Why does the Bible blame Lucifer for everything that goes wrong?

Answer 1

A:

The Bible actually makes very little mention of either Satan or Lucifer. The only reference by name to Lucifer is in Isaiah chapter 14, but this was really a mocking reference to the king of Babylon, who laid the nations low. It talks of the king's pomp and splendour, how he had ruled the nations in anger, and his fate after his overthrow by the king of Persia. He had compared himself to the Morning Star and was thus derisorily called 'Lucifer' (lucem ferre, which mean 'light-bearer', a name for the dawn appearance of the planet Venus) and had thought that he would ascend into heaven and sit among the stars, but was now himself persecuted. This text was misunderstood by early Christian scholars and even some Jewish scholars of the period, with both assuming that it referred to Satan or the devil.

In the Book of Job, Satan causes Job great hardship and misery, but he does so as the loyal assistant to God, to establish whether Job was really the most righteous person on earth. As Satan did so because of a challenge from God, there is no real blame attached to Satan here, because God is responsible for all the wrong that happens to Job and his family.

The New Testament speaks of Satan as an evil power, but does not ascribe any particular evil to him. After the biblical period, and especially during the Middle Ages, Satan began to be regarded as the malignant source of all evil in the world. Up to a point, this suits the Church, because it means we need the Church's help in overcoming Satan. However, a balance is needed because if we blame Satan, or Lucifer, for our every moral failing, then we can not be held accountable for our sins - so why should anyone ever go to hell?