Some people in my Atheist group I'm in on Facebook need to enhance their knowledge more about Christianity. A person asked this question today...
"So if Satan is punishing all the murderers in a fiery lake, wouldn't that make him a force for good, not evil? Asking for a friend."
I replied back with, "That's not how it works at all. You can be a murderer and still go to Heaven if you repent and really are sorry and genuinely have accepted Jesus as your savior, and really do believe in God and the Bible (no blasphemy). All Satan is meant for is a place where all the unbelievers go....I even had lunch with a few Evangelical Christians in the past and they told me that even Hitler can go to Heaven. That's why Christianity is so messed up. There's probably more good people in Hell than Heaven, speaking in terms of people who believe this nonsense. That's why a lot of people in prison who have committed terrible crimes become religious. During Jeffery Dahmer's last years in prison, he became a Christian."
OR this person is just a massive troll which is also annoying LOL. 
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I don't think this rhetorical question is particularly impressive, but I don't have a fundamental problem with it either. It's a rhetorical question, so not asked by a believer in Satan. It's a fair question ... who is Satan working for if he's doing essentially god's work? Why would he be punished for doing god's work of inflicting eternal, endless torment on people for the finite offense of not believing in and loving and submitting to him?
It's just poking logical holes in the tissue of self-contradicting and self-ratifying nonsense that is Christianity.
I'm a former evangelical Christian and I certainly understand evangelical hamartiology and eschatology as well as anyone here but I still think it's a fair rhetorical point and not an expression of ignorance.
The sort of ignorance I DO see on display by atheists is usually around things like the provenance of scripture -- something atheists tend not to have a good technical grasp of at all -- and the need to "prove" that there's no historical Jesus that Christianity was based on -- which, while possible, is (1) not provable and (2) beside the point (and BTW I do happen to be a Jesus mythicist, a position that can also not be proven -- so I generally avoid the topic as nothing good ever comes of it). Both of these tend to result in energy wasted on arguing non-sequiturs and displaying ignorance of lower criticism and how actual historians determine historicity, etc.
mordant
Level 8
Oct 1, 2019
0
Ummm, someone who believes in "Satan" is Not an atheist!!?
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Oct 1, 2019
0
That's how Satan (Lucifer, I should say) works on the Netflix series...
Paul4747
Level 8
Oct 1, 2019
1
@vjohnson51 And yet it's more coherent than the actual text. This should be worrying to Xians.
And then there's the Shi'a Muslim interpretation that it was not pride which led to Satan's expulsion from Heaven, but love. God originally tells his angels to kneel only before him; then he creates Man and tells his angels to kneel in awe before Man, his great creation. Satan so loves God that he can't bear to kneel before anyone else. And so Satan in Hell is God's greatest worshipper, and the only thing that sustains Satan in the loneliness of Hell is the memory of his beloved's voice telling him, "Begone."
The fire and torture is actually a late development. Originally, Hell was cold, and the pain of Hell was simply being deprived of the presence of God.
There is a rich history of religious and literary tradition revolving around the devil character, and almost none of it originates in the Bible. (Lucifer, by the way, was the King of Babylon, not the Devil. Lucifer, or "Light Bringer", "Morning Star", is the Latin name for the planet Venus.)
@Paul4747 I love dear ole Dante’s Inferno in The Divine Comedy.
It all makes sense in the context of C14th Florence. I particularly love the idea of ‘worthy pagans’. He has all the angles covered!
Many prisons have religious as well as cultural units for inmates. If you declare your religiosity, especially Christianity, you are going to get a much different time in your stretch. It’s a good strategy to undertake. I would if it ever happened to me!
Geoffrey51
Level 8
Sep 30, 2019
0
Michigan doesn't have segregated units, they just have religious services and they get to eat earlier on nights when they take place... no waiting for the common folk. But that goes for all the religions. Except Wicca only have about 6 a year?
I think the absurd level of discussion there is indicated by an eight letter word beginning with F and ending in K!
Geoffrey51
Level 8
Sep 30, 2019
0
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