Gospel from satan

[Inquisitor]

With considerable interest I folllow topics posted and frequented by militant atheists. They sound well educated, logical and intellectually superiour. After all they are free thinkers, defenders of honesty etc.

I have of course heard it all before.
Than I recalled exactly where. It was in a book which is among classics of Russian literature. Unlike many other classic books, this one is extremly funny, entertaining and deeply philosophical at the same time.

Following is a short extract from the 1st chapter:

"'Unless I heard wrong, you were pleased to say that Jesus never
existed?' the foreigner asked, turning his green left eye to Berlioz.
'No, you did not hear wrong,' Berlioz replied courteously, 'that is
precisely what I was saying.'
'Ah, how interesting!' exclaimed the foreigner.
'What the devil does he want?' thought Homeless, frowning.
'And you were agreeing with your interlocutor?' inquired the stranger,
turning to Homeless on his right.
'A hundred per cent!' confirmed the man, who was fond of whimsical and
figurative expressions.
'Amazing!' exclaimed the uninvited interlocutor and, casting a thievish
glance around and muffling his low voice for some reason, he said:
'Forgive my importunity, but, as I understand, along with everything
else, you also do not believe in God?' he made frightened eyes and added:
'I swear I won't tell anyone!'
'No, we don't believe in God,' Berlioz replied, smiling slightly at the
foreign tourist's fright, but we can speak of it quite freely.'
The foreigner sat back on the bench and asked, even with a slight
shriek of curiosity:
'You are - atheists?!'
Yes, we're atheists,' Berlioz smilingly replied, and Homeless thought,
getting angry: 'Latched on to us, the foreign goose!'
'Oh, how lovely!' the astonishing foreigner cried out and began
swivelling his head, looking from one writer to the other."

The foreigner in question is in fact satan himself on the first day of his visit to Moscow. It is simply hillarious how helpless and pathetic atheists are when they interact with supernatural...

The book I am talking about is "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. Frankly I just wanted to give you a little treat. You can read the entire book and the best thing is it's absolutly free!

http://www.lib.ru/BULGAKOW/master97_engl.txt

P.S. Note for Christians: bear in mind that The Russian Orthodox Church thinks of this book as " Gospel from satan". Yet, they advise to read it as long as you know it.

[Suburbanite]

Interesting, I’d read the book, but only to amuse myself at the ridiculous antics of the mentally debilitated believers.

[Gorgo]

Yes, I was brought up as a Christian, so I know that Christians were caught in a circular trap. Satan was so smart, that the more real and logical something was that contradicted Doctrine, the more you could be sure that it was the product of that wily Satan.

Now it seems that there really is very little reasonable evidence that Jesus ever existed, much less walked on water, and there really is no good evidence that there is any kind of supernatural activity, especially god(s).

[Suburbanite]

Or is that just wily satan speaking?!?!?! WHOOOO!!!

[admiraladz]

As far as I am aware the debate goes -

God exists, but his power comes from faith. By proving he exists through revealing himself, he removes the 'free will' of man and thus the power he gains through faith.

Why then if God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost aren't allowed to reveal themselves to man then why is Satan allowed to do it?

Surely if we could prove that Satan exists then we can prove by default that God exists. By proving that both God and the Devil both exist we lose our free will and destroy them in the same stroke Q.E.D...... or has this already happened and that's why the world is in such a state today?

Did we kill God by rationalising him?

[Suburbanite]

No. There is no free will or a God anyways. This is the 21st century, this Christian lagging really has to stop, I'd like my socierty to progress before I die.

[Compugasm]

Oh that settles it. Suburbanite said so.

[Suburbanite]

Good.

[Scribbler1]

Originally posted by admiraladz, As far as I am aware the debate goes - God exists, but his power comes from faith. By proving he exists through revealing himself, he removes the 'free will' of man and thus the power he gains through faith.

And it follows that if God is the creator of ALL to begin with, he certainly would have no need to derive his power from that which he himself created. That of course implies God is NOT all powerful if he needs power from others to begin with. It further suggests that God could not possibly have created Man if he needs Man's faith to function.

(I think there's a variation of a law of thermodynamics at work here)