. Their rants often contained little or no mention of the God of Love as exemplified by Jesus. Not that they slighted Jesus or omitted him from their sermons, but somehow they seemed to miss the point or more accurately the person of Jesus. Perhaps that is why I abandoned my faith and all organized religion for much of my life. I saw no value in a religion that made Satan more real than God. I hold that same view today.

Soon after I embraced the Episcopal Church, I began to see the Devil as Satan, a more abstract evil force than as the trident wielding beast that haunted my youth.

Jesus claimed to be able to quince the everlasting thirst, fulfill the deepest emptiness of our soul. I believe this is accomplished by his indwelling in our soul. To the extent we allow this, we become completed beings. We are here for completion – for Christian Formation.

Today I am frequently terrified by the realization that I was closer to the truth in my youth than in my early Christian rebirth. Satan is everywhere I go. He is below my bed. When I am sailing alone a hundred miles from shore, he has no trouble finding me.

In Genesis Eve is persuaded by the snake to follow her own desires and eat of the forbidden fruit, the fruit of tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When she hands Adam the fruit, there is little debate in his mind. He eats. In the Genesis story the serpent is generally regarded as a third individual, Satan. Suppose for a moment there was no third person present. The only persons in the garden were Eve and Adam. Who then does the serpent represent? I think of the words of the serpent as the interior monologue of Eve and Adam expressing their desire to be self sufficient, independent, in charge. They would be Lord. They would become as He is.

The serpent is in the perfect position to offer Eve and Adam the one thing they cannot resist. From their own narcissistic heart he urges them to become like God. That is our problem to this day. It is our narcissistic self centered nature that speaks our inner desires. The voice of Satan is our own interior monologue. That is the true nature of Satan. When Christ does not dwell in our hearts, it is our true nature. That is our sin.

There are powerful forces in the world that align themselves against God. Forces that would usurp God as sovereign of the only thing God wants. Our hearts. The embodiment of these forces in the New Testament becomes Satan. It is my position that Satan is the unbridled nature of mankind.

Clearly Jesus believed in Satan. When Jesus spoke of his coming passion, Peter was quick to say, “No Lord.”

Jesus immediately rebuked him saying, “Get behind me Satan.” Was Jesus speaking to a vague rival or was he speaking to Peter? It makes sense to me that he was speaking to Peter as Satan. Peter did not understand Jesus’ purpose on earth and judged the prophecy with that flawed understanding. Peter, by way of a misguided mistake, placed himself against the will of God that the Messiah would suffer injustice and die. At that moment, Peter was not influenced by Satan. Peter was Satan.

If Eve and Adam can act the part of Satan, if Peter can be Satan, then so can I. So can we all. Then it is that every good thing I do is by the Spirit of God. Every bad thing I do is by the spirit of Satan, the spirit of my desperately thirsty, incomplete soul. How could Jesus doubt the reality of Satan then when it was he (we) whom Jesus came to save?

To the extent that I place my will above the will of God, Satan lives. To the extent that I push God off the throne of my life I am Satan. In those moments my mind and soul live in darkness where Satan is surely prince. I then am desperate for a savior.

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Pogo