The Orthodox Ostrich Thrusts His Head into the Sand.
Many of the clergy are now ashamed to say that they believe in devils.
The belief has become ignorant and vulgar. They are ashamed of the lake
of fire and brimstone. It is too savage.
At the same time they do not wish to give up the inspiration of the
Bible. They give new meanings to the inspired words. Now they say that
devils were only personifications of evil. If the devils were only
personifications of evil, what were the angels? Was the angel who told
Joseph who the father of Christ was, a personification? Was the Holy
Ghost only the personification of a father? Was the angel who told
Joseph that Herod was dead a personification of news?
Were the angels who rolled away the stone and sat clothed in shining
garments in the empty sepulcher of Christ a couple of personifications?
Were all the angels described in the Old Testament imaginary
shadows--bodiless personifications? If the angels of the Bible are real
angels, the devils are real devils.
Let us be honest with ourselves and each other and give to the Bible its
natural, obvious meaning. Let us admit that the writers believed what
they wrote. If we believe that they were mistaken, let us have the
honesty and courage to say so. Certainly we have no right to change or
avoid their meaning, or to dishonestly correct their mistakes. Timid
preachers sully their own souls when they change what the writers of the
Bible believed to be facts to allegories, parables, poems and myths.
It is impossible for any man who believes in the inspiration of the
Bible to explain away the Devil.
If the Bible is true the Devil exists. There is no escape from this.
If the Devil does not exist the Bible is not true. There is no escape
from this.
I admit that the Devil of the Bible is an impossible contradiction; an
impossible being.
This Devil is the enemy of God and God is his. Now, why should this
Devil, in another world, torment sinners, who are his friends, to please
God, his enemy?
If the Devil is a personification, so is hell and the lake of fire and
brimstone. All these horrors fade into allegories; into ignorant lies.
Any clergyman who can read the Bible and then say that devils are
personifications of evil is himself a personification of stupidity or
hypocrisy.