The Great Pretender

On a blog the other day, I offered a different explanation -- a non-theist one -- to a particular situation. One of the other commenters offered that I was being tricked by Satan into believing as I do. You see, Satan wants to turn us away from God and so he insidiously warps our thinking to accomplish this task. When we continue to believe, speak or act as we do, then Satan wins.

In the mind of many people, this represents air tight reasoning. However, in reality, this position more closely resembles swiss cheese. It contains more holes than a person can shake a stick at.

How could anyone know who is who (or is that whom)? We're talking about two entities that no human can see, hear, touch, taste or smell. We can't line them up side-by-side to check their papers. So, how would anyone know when God is relaying information to us that it's not Satan POSING as God?

For example, how would anyone be able to verify that the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God and not Satan? Maybe the Bible itself is the ultimate trick.

I can hear a lot of people scoffing at this notion. The Bible unequivocally states that God triumphs over Satan in the end, so that clearly indicates that Satan is not the author.

Not necessarily. What if Satan turns out to be the ultimate winner? He might want to fool people into thinking otherwise to more easily lead us to our own doom.

The Nazis employed this kind of stratagem during their reign of terror. They would announce to a group of imprisoned Jews and others that they would kindly allow the prisoners the luxury of taking a shower. For people forced to live in filth and disease, this must have seemed like a heavenly treat.

So, the prisoners would eagerly walk into the shower room. And sadly, we all know what happened next. The prisoners were not welcomed with a shower of life-giving water; they were gassed and their lifeless bodies were thrown in heaps like soiled rags. The Nazis utilized this wicked ploy to ensure that the prisoners willingly walked to their own funerals.

The argument could be made that anything people believe emanates from God could just as easily emanate from Satan posing as God. Jesus, for example, actually could be the son of the devil. I realize that for many this amounts to a blasphemous suggestion, but it IS in the realm of possibility.

And here's the thing. Just like the concept of God itself, it can neither be proved nor disproved.

Think about that idea the next time you hit your knees in prayer. You might believe in your heart of hearts that you're praying to the most holy God, but the being receiving your message might be the Great Pretender instead!!