Is Satan Insane?

[Zeldarocks]

I must pose the question: Is Satan insane? I ask with regards to the Death of Jesus on the Cross for instance; did Satan think he had won when Jesus breathed his last? Does Satan really think he can win? Or is he aware of the end result?

 

[meldane]

Satan is in rebellion against the One who is All-Good, he hates what is good and loves what is evil. Is this insane? You bet! Is it the ultimate sin? Yes. Did he choose to be utterly sinful and thus utterly insane? Yes. Are there forms of human insanity that are not the result of a choice? Yes. But all forms of insanity like all forms of sickness are in the world as a result of sin, and the sin that is in the world is suffered by the innocent as well as the guilty. Can forms of human insanity sometimes result from personal choice, yes, I believe it can. Reason and thus sanity is a good and a gift from God, the Light of Reason is never found among those who are wicked and depraved, but since they still have rational souls, they retain a kind of reason that would be cleverness or cunning.

Rule of thumb when it comes to questions of this sort: the gift of a free will means that we can choose to love God or to hate Him, but we do not get to choose the consequences. Freedom doesn’t mean control. If you choose evil you will get evil, you can’t choose evil and then by force of your will make it turn good. You don’t get to choose what is good or what is evil, you get to choose between them. It isn’t really much of a choice, but you do have to make it.

 

[tonyrey]

Satan is in rebellion against the One who is All-Good, he hates what is good and loves what is evil. Is this insane? You bet! Is it the ultimate sin? Yes. Did he choose to be utterly sinful and thus utterly insane? Yes. Are there forms of human insanity that are not the result of a choice? Yes. But all forms of insanity like all forms of sickness are in the world as a result of sin, and the sin that is in the world is suffered by the innocent as well as the guilty. Can forms of human insanity sometimes result from personal choice, yes, I believe it can. Reason and thus sanity is a good and a gift from God, the Light of Reason is never found among those who are wicked and depraved, but since they still have rational souls, they retain a kind of reason that would be cleverness or cunning.

Rule of thumb when it comes to questions of this sort: the gift of a free will means that we can choose to love God or to hate Him, but we do not get to choose the consequences. Freedom doesn’t mean control. If you choose evil you will get evil, you can’t choose evil and then by force of your will make it turn good. You don’t get to choose what is good or what is evil, you get to choose between them. It isn’t really much of a choice, but you do have to make it.

Welcome to the forum!

An excellent post. It’s doubtful though whether the choice between good and evil “isn’t really much of a choice”! What other options do you suggest? Being “compelled to choose” one or the other - or neither? An exercise in total neutrality!

 

[tonyrey]

I must pose the question: Is Satan insane?

He is insane up to a point. As meldane pointed out, all evil is a form of insanity but it is culpable because the evil-doers know what they are doing is wrong.

I ask with regards to the Death of Jesus on the Cross for instance; did Satan think he had won when Jesus breathed his last?

It is unlikely that Satan is omniscient! And presumptuous to claim to know the extent of his knowledge. I would hazard a guess that Satan knows now even if he didn’t know before!

Does Satan really think he can win? Or is he aware of the end result?

Again we can only speculate but I believe Satan’s misery is partly due to his knowledge that he is bound to lose (and has already lost!). His lust for power - like that of some human beings - is endless and doomed to frustration. He has absolute power in his own kingdom but absolute power corrupts - and poisons the mind. If we make ourselves detestable as a result of our selfishness we are bound to alienate others and become isolated in our own little domain.

The only way to be loved is to become lovable by identifying ourselves with others - as Our Lord did to perfection…

 

[mdgspencer]

Insanity is a mental disorder. Satan is morally disordered instead.
The same question comes up when it comes to Hitler. Was Hitler insane? I disagree with some people about this and think that he was not. Satan and Hitler manifest the face of evil and sin, and manifest the fact that there are those who choose such in full consciousness and without being mentally deranged.
Satan must know he will not win in the end. But he knows he can win some things now. Perhaps he is like a sinner who believes sin is punished after we die. Such a sinner thinks his death is far off and now he wants to enjoy himself.

 

[Matrix_Refugee]

Interesting question, not sure how that would work, though, since Satan is a fallen angel and angel psychology is likely nothing like human psychology, so it would be hard to diagnose him. It would be like a dog trying to figure out if humans are insane by dog standards.