Of course, I'm not going to - I mean, there's no reason to shatter somebody's beliefs, especially if they simply are providing them with hope. There is a great controversy. In 1856 Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion, and a Sign of the Times by Pastor William Ramsey included this passage:[2]1856, Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion, and a Sign of the Times by William Ramsey (Pastor of the Cedar Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia), Chapter 2: The Case Stated, Quote Page 33, Edited by Continue reading. And they had been raised with the idea that your soul lives on after death, and now they had a Christian model to put it on. What Does It Mean When a Guy Calls You Chick or Chika? Would they feel an empty spot in their hearts, or what? And of course, it kept not happening. Essentially, if God didn't exist, we'd have to invent him since we still need a deity to worship. They developed the idea, then, that the soul lived forever with God when it's rewarded. :25 JLP: I never correct myself 1:48:35 Ask and receive? Such, at least, is the fruit of a useful creed. So you caught me, but let it be, Im. One after another rose to say that having to celebrate a man like Columbus every year, knowing in the 21st century precisely what he did and, painfully, what it . Fyodor Dostoyevsky. And so I think that hell is something we need to fight against; heaven, I'm all for. So how does the Book of Revelation contribute to the vision of hell? It's not an accident that that came into Christianity after the majority of people coming into the Christian church were raised in Greek circles rather than in Jewish circles because in Jewish circles, there is no separation of the soul and the body. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. They're not? The devil wanted to make himself "like the Most High" (Isaiah 42:14b). If God knew that Adam and Eve would sin, why did He create them? EHRMAN: Yeah. GROSS: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Why Are Prefab Sports Buildings Getting Popular? The people who thought that maintained that this Garden of Eden would come not only to people who happened to be alive when it arrived; it was going to come to everybody. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Eventually, he left the faith altogether. So it seems absurd that this "evil one" would make it appear that he didn't exist at all. No. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. I probably would have subscribed - I would have subscribed to either the view that God was upset and we needed to repent so that he would relent, or that the devil - it was the devil doing it, and we needed to pray to God for mercy and for him to intervene on our behalf. Even Adam would have still be alive if the devil didn't show up. GROSS: So does that mean you're not leaving the house at all? The old testament has a fairly uniform and rather stark explanation for why there are plagues or epidemics or pandemics. EHRMAN: Well, the same advice everybody's getting who's listening to the right news sources, which is that you need to self-isolate. After all, they created this insane dogma - didn't they? God will destroy the forces of evil. I have told the disputants, hounding one another: When people need to find life pleasant and hopeful and they need to be helpful to other people, they need to enjoy life, if all you're looking forward to is what's going to happen after you die, you can't really fully enjoy life now because this is just a dress rehearsal. Copyright 2020 NPR. Nobody except themselves? EHRMAN: (Laughter) I know, exactly. And in thinking this, as it turns out, the Christians are simply picking up on views that had been around among the Greeks since way back in the time of Plato. if I had (some monetary unit) for every time (something happened), If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake, if Eskimos have N words for snow, X have Y words for Z, if frogs had wheels they wouldn't bump their butts, if frogs had wheels they wouldnt bump their butts, If frogs had wheels, they wouldn't bump their butts, if frogs had wheels, they wouldnt bump their butts, if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their butts, if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their butts when they hop, if frogs had wings they wouldnt bump their butts, if frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their butts, if frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their butts when they hop, if frogs had wings, they wouldnt bump their butts, if God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him. GROSS: Is it fair to say you're an atheist now? And I still think that Socrates is the one who probably put it best. And there are two things that you can say about every one of these people over history who've picked a time. But did it ever occur to them what life would be like without such a mischievous devil? I'm sorry, but since vanity is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the vainest being in the world would be the devil, I would think. And so you get these demonic forces in the world that are creating misery for everyone. 1 This book of the Three Imposters is a very dangerous work, full of coarse atheism, without wit and devoid of philosophy. (SOUNDBITE OF MICHAEL NYMAN'S "HOW DO I KNOW YOU KNOW?". His practical deism, which stresses humanistic virtues and rejects dogma and the sanctity of the inner life, responded to the churchs dominant role in French society. Either we live on and we see those we knew before and those we didn't know before, and we spend all of our time being with them, which for him was absolute paradise because Socrates liked nothing better than conversing with people, and so now he could converse with Homer and with all the greats of the Greek past. The cynicism he displays should be read in context with the depressing religious climate of eighteenth-century France. You asked me what I was driving at: you see, Im an amateur and, collector of certain little facts; I copy them down from newspapers and, stories, from wherever, and save themwould you believe it?certain, kinds of little anecdotes. The soul was immortal and would live forever in Greek thinking. I will make myself like the Most High'" (Isaiah 14:13-14). But it doesn't work that way, folks! GROSS: So this was all dependent on, like, the Messiah coming on the end of days, which some Jewish prophets predicted would be soon. The main character meets and converses with a manifestation of the Devil. It comes - Gnosticism, in some ways, comes out of Greek thinking. And so in some of his later letters, he ponders the possibility of death, and he wonders, well, what happens to me, then? GROSS: Thank you. And now we have the pandemic. