What if good is bad and bad is good? That’s the same as saying that G-d is evil. In Judaism, HaSatan is not thought of as evil either: he is not the adversary of G-d and there is no duality between the forces of evil as represented by Satan and the forces of good as represented by G-d. Rather, Satan is an angel, not a fallen angel, in the service of G-d, a clever tempter who is sent to earth by G-d to severely test our free will in order that we might choose good over evil. Satan is also our accuser in the heavenly tribunal so that we might better defend our earthly lives before G-d.
Meltzerboy, you continue to impress me with the merits of Judaism.
It is fascinating that one of the central tenets of Christianity, the whole idea of “believing in one God”, is so frequently violated (but violation is vehemently denied), . Many, many, Christians believe in two gods, though they claim obedience to only one of them.
As the OP implies a second power, many, if not most Christians say that there is a second power, which makes Christianity much closer to Zoroastrianism than Judaism.
The gospel leaves the question of dualism unanswered in any explicit way. Jesus calls for forgiveness, which if enacted erases all dualism.
A second power capable of “works” in this world? That’s called dualism, right? Now, the way I look at it, there is a place for dualism, but there is a way to see beyond it.
So “religion the work of satan?”. Nope, it is more like “the depiction of satan is the work of religion.”
