I first went to church when I was four years old. At church, I learned about god, heaven and hell, the devil, sin, etc. I didn’t know enough at that time to question authority, so I just listened to what the preachers and teachers said over the years until I was about thirteen. At thirteen when basic but thorough Bible study classes are complete, the teacher asks if we want to go to heaven. He said that Jesus suffered and died for our sins and if we accept Jesus as our Savior, we will go to heaven. I can’t say why, but I was averse to what they were saying/asking. I said no to Jesus and shortly thereafter I stopped going to church. However, even though I quit going to church, my religious and philosophical studies never paused. How could they? I have always had an insatiable need to know God. To satisfy that need, I studied the Bible independently and ruminated incessantly about what I read. And one topic that I have given a lot of thought to is the Devil.
The belief that there is a devil is a tenet of not only Christianity but of other religions as well. So, naturally, people who subscribe to these religions will always say yes - there is a devil. The proof for such a belief is found in ‘scripture’ which religious authorities provide, translate, interpret, and certify as ‘infallible’. The same religious authorities claimed for millennia that the Pope’s words were similarly infallible. They have since recanted on the Pope. And why not? Their claim about the Pope was bereft of logic and easily discredited. Their theology makes no sense either. It is presented as truth but is nothing more than dogma. Dogma doesn’t unify or simplify; it divides, it obfuscates - creating more questions than answers. That is why I quit the church. What they say does not ring true. It is only with God’s Grace that I am able to find answers to the many questions I have, like - Is there a Devil? Romans 9:16 KJV - ‘So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.’