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How dependent is the Bible's story on the presence of Satan?

When it comes to religion, I don't pretend to have all the answers. However, regardless if the answers are impossible to fully deduce while alive on this earth, I find it fascinating to ponder about such matters, because I'm a creative nerd whose mind likes to constantly be in overdrive. I grew up in a Christian household, have studied multiple religions throughout my life out of pure curiosity, and would today label myself as a humanist and/or an agnostic. While I believe many of these sacred texts provide interesting story material, which can help teach us many of life's important lessons, I'm hard-pressed to take them all literally, and have reached a point where I feel that, while I can't fully disprove the presence of a higher power, I can't fully prove it either. Due to this, I simply try to stand by the Golden Rule, acknowledge my mistakes and flaws, and continually try to improve upon them to better myself as a person, regardless of the potential reward or punishment in an unknown afterlife. I don't judge people whom are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or worship a pet squirrel by the name of chipmunk; I just simply haven't found a religion that's right for me yet.

Given all of that, though, as I was brought up in a Christian environment, it's the religion I've been most exposed to through my years and perhaps due to that, the one I contemplate about more than any other. Just this morning, a thought occurred to me. In an odd way, doesn't it seem like the Bible mentions two gods: God and Satan? Granted, in the story, God is the creator, the one who created Satan. However, Satan is also said to be the originator of sin, was kicked out of heaven for his wicked ways (Lucifer at the time), and helped create the black-and-white/good-and-evil system the story requires to produce a savior (Jesus) and a reward-and-punishment system in the afterlife (heaven and hell). If Satan didn't sin, wasn't kicked out of heaven, and didn't constantly tempt man to stray away from the good (Godly) path, with the threat of eternal punishment for doing so, what need would there have been for Jesus to die for our sins and for people to worship Jesus to free themselves of sin and be rewarded in the afterlife? To me, the story seems incomplete and to lose its power without the presence of Satan. What would the story of Batman have been without the Joker? Of Superman without Lex Luthor? Of He-Man without Skeletor? In almost all such stories, there's a good presence and an evil one. This is exactly the case in the Bible, which doesn't shy away from being obvious about it, with the good presence being referred to as God (one more "o" and we have "good") and the evil one being referred to as the devil (yes, the word "evil" resides in "devil"). So the question is, how dependent is the Bible's story on the presence of Satan? Due to this level of dependency, does this then suggest that Satan, along with God, is a god himself? Also, does it potentially negate the essence of the story, for without the presence and sin of Satan, what use would there have been for Jesus to have sacrificed himself on the cross to eradicate sin? Does it also showcase that God is not omnipotent, as his ultimate luring tool to the masses of potential followers is dependent on another's deeds? No, I don't have the answers to any of those questions, but I find them to be fascinating nonetheless. Well, I best be off to allow my wacky mind to wander yet again. Yes, this may be why I drink on the weekends...

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