Originally posted by cj6
So i was thinking....is it possible that there has been a conspiracy since the beginning of mankind to reverse the roles of God and
Satan??
Since you are speaking of 'God and Satan' I will assume you are referring to the Judaeo-Christian belief system.
Now, everything that I type here is an interpretation of history. It is based on archaeological evidence, and the bible itself. Others have
different opinions. Mine is not an unpopular one in academic circles, but there are other learned points of view that differ.
Not exactly since the 'beginning of mankind', and I wouldn't exactly say 'reversed'. You are dealing with different societies, and cultures.
What we value is not necessarily the same on their list of priorities. Having put in that disclaimer, here is the condensed version of The Fall of
Satan.
There once was a Canaanite (okay he goes back further but for the sake of expedience we will maintain the biblical historical paradigm), god called
Ba'al. He was the son of El. During this period in history Ba'al was considered 'king' of the gods. He was also not a nice guy. He was a tyrant
too. Not only a tyrant but one that would demand the sacrifice of your children as well. The current socio-political infrastructure included a quasi
theocracy at times, and always a very wealthy, very powerful priesthood.
Ba'al had a little brother. His name was Yahweh. (This is arguable. There are many hints and allusions to that throughout history, but it is hard
to pin down. However, there is one found Uguritic text that claims Yahweh was the 'son of El.') He wasn't nearly as popular, or as powerful. He
was kind of the annoying, under-achieving, over-privileged archetype at this point. However, apparently he got motivated, got off his butt, and his
following grew for various reasons. Over time (centuries) he was able to become an actual threat to his brother.
In the real world this meant that the followers of Yahweh eventually had their own culture and even their own country(s). Many of the Yahweh cultists
within the Babylonian Empire felt repressed and persecuted... (Because they were.) Many of the followers of Yahweh felt that the Babylonian Empire
was a callous cess pool of debauchery and brutality (because it sort of was), and it was all the fault of their gods. Now, since deities featured so
prominently in the power structures of the time this was such a standard course of thought that I don't know if it would even occur to people to
think of it any other way. All of this means that you had powerful people jockeying for more power and using the gods to add that extra push of
self-righteousness, submission (and fear... the threat of eternal damnation is an amazing motivator) needed to cajole regular people to start hacking
at each other with sharp bits of metal.
In the end the upstart Yahweh won, and Ba'al was eventually given the name Ba'al Zebub (lord of the flies), and got slapped with a lot of other
names throughout the centuries until we have the current incarnation--Satan. Now, this is arguable as well, and plenty of people will. Evolution of
language is dicey at best, and to further confuse the issue Ba'al means 'lord' at the end of the day. But if you really start to follow the trail
back, it's hard to draw any other conclusion. But either way... 'Cast down' indeed.
So yes, people kill and maim and do terrible things in the name of God. Any god really. It's a cheap and never-fail-effective way to motivate The
Great Unwashed. That trick never gets old. It also provides a salve to the psyche so that one can hurt people and feel justified. Human nature does
that; not gods, they're just the excuse.
I believe that any one human being is more capable of coming up with twisted, cruel ways to hurt each other than any malevolent
god/demon/djiin/supernatural force could think of. I also think that any one human being is more capable of grace and compassion than any angel.
Usually expressed by the same individual. It's a thing.