Theoretical Inquiry: Satan, Villain or Hero?

The Devil, known to many as the deceiver, the fallen angel, adversary of God, often referred to as evil or even at best, the embodiment of evil. Satan is responsible for the fall of mankind as well as playing a role in the betrayal of Jesus Christ. The Devil was created by god and was said to be his anointed cherub, serving as his "right hand man" in a manner of speaking, making him pretty much his second in command and most likely ranking him top among the elite class of angels. Satan rebelled against his creator, forcing God to banish him from heaven, giving him his own domain to rule with his own army, but was he really a jealous, power hungry, manipulating villain, or was he a rebellious hero fighting against an oppressive overbearing God? Despite most interpretations of Satan holding the crown on being the evil S.O.B. of the bible, I have found evidence that suggests otherwise.

Evidence #1: Serpent In the Garden

In the bible, our first unofficial introduction to the devil is in genesis, where many believe he appeared as a snake, causing humanity to fall into sin by tricking Eve into eating from the Tree Of Knowledge, making him seemingly synonymous with snakes as an interpretation of deception, but the question we must ask in all honesty; were Adam and Eve truly deceived by the serpent? In truth, Satan had not lied to them, in fact he told them the truth; they had gained knowledge from eating fruit from it's tree, knowledge God forbid his creations from having. So, why is Lucifer a.k.a. Satan, viewed as a villain? Having explored the possibility of god being a narcissistic tyrant in my last theory, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say, Satan might have actually been some form of a hero who history has made out to be a villain. For instance; the term, Satan, from the Hebrew bible, is a noun from a verb, which primarily means to obstruct, or oppose, and can be found in the Book of Numbers 22:22, 1 Samuel 29:4, Psalms 109:6. Traditionally, Ha-Satan, is translated as "the accuser," or "the adversary." In English, "ha-," translates as "the," and is used to show that it is indeed a title bestowed on a being, versus being the name of said being. In accordance to this fact, Lucifer is acknowledged as being evil primarily as a result of him opposing, God, who has been depicted as a caring, loving, figure of good. Prior to the events in the garden of Eden, it has been claimed, Satan's fall out with God had much to do with him challenging God for his position, wanting the same power he commanded, because of his own pride, refusing to bow before the lord. Despite this being the most commonly accepted belief, it is not explicitly portrayed in the bible, in fact it is merely an inference, rather than an accurate account of his origins.


Given the nature of the bible's record of how Satan became "evil", we come to a shocking realization; elements of Lucifer's past may have been either left out or covered up in favor of God appearing to be loving and caring rather than being recognized for his tyrannical behavior in the old testament. Based on God's actions in the old testament, it seems more than likely, Satan did rebel against him, but not for the reasons everyone was led to believe. In the bible, pride, has always been regarded as a sin, yet it fails to mention, pride, has both a positive and negative meaning, making it far more complex than what most religions make it out to be. As I mentioned above, Satan's reason for rebelling against god had been said to be pride, but one can make the argument; Satan's pride was not the kind associated with Hubris, his form of pride comes from a more virtuous nature, filled with a large sense of self respect, based on his status. Lucifer's refusal to bow before his lord is proof of such pride dwelling within him.


Evidence#2: Devil's Death Toll

Despite being known as the main provider of sin and evil, Satan is only known to have killed no more than 10 people according to the bible, whereas the estimated number of people killed by God tend to vary, ranging from numbers  2,270,365-2,476,633; which begs the question: if Lucifer truly is the evil villain everyone makes him out to be, why is he responsible for less deaths than a supreme being who is supposedly known for being the main source of good? Now many of you will argue; having less kills does not make you a hero, nor does it make you seem any less of a villain, but lets examine the deaths he has caused. Each deaths caused by Satan were not performed solely for the purpose of bringing about chaos to fulfill a dastardly agenda like many seem to believe, in fact; it was God himself who suggested that Satan should test him. Though his actions can be viewed as cruel, in reality the Devil's involvement in the bet was not something constructed with malicious intent nor was it done to turn Abraham against God, no; Satan's purpose was to act as an agent of reason to show God; no matter how much faith a person holds in something, if you push a persons limits far enough, eventually they will begin to lose that faith and begin to question it. No longer will they harbor the same amount of faith if any at all for another. The Devil's role in this story as an agent of reason also highlights a fact; even with all the good you do in this world, bad things can and will happen to you. It also shows that all you have gained over the years can easily be taken from you; further proving doubt as a significant and necessary part of human nature. Instinctively a human learns to doubt another's words when evidence proves them to be wrong. If a man holds faith in someone to protect them from being abused and that person is never present, common sense begins to kick in, resulting in a lack of faith being held in said person, because in truth; once you realize no one is coming to your aid, you acknowledge the same person you stored faith in is not reliable and was never there.


