Questions about Satan

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I was listening to A Nun’s Life “Ask Sister” podcast with 2 IHM sisters. One topic the sisters spoke about was Satan. I will give the link but this is a short summary of what they said:

-Satan should be thought of as a personification of evil (of things that pull us away from God) who is not to be taken literally and that by taking Satan literally or thought of as an outside force, he becomes a scapegoat for bad choices.
-There was more use of Satan pre Vat II because God was seen as a king, Lord who was a “strong protagonist” hence there needed to be a “strong villian” which lead to an emphasis on the antagonistic Satan
-One sister said she has not come to grips with how to theologically understand personified evil and would rather think in terms of “personal demons”
-It was also stated that we need to focus our energy on good instead of trying to get rid of the evil because “the thing we focus on sometimes becomes the reality”
-one sister said “If our whole drive in life is to avoid doing evil…I don’t believe that’s the kind of life God wants for us.”

anunslife.org/2010/09/10/as041-ask-sister/ (starts at 30:00min)

Is there some truth in this or is this way of thinking about Satan way off?
 
We can sin without Satan’s help. If Satan took a day off, I could still sin.
 
Based only on what you quoted, I don’t have a lot of time to listen to the link at the moment:
miniquedoes said:
-Satan should be thought of as a personification of evil (of things that pull us away from God) who is not to be taken literally and that by taking Satan literally or thought of as an outside force, he becomes a scapegoat for bad choices.
Click to expand...
Wrong. The easiest way for Satan to win a battle is when the believer starts to question whether the enemy (Satan) even exists. When that happens, the believer sees the evil action in question as simply a random event. Then the slippery slope comes into play and random events caused by a non-existent evil force (Satan) are deemed neutral and no one battles against neutrality.
miniquedoes said:
-There was more use of Satan pre Vat II because God was seen as a king, Lord who was a “strong protagonist” hence there needed to be a “strong villian” which lead to an emphasis on the antagonistic Satan
Click to expand...
Several things here:
  1. “There was more use of Satan pre Vat II…” - This objectifies the person of Satan and places him on the level of being little more than a tool to be used to scare children into doing good.
  2. “… because God was seen as a king…” The past-tense “WAS” is being used and seems to convey the message that God is currently seen as being less than a king today.
  3. The people having this discussion, assuming that they believe what they are saying, could then reverse the argument and say that, “since there is no person of evil (Satan), the need for a ‘strong savior’ is not needed”; thus eliminating the belief in God as we know Him.
miniquedoes said:
-One sister said she has not come to grips with how to theologically understand personified evil and would rather think in terms of “personal demons”
Click to expand...
Of course she would because if the only evil that exists comes from within herself, her goal is not to save others, but rather to work on sins which exist within her. This again makes evil into simply an action (her actions). She believes that fighting the symptoms of evil is the battle rather than fighting the cause of evil. In a purely medical example, I could say, “I don’t know how to understand the flu and would rather treat the symptoms of the flu than avoid catching it.”
miniquedoes said:
-It was also stated that we need to focus our energy on good instead of trying to get rid of the evil because “the thing we focus on sometimes becomes the reality”
Click to expand...
Reality is understanding that evil DOES exist in our world and should be fought on all fronts. The fantasy is in saying that if we focus on “good” evil will not enter into the picture.
miniquedoes said:
-one sister said “If our whole drive in life is to avoid doing evil…I don’t believe that’s the kind of life God wants for us.”
Click to expand...
As opposed to what? Is she suggesting that God doesn’t want us to avoid evil?
miniquedoes said:
Is there some truth in this or is this way of thinking about Satan way off?
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From the quotes listed above, it seems to me that the “truth” stopped being presented in the first argument at the word “There.”

If I were you, I would call or write the source of this podcast and suggest that those involved with the production of this project be banned from further interviews. Perhaps a letter to the Bishop is in order. Either way, I would not look toward this show as a source of authentic Catholic theology.
 
miniquedoes said:
I was listening to A Nun’s Life “Ask Sister” podcast with 2 IHM sisters. One topic the sisters spoke about was Satan. I will give the link but this is a short summary of what they said:

-Satan should be thought of as a personification of evil (of things that pull us away from God) who is not to be taken literally and that by taking Satan literally or thought of as an outside force, he becomes a scapegoat for bad choices.
-There was more use of Satan pre Vat II because God was seen as a king, Lord who was a “strong protagonist” hence there needed to be a “strong villian” which lead to an emphasis on the antagonistic Satan
-One sister said she has not come to grips with how to theologically understand personified evil and would rather think in terms of “personal demons”
-It was also stated that we need to focus our energy on good instead of trying to get rid of the evil because “the thing we focus on sometimes becomes the reality”
-one sister said “If our whole drive in life is to avoid doing evil…I don’t believe that’s the kind of life God wants for us.”

anunslife.org/2010/09/10/as041-ask-sister/ (starts at 30:00min)

Is there some truth in this or is this way of thinking about Satan way off?
Click to expand...
How can any Christian, especially a Catholic, not take the existence of Satan literally when Christ actually spoke about Satan. Even more proof, Christ had a conversation with Satan when Satan was tempting Him. How can Christ, whom is all perfect and all knowing, have a conversation with somebody that does not exist? Beware heresy and lies which is the work of Satan. As another person mentioned, Satan attempts to trick people into believing he does not exist. If you have an enemy whom you think does not exist then you are critically vulnerable.
 
Stop listening to these podcasts.

These women are not qualified to teach theology, their ideas are heretical, and they can damage you spiritually by listening to them.
 
This podcast is put on by the IHM Sisters of Monroe Michigan. This is the same community of Sandra Schneiders. I mainly listen to see what kind of theology they are trying to promote. I realized long ago that they are a very liberal community. The problem is that these podcasts are geared toward the younger people so they are being taught bad theology. Also the main purpose of this blog site is to get them to think about the possibility of religious life but not sure how that is done by ignoring Catholic teaching 🤷
 
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