Given that the Devil is the exact opposite of God,

The devil is not the exact opposite, he is a lesser power altogether. He is not a god but a fallen angel.

I personally do not believe in God or the Devil, but for the purposes of this thread I shall pretend.
In theory, God is all-powerful and can create or destroy anything in the universe at will. God knows everything that has happened in the past, is happening in the present and what will happen in the future because he is responsible for everything.
God created the Devil and could destroy him easily if he chooses to do so, but he does not. Why would a "good and just" God not destroy the Devil, if the Devil is the sole perpetrator of all evil in the world? For an all-powerful and omnipotent God it would be no difficulty at all to destroy the devil, but perhaps to destroy the Devil would be to destroy himself? Maybe God is cruel, and poor Lucifer has become a scapegoat.

The devil is not the exact opposite, he is a lesser power altogether. He is not a god but a fallen angel — Sir2u

How would you define Satan then?

How would you define Satan then?

As an angel that has fallen and now opposes god.

1. Impotent
2. Stupid
3. Omnimalevolent — TheMadFool

The devil can certainly be omnimalevolent, but were he impotent and stupid he would be unable to perform the deceits, seductions, frauds, and misrepresentations necessary to dupe even the brightest human.

Why would a "good and just" God not destroy the Devil, if the Devil is the sole perpetrator of all evil in the world? — Jamie

Free will. God gave to some of his creatures, namely men and angels, the power of free will. I think it is logically contradictory to give a creature free will, while also decide to destroy the creature as soon as it chooses evil.

Also, the devil is not the sole perpetrator of evil in the world. We create our own evil too. It is possible that the devil influences us into choosing evil, but the decision is ultimately ours. This is once again due to free will.

God kind of opened a big can of worms when he decided to give free will.

As an angel that has fallen and now opposes god. — Sir2u

Well, I can show you that such a being is indeed a moron and also powerless. The omnimalevolence part is obvious and needs no further discussion.

To fight or rebel against an omnipotent being (God) is clearly a stupid thing - moron.

Compared to an omnipotent being (God) anyone, even Satan, is obviously impotent. Add or subtract 1 or 1,000,000,000,000 to infinity (God) and we're still left with infinity (God). So Satan is, simply put, as insginificant as zero to God - impotent.

So, Satan is an impotent, omnimalevolent moron.

What do you think?

The devil can certainly be omnimalevolent, but were he impotent and stupid he would be unable to perform the deceits, seductions, frauds, and misrepresentations necessary to dupe even the brightest human. — Bitter Crank

That's what I mean.

Given that the Devil is the exact opposite of God — TheMadFool

Where is this given?

Where is this given? — Noble Dust

Read this

If you have another definitio of the Devil I'd like to hear it.

That was given after your OP; your OP began with the assumption. But yes, I also didn't read all the way through the thread; my apologies.

To fight or rebel against an omnipotent being (God) is clearly a stupid thing - moron.

Compared to an omnipotent being (God) anyone, even Satan, is obviously impotent. Add or subtract 1 or 1,000,000,000,000 to infinity (God) and we're still left with infinity (God). So Satan is, simply put, as insginificant as zero to God - impotent. — TheMadFool

The issue here is whether God is immanent, transcendent, or something else. That's basically the patent issue at hand with your dilemma, as far as I can see.

As to a definition of the devil, I don't have one. I'm just addressing some issues I have with your argument.

It's a complicated topic for me, actually. But I get the sense you're making your argument purely theoretically and not with any actual real life implications regarding whether "The Devil" actually exists.

As to a definition of the devil, I don't have one. I'm just addressing some issues I have with your argument.

It's a complicated topic for me, actually. But I get the sense you're making your argument purely theoretically and not with any actual real life implications regarding whether "The Devil" actually exists. — Noble Dust

Philosophy and people in general are very "knowledgeable" about the definition of God. They argue about it but everybody circles around omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence. The Devil is rarely discussed and I wonder why. If we can't find God directly, perhaps an oblique approach to the issue may help. What I mean is by analyzing what Evil means we may see the light. What do you think?

There could be other gains we can make by studying Evil e.g. in morality or in understanding ourselves and our place in nature.

I am not arguing in favor of God or Satan, but it makes for a much more interesting and compelling mythology (story) if God is immensely powerful but not omnipotent, and if the Devil has a bit of ambiguity about his evil, and must labor with great effort to outwit smart people and undo the work of God.

Unless you think the Bible is inerrant, there is no reason why God has to be presented as omnipotent and the devil unambiguously evil. Satan with some regrets is a much more interesting devil that a monotonously evil, not very clever one.

I am not arguing in favor of God or Satan, but it makes for a much more interesting and compelling mythology (story) if God is immensely powerful but not omnipotent, and if the Devil has a bit of ambiguity about his evil, and must labor with great effort to outwit smart people and undo the work of God. — Bitter Crank

Yes I know, right. Where's the fun in a sumo wrestler fighting a bunny rabbit?

By the way, do you know of any philosophical works on evil?

For studies in evil, I stick to history books. Evil in practice is more interesting than evil in theory. A few chapters in the history of Nazi Germany or Stalin's USSR get at evil better than philosophy disquisitions.