Evidence#3: Temptation Of Christ

Mathew 4:1-11, tells the tale of how Jesus was tempted by Satan after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Having been filled with the holy spirit, a hungry, Jesus Christ, is led to the wilderness where he is met by Satan. Lucifer makes three attempts at tempting Jesus, but fails to break him. Given the nature of this test, coupled with Jesus' success in rejecting Satan's offer as well as his suggestions, both scholars and believers alike, consider his story to be a true testament of faith in god by refusing to give in to temptation, but a closer look reveals; his "test", mirrors that of Adam & Eve, baring only one significant difference; it's outcome. Jesus' story serves as a reference to god's success in creating the perfect follower, whereas, Adam and Eve's, is a display of his failed attempt at creating human followers by making the mistake of giving them a mind of their own. As I said in my last theory, god wants obedience without question, with Jesus' conception he had achieved this and then some. Proof of this is shown in his responses to Satan, where he lets it be known his loyalty lies only with god, even going so far to quote writings that have been claimed to be the words of God himself. With each response directed to Satan, Jesus had shown himself to be a slave to god's will, holding no ambition for bettering oneself, being fully content with serving his master. Even more disturbing is how the son of god is completely devoid of any comprehension in regards to individuality. Without the guidance of god, he sees no purpose for his existence, therefor lacking belief in himself; serving as a stark contrast to the Devil who does not seek guidance of god, has confidence, thriving with an admirable sense of individual pride.

Much like he did in the garden with Eve, Satan offered Jesus things we should all strive to obtain; home, food, and protection. Why wouldn't Jesus want any of this? Fair enough Christ is said to have been bestowed with gifts from beyond to perform miracles, but that same power is absent in his story, leaving him with just the holy spirit and hunger. From a logical perspective, all of which Satan had offered as suggestion was what Jesus did not have and was in desperate need of. Any person in his right mind would have taken his offer because there really was no reason not to; all signs pointed to it being a necessary part of his own survival, because without either he surely would have died. In truth, Satan again, came with no malicious intent, nor did he make a move by force; he merely offered a choice, giving a slave a chance to obtain his freedom by standing as his own man by making his own decisions in life. With Jesus' refusal, the event can be compared to a quote from the mouth of Harriet Tubman: "I freed thousands of slaves; I could have freed more if they knew they were slaves." So despite Lucifer's failure in the story, no evidence can be found within it to prove his actions were unjust; it is only through another's bias interpretation of events pertaining to this story that we are led to believe there was an evil agenda, when in fact there wasn't one.





Was he a hero or villain? After looking over the evidence I have found; though he may not necessarily be a hero in the sense of what we willfully accept based on his actions in total, but maybe more of a symbol of reason we all have within in us, a sense of doubt we hold making us question anything suspicious, ridiculous, or wrong; even stretching out so far as to question authority when it seems those who are in charge have abused their power. He stands as a strong representation of rebellion, pride, individuality with a drive to succeed; all of which are associated with the human spirit, reminding us what we all should strive to achieve by the force of our own will. In the end, Satan has always been portrayed in a negative light for the purpose of providing the bible's main protagonist with an antagonist to present God as something other than what he really is, but the Devil himself is a symbol of all that lies within us.

Decide for yourself and remember, it's only a theory.