Let us imagine that there is an incredibly powerful evil being who has influence over the earth, and was free for some time to do as he could, for whatever reason.
Well, what would he do?
Well one obvious answer is that he (and let’s be traditional and say he is male) would not try and tempt people one by one. That is a terrible expense of time and effort, for very little result, and he would probably think most humans are contemptible, so why spend time with them? My guess, as to the answer, is that he would try and confuse and corrupt whole civilizations, because its easier – humans reinforce each other’s behavior.
For this purpose he might try to set himself up as the one true God. He could tell his followers that if they obeyed him they would be virtuous and successful, and only they would be virtuous, as everyone else was following false gods. Followers should support each other, and would be rewarded with material prosperity as well. Sounds good, and it reinforces group boundary lines and group loyalties. Then he might ask them to go and kill some people he didn’t like (perhaps they had rejected his claims) and take their land. His followers might object, so he might say he would punish them, so they then decide to go ahead with it, and occupy the land and slaughter the original inhabitants. They would probably not think, “Satan claims to be omnipotent – why can’t he just provide us with unoccupied land, or change some piece of desert into a land of milk and honey for us. Why did we have to slaughter people?” After all obeying Satan is good, by definition, and those who don’t obey him must be evil, so slaughtering these people is permissible.
Satan tells them what they are doing is just. Genocide becomes virtue. Maybe he tells them to kill the men and rape the women. That’s good too, by definition. So Satan gets a war machine. His chosen people, or true believers, can murder, steal and rape with impunity, as long as they keep it under control with each other. He tells them they are surrounded by evil, and they must not associate with non-believers (unless to convert them to be his followers). They should not share food with them, as this is a good way of maintaining boundaries. Non-believers are corrupt and frightening – anything can be said about them, and it is probably true. This further reinforces both group boundaries and the assumption that other people are evil, and deserve persecution.
Some time later he gives up the rewarding followers thing, because well he is evil and its boring, and he tells people he will generally reward them after death. No one will ever find out and bring the real news back. But people now know if the rewards don’t come immediately, with Satan testing their faith, rewards will come in the afterlife, and you should not struggle against Satan’s will, or you might not get the rewards.
However, when things go wrong, he can tell them he is punishing them, perhaps not for their disobedience but for the disobedience of some other people nearby. As the rules are contradictory, or difficult, it is not too hard to find someone (or yourself) to hate and sacrifice to appease Satan’s wrath. That’s good as it produces more terror, although most believers don’t object to terror being the aim, because terror is the beginning of wisdom, or so Satan says.
He then tells people he is a loving and compassionate being. This can confuse people, and as they emulate him, it also shows murder and so on must be compassionate, as long as it is not against fellow true believers. if they worry about that, well Satan is a mystery beyond human understanding. Eventually a few people do think this is incoherent as well. So he responds by telling people he is loving and compassionate and has people who disagree with him tortured for eternity. That can be really confusing. But you had better believe or else you face a dire fate, and you might decide you need to please Satan, and send people to hell to prove you are on his side. If the people you kill are really virtuous, then you can be sure Satan will make it up to them after they are dead. So no worries. If you think hell and compassion don’t go together that well, you must be allied with the forces of real evil, because if you were good, you would have no problems with this teaching, because Satan is good and truly compassionate. He tells us so.
Because they know that by following Satan they are as good as it gets, believers know they are better than non-believers and should rule over them. If they don’t rule over heathen infidels, then they are being oppressed and should strike back. Likewise, men are better than women and should rule over them. Older people should rule over their children. This creates more bad temper, friction and murder. There are few families which are not rent inside, spurring on those evil, vicious and cruel acts, which are (not that) secretly pleasing to Satan.
Perhaps some people come to think that people can be moral without obeying Satan, and that he does not show a very good example anyway. Those people are told that there is no basis for morality other than Satan’s word, and so they are without morality, and should not be listened to, or should be persecuted until they know better. Whatever Satan says is right, and the basis for a good virtuous life. If believers are not allowed to follow Satan’s word exactly, then they are oppressed. Believers also know that rebels against Satan always fail, and are always cursed, because he is the source of everything – so he says. And Satan says he cannot lie, or be mistaken. So that is the end of that. Unbelievers demonstrably have bad morals, as you can see by looking at any society run by non-believers, and they will not be saved – they are not righteously human.
Followers really try to please Satan and even end up fighting other Satan worshipers, over massively important factors of doctrine or history (which look pretty trivial to ignorant non-believers), to preserve the real purity of belief and teaching which is necessary for rewards, and Satan is pleased.
He sits back in his mighty throne and smiles…. It all worked well.
Tags: Disinformation, ethics, mentalities, religion, social category theory
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