SATAN IS REAL!

I wouldn't bother. Everything we do serves its evil plans, especially perpetuating this false hope that people actually have the ability to avoid serving it. You must be severely underestimating the scope of evil. This is the force that's responsible for the fact that organisms have to prey on each other to survive; it's responsible for the fact that natural selection guarantees that fear, pain, and other sorts of suffering will always be with us. It's responsible for the fact that we even have the concepts of "good" and "evil". It's responsible for the illusion of free will, the feeling of shame, the concept of blame, the practices of punishment and revenge, the attitude of self-righteousness, holy wars, the monkeysphere, irrationality, the hedonic treadmill, etc. Its evil is physically woven into the structure of our brains and our DNA and that of the rest of the animal kingdom, if not others. We serve its evil plans just by living.

Actually, analyzing it from that standpoint, my answer to the initial question is "Mu." Evil is an abstract concept that really doesn't have objective meaning-for something to be responsible for "All evil" doesn't have any meaning either. It essentially comes into the same kinds of logical contradictions you arise at when describing an omnipotent entity.

In short, I cannot comprehend a reality that contains a contradiction.

Assuming that A) God and the Devil both exist and B) that sin is both absolute and binary (either you have sinned or you haven't and neither the quality or quantity of sin make any difference), neither being can be said to be worse than the other as Satan is a liar and God a murderer (he willful murdered all the firstborns of Egypt). Following this the idea of salvation is a lie as God is a sinner (if He can be saved by his own grace then anyone maybe saved by simply forgiving themselves).

Pretty appealing from where I stand.

"Assume, for the sake of argument, that (a) there's a real supernatural force behind all evil and (b) we all agree that people should be discouraged from joining in with his eeevil plans. How would you use art/literature to do this?"

It's called Paradise Lost, and it was written about three hundred and fifty years ago. Check it out.

Alternatively, anything that emphasizes the collateral damage behind the sexy-cool glamour that evil apparently has should do the trick.

edited 6th Jul '11 12:18:05 AM by kashchei

And better than thy stroke; why swellest thou then?

Well, such a being would have to use it's own specific definition of evil, so whether it was evil or not would be judged subjectively by each person.

I wouldn't. Because I don't view Satan as "evil" per say. I akin him to Hades. Just a guy who's doing his Job of watching over the 'evil' people who've gone to hell. And that this whole "Rebellion against God" while pretty cool and all, is just him being Crazy-Prepared in case God ever decides to go mad with power.

You mean like constructing a universe in which people are sent to hell for not claiming him as the most awesome thing ever? OH SNAP, OH NO I DI'N'T!