Does the Devil/Satan exist?

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I heard a priest recently remark that there is no such thing as the devil or Satan. Evil exists due, and only due, to man’s exercise of free will. Are there Church documents that address this?
 
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Journeyman:
I heard a priest recently remark that there is no such thing as the devil or Satan. Evil exists due, and only due, to man’s exercise of free will. Are there Church documents that address this?
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Scripture: Check it out here

When you’re done with that, type in Satan to see how many passages come up. 😉
 
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Journeyman:
It that is dogma and a priest says that it is not true, is that some sort of heresy?
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Well the priest is most definitely in error.
In charity we are called to present the evidence to him to offer him a chance to explain why he said what he said. Usually they’ll back pedal, but at least they are aware from that moment on that he is not preaching to ignorant blind followers. 😉

I think the heresy would become such if after providing the evidence he openly rejects the evidence in front of you and the bishop, thus actually denying Church dogma, not just misunderstanding it.
 
This is like the story Fr Corapi tells about the speaker who said belief in Hell was an ‘old’ way of thinking. Then he sat by an elderly lady who asked him, “So, you don’t believe in Hell?”

“That’s right,” he said

“You will when you get there,” she told him. :rotfl:
 
It is distressing when a priest denies a fundamental teaching of the Church. Throughout Scripture, the writings of the Church Fathers and the official documents of the Church itself is the consistent teaching that there is a real and personal Devil, that he is a fallen angel and that he has a legion of demons who fell with him.

I can personally vouch for his reality because I was present at the exorcism of a house, during wwhich the demon manifested its presence.

We expect the world to deny Satan’s reality but how sad it is when a priest denies Satan’s reality. Satan would like nothing better than for us all to think he did not exist because then he could carry on his destructive work so much more easliy.

Yes Satan is real. Yes he is totally bent on our destruction. Yes he is the father of lies and the enemy of God and all who follow God. However, Christ has beaten Satan and we can share that victory when we follow Christ and His teachings.

Learn and recite regularly the beautiful prayer to St Michael the Archangel, which asks for his help in protecting us from the harm of Satan.
 
Any priest who says the devil does not exist is basically calling Jesus a liar. Not to mention the fact that Jesus exercised demons. If that was a farse we may as well just quit being Christians because it would make Christ a total liar and a total actor. One need not look very hard to see the devil exists in this world.

Luke 10:18
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Luke 10:19
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

-D
 
You asked if there’s any church documentation. How about the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Using the index, look under Demons and you’ll find tons of references. Perhaps the ones that cover it most directly, as a place to start are:
CCC 391:
II The Fall of the Angels
Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil.” The Chruch teaches that Satan was at first a good ganel, made by God: “The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.”
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and
CCC 2850:
VII “But Deliver Us from Evil”
The last petition to our Father is also included in Jesus’ prayer: “I am not asking you to ttake them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” It touches each of us personally but it is always “we” who pray, in communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance of the whole human family. The Lord’s Prayer continually opens us to the range of God’s economy of salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of Christ, the “communion of saints.”
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These are only a couple of the many, many references in this one document alone. I didn’t include the footnotes, which tell where these teachings come from.

CARose
 
The greatest trick the devil ever played was making the world believe he didn’t exist.

Cindy
 
Thats a goodie…does your priest believe in God, has he ever read the bible, was not Jesus tempted by Satan in the desert…why is this man posing as a priest!!!
 
Why is he posing to be a priest?

Because hes probably a freemason infiltrator set out to destroy our faith which the freemasons talked about for years.

How can you study to become a true priest whos whole vocation is to fight against satan and evil, and sit there and deny these facts which if he had any sincerity would know from his studies if he did that?

Hes an evil infiltrator I suppose. Its realy upsetting.

peace.
 
Listen to Father Corapi! He talks about priest who do not believe what the church teaches.
 
The same people who don’t think devil exists are the same people who say there’s no hell and say that those doctrines are “outdated”. Jesus referred to hell many more times than he did heaven. That’s Billy Graham said once to a fellow who tried to convince him there was no hell. Father Echert gave that same response. One of my friends, a good christian woman, said once that many people do not believe in the devil, and part of it is because they don’t think they’re in sin. John Paul II certainly believed it, just read his encyclical Evangelium Vitae when referring to the Adam and Eve story. Pope Leo XIII believed in it too. Thank God we have an infallible an pope in Benedict XVI.
 
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Journeyman:
It that is dogma and a priest says that it is not true, is that some sort of heresy?
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Its not so much as that it is dogma but that it is DE FIDE (meaning it is an essential part of faith).
 
Thanks for your replies. Good stuff.
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Melanie01:
Thats a goodie…does your priest believe in God, has he ever read the bible, was not Jesus tempted by Satan in the desert…why is this man posing as a priest!!!
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Actually, to paraphrase this priest, he has said that although Jesus apparently believed in the devil as the source of mental and physical problems for people and He was always exorcising the devil from people, that doesn’t prove that the devil really exists!

I kid you not. He actually has said things like that. BTW, fortunately this priest is not our parish priest.
 
If Satan doesn’t exist who was God talking to in Job about Job’s righteousness? Just a thought…
 
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Journeyman:
Thanks for your replies. Good stuff.

Actually, to paraphrase this priest, he has said that although Jesus apparently believed in the devil as the source of mental and physical problems for people and He was always exorcising the devil from people, that doesn’t prove that the devil really exists!

I kid you not. He actually has said things like that. BTW, fortunately this priest is not our parish priest.
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Oh thank the Lord…who is the person that is in authority over him …his Bishop…is the Bishop doing anything to stop this scandel monger…if not the Bishop is as culpable as the priest.
 
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Journeyman:
I heard a priest recently remark that there is no such thing as the devil or Satan. Evil exists due, and only due, to man’s exercise of free will. Are there Church documents that address this?
Click to expand...
The father of lies is at it again…the devil wants people to think he doesn’t exist which is very crazy…why? Because our Lord was tempted by Satan, what do you call that?
 
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