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The Devil (Satan)
The Devil or Satan is a common figure in many religions as the source and perpetrator of evil doings.
725 Questions
Are ghosts really related to the Devil?
A Ghost is defined by the Catholic Church as a disembodied spirit. Christianity believes that God may, and sometimes does, permit a departed soul to appear in some visible form to people on earth. Allowing for legend and illusion, there is enough authentic evidence, for example in the lives of the saints, to indicate that such apparitions occur. Their purpose may be to teach, or warn, or request some favor of the living. - from Modern Catholic Dictionary.
That being said, the devils can and do sometimes (and more recently, frequently) impersonate the dead and try to lead the living astray. Bottom line, if you think you see a ghost, do nothing about it whatsoever, and certainly nothing that you think it may have asked of you. Instead pray for whoever you think it may have been and ask God to have mercy on their soul. NEVER engage in any kind of interaction with any such apparition. If for some reason you believe that you are seeing a real ghost of someone you know and that are asking something of you that you believe might be legitimate, then speak to a competent priest on the matter, but under no circumstances engage in conversation or even grant them your attention. St. Teresa of Avila was insistent on ignoring such things. Holy Water is usually effectively at driving demons away, you should sprinkle some in your room and on your bed at night, particularly if you have problems in this area.
If you would like to read more about authentic ghost stories, I would recommend
Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory
It gets confusing. In the first account of creation (Genesis 1:1 - 2:3) Adam is married to another woman (usually called Lilith) who was created as his equal and, to put it bluntly, dumps him. Eve is created in the second creation story in Genesis 2:4 - 2:24 as a subservient being. Other non-alignments of the stories exist but won't be discussed here.Many modern Christians don't know of this conflict in the stories and assume Lilith was Eve.Jewish scholars in around the 2nd century developed reasons for the second creation indicating that Lilith (not Eve) left Adam and took up with the devil as his wife.If you regard Eve as the first woman, then yes, that's the story. If Eve was the second woman, then no.
What does the saying the devil finds work for idle hands mean?
A
n idle person with nothing to do can be prone to trouble.
How do people sell their soul?
First of all, you have to believe the devil exists, then believe that the devil has the power to offer something of value in return. The crazy thing is that someone who believes the devil exists also believes that nothing that could ever be offered in this life would be worth an eternal price. In other words, the very notion of selling one's soul is no more than a myth.
Wikipedia says a deal with the devil is a cultural motif, best exemplified by the legend of Faust. Wikipedia explains, "The person offers his or her soul in exchange for diabolical favours. Those favours vary by the tale, but tend to include youth, knowledge, wealth, fame, or power."
In summary, it is only a Faustian myth that you can sell your soul to the devil.
Commodore Stephen Decatur shot a cannonball through it as it was flying past the ironworks in the Pine Barrens.
Where did dead people go when the devil was an angel?
The devil was a jinn not an angel. He was pure before God made humans, so there were no humans when he was in heaven.
Was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil really the devil?
The tree of knowledge was made of good and evil.. it was as it is said the "Tree of Knowledge!" and Satan/devil/lucifer was not of the tree ...he appeared as a serpent (snake) crawling upon the tree.
Are there any examples of people selling their soul to the Devil in the Bible?
The notion of selling one's soul to the devil is of medieval origin, beginning with the ninth-century apocryphal story of the fifth-century Theophilus selling his soul and then repenting. This idea is far too late for the Bible.
Why does man have to suffer because of Satan?
Remind yourself that Satan probably does not even exist. He only entered Judaism after the Babylonian Exile and even then only as the loyal assistant of God, tasked to prove the righteousness of the faithful, as we see in the Book of Job. If he evolved in Christian belief to be a wholly evil adversary of God, this merely proves that he is a figment of the imagination. Do not be afraid of him.
