IN 2009, a nationwide survey was conducted by the Barna Group into the beliefs of American adults. It found that 47 per cent of Christians believed that the devil “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil”. When combined with works such as A Collins’ excellent From the Ashes of Angels, this demonstrates that historians and many American Christians share the same beliefs as CT Riley (HAS, Dec 18).
While the representation of the devil by Christianity is well known, within Judaism the view is vastly different. The devil is seen as an agent of God and created by God for a specific purpose, while within the Torah everything is under the jurisdiction of God, who created everything – good and evil.
Thus within Judaism the devil is viewed not as a rival of God, but as a servant of God unable to do anything outside of God’s will and reflected within Isaiah 45:7 “I form light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord am God do all these things.”
C MacArt, Spennymoor.
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