Christian teachers gave me my theories of evil.

Have you read The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis?

The 31 letters are between a supervising devil and an inept novice. Lewis dedicated the book to J. R. R. Tolkien, his associate and fellow Inkling at Oxford. You can read it for free here. It's a fun treatment of the topic.

"1. keep his mind on the inner life. he thinks his conversion is something inside him and his attention is therefore chiefly turned at present to the states of his own mind — or rather to that very expurgated version of them which is all you should allow him to see. encourage this. keep his mind off the most elementary duties by directing it to the most advanced and spiritual ones. aggravate that most useful human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the obvious. You must bring him to a condition in which he can practise self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office."

The omnimalevolence part is obvious and needs no further discussion. — TheMadFool

No further discussion?

To show that he is evil, I think that you should start by defining what evil is.
Morally objectionable behavior
That which causes harm, destruction or misfortune
The quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice
Morally bad or wrong

Based on morality, the devil is only evil to people that use god as a moral guide.
Based on causing harm, exactly what harm has the devil caused?

To fight or rebel against an omnipotent being (God) is clearly a stupid thing - moron. — TheMadFool

So you think it is stupid to fight for the things you believe in? Most people think that their bosses are omnipotent so the never bother asking for a raise. They are stupid.

Compared to an omnipotent being (God) anyone, even Satan, is obviously impotent. — TheMadFool

That might or might not be the case, but just as many people fear him as believe in god.

Philosophy and people in general are very "knowledgeable" about the definition of God. They argue about it but everybody circles around omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence. The Devil is rarely discussed and I wonder why. — TheMadFool

Are you talking about the Christian God and the Christian Devil? If so, the Bible and other theological sources have info about the devil, within the context of that tradition. If not, then I'm too sure what you mean by "the devil".

If we can't find God directly, perhaps an oblique approach to the issue may help. What I mean is by analyzing what Evil means we may see the light. What do you think? — TheMadFool

Directly meaning what? The five senses? The five senses in conjunction with the mind, and it's interpretations of spiritual experience?

I think analyzing what evil means in order to find "the light" is an interesting prospect, but I haven't really seen you doing that yet in this thread.

No further discussion?

To show that he is evil, I think that you should start by defining what evil is.
Morally objectionable behavior
That which causes harm, destruction or misfortune
The quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice
Morally bad or wrong

Based on morality, the devil is only evil to people that use god as a moral guide.
Based on causing harm, exactly what harm has the devil caused? — Sir2u

No further discussion only because we all accept the Devil is evil and this doesn't affect my argument that he is impotent and a fool.

So you think it is stupid to fight for the things you believe in? Most people think that their bosses are omnipotent so the never bother asking for a raise. They are stupid. — Sir2u

Would you bring a knife to a gun fight? Of course extreme circumstances demand unconventional logic but you can clearly see the battle is already lost, yes?

(Y) Thanks. It seems that evil can achieve a level of potency that has significant consequences (Hitler, Stalin, etc.) However, I'm comparing the paragon of evil, Satan, to the ultimate power in the universe - God. It simply doesn't make sense for Satan to rebel against God.

I think analyzing what evil means in order to find "the light" is an interesting prospect, but I haven't really seen you doing that yet in this thread. — Noble Dust

I'm just putting it out there to check people's thoughts. I don't have a clear-cut strategy on the issue. I don't even know where to begin.

Anyway, how would we define the Devil?

I'm just putting it out there to check people's thoughts. I don't have a clear-cut strategy on the issue. I don't even know where to begin.

Anyway, how would we define the Devil? — TheMadFool

Again, are you talking about The Christian concept of The Devil, or no?

It simply doesn't make sense for Satan to rebel against God. — TheMadFool

Why the hell not? Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.

No further discussion only because we all accept the Devil is evil — TheMadFool

No we don't.

and this doesn't affect my argument that he is impotent and a fool. — TheMadFool

If he is as impotent as you seem to think, where does he acquire the power he wields? And while it is true that a lot of rulers are stupid, he rules a massive empire as a sole dictator so he cannot be that much of a fool.

To fight without the slimmest chance of victory is foolish, don't you think?

Again, are you talking about The Christian concept of The Devil, or no? — Noble Dust

Yes. The fallen angel Satan. Why do you ask? The Devil as the prime evil must be generic among all cultures just as God is.

Why the hell not? Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. — Bitter Crank

It doesn't make sense to fight an omnipotent being like God...you'll lose

If the devil is still in business after all these eternities, how did he lose?

Avoid thinking about the devil too much.

"Rudolf Bultmann taught that Christians need to reject belief in a literal devil as part of first century culture." Daniel DeFoe said "that to believe the existence of a God is a debt to nature, and to believe the existence of the Devil is a like debt to reason".

It's All Saints day. Think about the saints. Some of them are quite nutty and others quite insightful.

So there might be good in evil, and viceversa. That is another step, but in fact, from one point of view, they kinda support eachother, or else said, they empower one another.

To fight without the slimmest chance of victory is foolish, don't you think? — TheMadFool

Doing foolish things and being foolish are 2 different things.

But the old bastard is still in business so he must have something going for him.