Two Suggestions About the Serpent Symbol for Satan

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter_Dawson
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Peter_Dawson

Guest
Years ago, in The Dragons of Eden, pop scientist Carl Sagan hinted that the serpent of Eden, representing the Devil in the Bible, was chosen as the symbol for evil because the demands for selfishness within ourselves tend to originate in the portion of the brain called the R-Complex, or Reptilian Complex, because structurally that portion of our brains resembles that of a reptile or serpent. Very interesting!

Another suggestion was by a Roman Catholic priest doing an exorcism. As he clashed with the demonic personality within, he said that he felt an extremely strong aire of “snakiness.” Very interesting, too!
 
Peter_Dawson said:
Years ago, in The Dragons of Eden, pop scientist Carl Sagan hinted that the serpent of Eden, representing the Devil in the Bible, was chosen as the symbol for evil because the demands for selfishness within ourselves tend to originate in the portion of the brain called the R-Complex, or Reptilian Complex, because structurally that portion of our brains resembles that of a reptile or serpent. Very interesting!

Another suggestion was by a Roman Catholic priest doing an exorcism. As he clashed with the demonic personality within, he said that he felt an extremely strong aire of “snakiness.” Very interesting, too!
Click to expand...
This is interesting. I believe that God works in these ways, and it always is fantastic to me when some scientific discovery in some way reflects what we learned in our Bibles and Catechisms. Thanks for this post.
 
Peter
That is interesting, but all that seems to suggest that this R-Complex ‘kicked in’ subconsciously during the writing of the episode influencing the final product.
Or the author was somehow in touch with his ‘inner reptile’ enough to identify it as reptilian and evil.

The rationale for ‘why a serpent?’ that is most agreeable to me has the ancient author intentionally representing evil as a serpent in direct retaliation against the prevailing fertility cults of neighboring contemporary religions.

Peter K
 
Slight Drift:

I have noted that cats, goats and serpents are the only animals with vertical slit pupil in the eye. These three, and only these three, are commonly associated with Satan. I wonder if there is a connection.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
Slight Drift:

I have noted that cats, goats and serpents are the only animals with vertical slit pupil in the eye. These three, and only these three, are commonly associated with Satan. I wonder if there is a connection.
Click to expand...
Hey, there are other animals that have pupils in the shape of vertical slits aside from the animals you mention, such as reptiles - say, geckos or crocodiles - and foxes! May it have more to do with the common human association that slit pupils=nasty (this trope is even present in popular culture - I mean, both Voldemort and Sauron have got slit pupils!), perhaps? Which leads us to the proper question: how did mankind arrive at that conclusion anyway?
 
And snakes are creepy…

They are just one weird muscle with fangs… and poison. Eww…

Why would anyone portray evil as anything else than a snake? Especially a culture like the Israelites, to whom snakes would be a pretty common threat.

That and the prevalence of the snake in Cana’anite fertility cults.
  • CB
 
Contrabass101 said:
And snakes are creepy…

They are just one weird muscle with fangs… and poison. Eww…

Why would anyone portray evil as anything else than a snake? Especially a culture like the Israelites, to whom snakes would be a pretty common threat.

That and the prevalence of the snake in Cana’anite fertility cults.
  • CB
Click to expand...
Not only that, but they unhinge their jaws and swallow their prey whole, then just lay there with a big bulge in their bodies. Talk about creepy! They are rather fascinating though. I guess that’s why they are so associated with evil. They have that sinuous, slithery quality, those cold reptilian eyes and that quick attack! Pretty normal to associate it with evil.

That’s interesting about the eye slit theory of evil though. Although cats can look pretty innocent too!
 
Contrabass101 said:
And snakes are creepy…

They are just one weird muscle with fangs… and poison. Eww…

Why would anyone portray evil as anything else than a snake? Especially a culture like the Israelites, to whom snakes would be a pretty common threat.

That and the prevalence of the snake in Cana’anite fertility cults.
  • CB
Click to expand...
Snakes make me run into trees 😃
 
Peter_Dawson said:
Years ago, in The Dragons of Eden, pop scientist Carl Sagan hinted that the serpent of Eden, representing the Devil in the Bible, was chosen as the symbol for evil because the demands for selfishness within ourselves tend to originate in the portion of the brain called the R-Complex, or Reptilian Complex, because structurally that portion of our brains resembles that of a reptile or serpent. Very interesting!

Another suggestion was by a Roman Catholic priest doing an exorcism. As he clashed with the demonic personality within, he said that he felt an extremely strong aire of “snakiness.” Very interesting, too!
Click to expand...
Moses used the sign of a snake to cure people, see Numbers 21.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
Slight Drift:

I have noted that cats, goats and serpents are the only animals with vertical slit pupil in the eye. These three, and only these three, are commonly associated with Satan. I wonder if there is a connection.
Click to expand...
Goats (and sheep) have a horizontal slit in the eye. Creepy.:frighten:
 
diggerdomer said:
Moses used the sign of a snake to cure people, see Numbers 21.
Click to expand...
The serpent on the pole is Christ on the cross. See John 3:14.

Christ is frequently symbolized by sin or Satan symbols in the Bible. Paul was puzzled by this, and finally came up with the explanation at 2 Corinthians 5:21 – in effect, when Christ substituted Himself in to receive the punishment for our sins by paying the price of suffering exacted by God’s Own perfect justice for the grace of salvation, He ended-up being treated ***as though ***He were sin, itself. So, inspired Scripture symbolizes Christ with sin symbols, to remind us.
 
Peter_Dawson said:
The serpent on the pole is Christ on the cross. See John 3:14.

Christ is frequently symbolized by sin or Satan symbols in the Bible. Paul was puzzled by this, and finally came up with the explanation at 2 Corinthians 5:21 – in effect, when Christ substituted Himself in to receive the punishment for our sins by paying the price of suffering exacted by God’s Own perfect justice for the grace of salvation, He ended-up being treated ***as though ***He were sin, itself. So, inspired Scripture symbolizes Christ with sin symbols, to remind us.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Peter, for pointing this out. I had often wondered about the serpent on the pole and why God would have the Jews looking at a “graven image”. Now it makes much more sense!🙂
 
Peter_Dawson said:
The serpent on the pole is Christ on the cross. See John 3:14.
Click to expand...
RIght…as Christians understand it. I don’t think this image would of course have been understood that way to ancient Israel or Jews today.
 
diggerdomer said:
RIght…as Christians understand it. I don’t think this image would of course have been understood that way to ancient Israel or Jews today.
Click to expand...
You have to look at the Bible as a whole book. Most of the Old Testament is showing Christology to us. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises in the Old Testament.
 
CHRISTINE77 said:
You have to look at the Bible as a whole book. Most of the Old Testament is showing Christology to us. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises in the Old Testament.
Click to expand...
Of course. I’m just pointing out that non-Christians who also revere Old Testament (like Jews, like the original authors, etc.) would have other ways of understanding it than with reference to the New Testament.
 
grannymh said:
Jesus Christ, Who is True God, cannot be symbolized by sin or Satan symbols, at least not in the Catholic Church.
Click to expand...
But remember, Christ took on the sins of the world, when he died for us on the cross.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top