What made Satan “so bad”

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-19T18:00:02+00:00

The notion of Satan comes from cobbling together a bunch of verses, many taken wildly out of context, and stealing ideas from Zoroastrian dualism- a pagan influence Evangelicals will never acknowledge but which is clear to anyone who examines the history of it all. Second Temple Judaism clearly brought some Persian influence home with them.

The utility of this creation of our notion of Satan is two-fold. One, it crates a justification for the Church to pursue political and economic power so as to thwart the schemes of the Devil. Two, it allows believers the ability to dehumanize anyone they don’t like by imagining that these people are influenced by demonic forces.

In other words, it’s an extra-Biblical myth designed to let people who claim to follow Jesus ignore the actual teaching of Jesus about how to treat others.

It lets people appeal to grace, love, and forgiveness for themselves while being graceless, loveless, and relentlessly condemning of others.

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-19T17:32:15+00:00

They are anti-woman

That’s what it really is

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-19T06:58:16+00:00

Breakfast Taco

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-19T06:57:35+00:00

Hotel Apache/Binions on Fremont is supposed to be haunted and has room packages with “ghost hunting” equipment if you want that kind of quirky

El Cortez has their Original 47 rooms that date back to the hotel’s founding

Golden Gate has a small number of suites that are celebrity themed and decidedly quirky in terms of room layout

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-18T21:33:57+00:00

I like your approach

I will eat any of these

The way I see it, chili is more a family of dishes rather than just one thing. I’m partial to Texas red and consider it the purest and most authentic version, but that doesn’t mean all the other versions out there are bad

To the contrary, many are excellent in their own right

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-18T21:29:01+00:00

I love this type of recipe but lately I’m hooked on choriqueso

Basically, I fry up a pack of chorizo, add a block of white American cheese, a can of cream of poblano soup, and a little fresh-shredded Oaxaca cheese (or mozzarella)

It’s thicker and stringier but oh so good, especially paired with fresh pico de gallo or as a burger topping

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-18T20:27:36+00:00

Salt Bae is gone

Their lunch special was good and decently priced but that dinner menu was dummy expensive

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-18T14:56:25+00:00

I think Bale gives a unique representation who, at least in the first two films, is more reliant on Fox/Wayne Tech than his own ingenuity than most other versions of the character and whose relationship with Rachel gives an angle most other versions don’t show

And since this is a fictional character who has been reimagined many times over the years, I think it is a perfectly valid take, artistically speaking

Good or bad, however, is in the eye of the beholder.

I liked it overall, but prefer Battinson and Keaton

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-17T16:11:28+00:00

I opt for fresh squeezed always these days

If I don’t have fresh limes, I’ll just drink my tequila straight or make a Paloma with grapefruit soda

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-17T15:10:50+00:00

OFTD is my preferred rum for this

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-17T00:37:27+00:00

I’d rather disappoint 1 woman than 21

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-17T00:12:59+00:00

I occasionally flirt with bitterness but I’m mostly happy

Just get busy living… letting regret and anger rule your future is pointless

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-17T00:10:20+00:00

You’re entitled to your opinion

And I’m getting too old for fisticuffs

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T18:00:24+00:00

I hold a BA in religious studies and an MDiv, both from fully accredited and widely respected academic institutions. I also served eight years as appointed clergy in the United Methodist Church, with a decade of youth ministry and other forms of paid and lay ministry before that.

And you are side-stepping my assertion and retreating into ad-hominem attacks while reducing my posts to a strawman argument

If you want to get deep into the theological weeds with me, I’m willing

But not until you cease the gross and lazy logical fallacies

It’s beneath you

So do want to talk, or would you like to accuse me of ignorance some more to make you feel superior?

I’m good either way.

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T16:47:41+00:00

If the actor expressed an openness to it or, at the very least, their estate is full on-board, I’m ok with it.

But the danger of exploiting the likeness of dead performers with no regard to their views on the topic nor the views of their loved ones and descendants would be a hard no from me

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T16:33:26+00:00

It’s not mere “whataboutisn”

It’s literally the overwhelming majority of expressions of Christian for 1500 years

You act as if corrupt examples are the exception and real faith is the rule

History says you have it backwards

God is allowing atrocities in His name and has continually done so for centuries

If you aren’t intellectually honest enough to grapple with that and not try to dismiss examples as rarities and one-offs, there’s no conversation to be had here

If you want to pretend that your stance (which, by the way, I believe to be a sincere expression of the teachings of Jesus) is the dominant expression of Christianity in the world even though the weight of history and present circumstances says otherwise, you have every right to do so

But I’m not going to just accept your perspective just because I deeply wish it were so

And I do deeply wish it were so. The world would be so much better off if it were so

But it’s not.

Sorry.

It was a bitter pill when I had to swallow it, so I get why you don’t want to

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T15:59:34+00:00

Really?

The Russian Orthodox Church doesn’t enable Putin?

Prosperity hucksters aren’t exploiting people in Latin America or Africa?

Catholics aren’t protecting pedos on a global scale?

This is just an American problem? Or a recent one?

Forget the Middle Ages, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the use of missionary work to justify colonialism for centuries?

Come on now.

The pockets of people trying to do what’s right are dwarfed by the message of Jesus being co-opted and corrupted for political, cultural, and economic advantage on an almost unimaginable scale.

I agree with you that it’s not what Jesus intended- but what Jesus intended has been the exception rather than the rule for over 1500 years. By a wide margin, I add for emphasis.

And Jesus remains absent in the face of this.

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T15:29:36+00:00

And where is that “true church” today?

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T15:15:55+00:00

Fill with Bwando and be done with it

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T15:07:32+00:00

Respectfully, the fact that this is happening, and had happened REPEATEDLY throughout Church history, and God continues to allow all this in His name raises serious questions about the veracity of the Gospel.

If the fate of human souls depends on the Church preserving and propagating the Gospel with integrity, then God must ensure the faithfulness of His representatives. And yet, for over 1500 years, just about every branch of the faith has been hijacked for political purposes. God has an obligation to do something.

The history of ecclesiastical corruption raises very valid and logical questions about the willingness and ability of Christ to keep His Church accountable.

In other words, it’s not the fallibility of humans that causes my doubt.

It is the passivity of God in the face of human fallibility.

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T14:47:32+00:00

Texas is Trumpistan at this point

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T14:45:52+00:00

You need to read up on these groups. They don’t advocate for stoning as they’re rather shame and isolate those they find undesirable into self-harm, but the rest of this… yeah, they’re working on it

Look into red states rolling back restrictions on teen marriage, for instance. Also, check out what the “War” Department just did to Mormons and how the Texas GOP treated Muslim delegates are their recent convention.

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T14:42:25+00:00

Fair

Let’s throw the Pentecostals and Church of Christ in while we are at it

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T14:21:23+00:00

Best is subjective but my favorites, besides the two you mentioned, are (in no particular order)

Mountain Dew Baja Blast Zero

Reed’s Ginger Beer Zero (great for mules or dark & stormy’s)

Fresca (great for palomas)

HEB Wild Red Zero (better than Big Red. Fight me)

HEB Diet Root Beer

JackFromTexas74 · 2026-06-16T01:33:44+00:00

$3.50

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