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! And so in the Old Testament, there's no idea that your soul goes one place or another because the soul doesn't exist apart from the body. But he was also, like Jesus, an apocalypticist who thought that at the end of the age, there would be a resurrection of the dead. GROSS: When you were 15 and became a fundamentalist evangelical Christian, what would you have believed about the pandemic? And they will live here on Earth, and this is where the paradise will be. The Easter story is a story of hope that - in the Easter story, death is not the final word, that there's something that comes after death. Image Notes: Portrait of Charles Baudelaire by Emile Deroy circa 1844; accessed via Wikimedia Commons. Christopher McQuarrie? This was the old view that the reason God's people suffer is because they've done something wrong and he wants them to repent. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he." The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. You get it everywhere in the writings of the prophets in Amos and Isaiah, etc. Governor Newsom Inaugurated to Second Term in Celebration of California's Values, Diverse Communitie, xClose Reading Exercise - 3 Step Chart (1) (2).doc, The-Charismatic-Charlie-Wade-Chapter-331---335_034933.pdf, The upper and lower limits of the 95 Confidence Interval on the mean colony, If you want to amend the 12 month reporting period you only need to change th, E0230649-9B4D-4751-939B-81D17E16139B.jpeg, 443 understand the mark release recapture method for estimating population size, lives the doctor had assisted with the planning process Dr Kevorkian made, broadcast what is happening in our everyday lives This leads to people becoming, Sneha while typing in her Geography project typed the names of the planets as, Transcript Lesson 4 Warming Experiment Part 2.pdf. EHRMAN: Yeah. All rights reserved. And so they denied the idea of the resurrection of the body. . I know you're on sabbatical right now. And right, it kind of seems like that when you read it - when you just kind of simply read it. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. The tears of the innocent that you cause to flow, If these people didn't believe Satan existed, they'd have no such fear in him, and he'd be useless to them. We'll talk more after a break. First, lets dive into the benefits of the concept of God for society. Most people probably don't subscribe to either one. 4 La Bletterie, as I have been told, has stated in print that I have forgotten to have myself buried. Those that think "the devil made me do it" are looking for a scapegoat, a way to get off the hook for their own screw-ups. 1:55:45 Closing / Announcement . I've heard a lot of joking lately about how it's the end times. 2 In France, in order to be accepted as procurer, notary, clerk, one needs two witnesses who confirm the Catholicism of the recipient. They are wiped out. It's about how people have misused the Book of Revelation to talk about how the end is coming and how it always seems like it's going to be coming in our own time. And the other interesting thing is that what the Gnostics did, by reading their ideas into Jesus, is also what the Orthodox Christians did, by putting words in Jesus' lips that supported their ideas of heaven and hell. Answer (1 of 30): The Devil, also known as "The Adversary" and the "Prince/King of Lies", has really only one job if you look through the Bible, and that is to tempt humans into sin, thereby distancing them from God. If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him This statement by Voltaire was so famous that Flaubert included it in his Dictionnaire des ides reues, and it is still frequently quoted today. He's a distinguished professor of religious studies at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Again, Beam declaring Denji to be "Lord Chainsaw" as opposed to "Lord Denji" supports this allegory. Life Path 4 and 6 Compatibility: Numerology Deep Dive, Understanding the Spiritual Meaning of Hiccups, 10 Signs You Have a Toxic Daughter in Law, Dream of Your Boyfriend Dying Warning Signs That Your Relationship is in Trouble. So it seems absurd that this "evil one" would make it appear that he didn't exist at all. What fruit do you expect to reap from your fine arguments? Manage Settings let's leave intact human belief in fear and hope. EHRMAN: Yeah, that would absolutely be good. Artistic, wasn't it? EHRMAN: Yes. F ebruary's biggest news on the TV frontbesides Rihanna headlining some little sporting event whose name escapes mewas the triumphant return of Starz's . R. R. Stark| GROSS: You've talked about how belief in the end times led in a circuitous way to belief in heaven and hell. Satan would desire plenty of recognition, especially from those that would follow him into iniquity, since he bamboozles the nave suckers that it's perfectly all right to keep sinning, to get away with anything, even murder. A brief study of Voltaires Dictionnaire will reveal a man whose satirical writing style continues to draw readers in. And so that's the alternative. In this poem, Voltaire develops the idea that the existence of God (or the belief therein) helps establish social order. He converted several years after Jesus' death. The Bible's answer The Bible shows that God did not create the Devil. He wrote the author a poem in 1768. He doesn't think the soul is going to live on in heaven. Your wife more honest? We will see poverty clothed and nourished Dear Quote Investigator: The 1995 movie The Usual Suspects contains a memorable line spoken by a guileful character about the existence or non-existence of the Devil. I don't think I'm scarred much longer, but I worked really, really hard at it. Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. Does God create situations? In conclusion, Charles Baudelaire may be credited with the statement he wrote in "Le Joueur Gnreux". But the kids didn't get the memo. When he was on trial, on capital charges - so it was a death sentence awaiting him - he was talking with his companions about what death would be, and his view is that it's one of two things. And so I don't - it's not that I think that I believe only rational things and everybody else is irrational. (2) (3) (4). And so they started thinking that it comes at death, and people started assuming then that, in fact, your soul would live on. The Turk, without asking whether the imam will pardon him, This Richard was, someones illegitimate child; at the age of six he was, parents to some Swiss mountain shepherds, who brought him up to work for, them. 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