Ok, maybe i missed something.....I didnt see any talks about mental ascension...I believe that this could be detrimental to a spiritual life. Im still in the process of trying to forget everything, i thought i knew, now.......which is why not im not one to dismiss anyone's words just because it sounds foreign to me.
I only asking about your view of the importance of the devi,l to ones ability to call oneself a christian, because you mentioned twice that a poster's views wasnt Christian.....when he only expressed doubts about the devil.....i was trying to understand why..
The reason for my post was a first step to maintaining order in the forum. Discussion is allowed. Simply stating one doesn't agree with what the Church teaches (as the posts I was replying to - not yours) belongs in St. Justin's.
I can understand the exercise of removing everything you have been taught since it might be hard to know what is true, and starting over. That takes courage. Kudos - and I wish you all the best in searching out sources that can be trusted.
Now as far as really answering what you're asking - I will try. Forgive me if I'm clumsy here. Maybe some of my brothers and sisters can help.
The existence of a Devil, has no bearing on my desire to serve God.....My desire did not stem from a desire to flee a devil, but instead, a drawing to God..... from God.
I understand that.
But - if you have some narrative in mind that God created us ... in what state did He create us? Why? If you want to bypass those more importantly - what state are you in now? What is it going to take to draw close to God?
I suppose it's possible to bypass a lot of it in fact - at least theoretically if you'd never had the question put to you. If you were a tribal person perhaps, looking up at the sky and around at creation, surmising there must be a God, and wishing to know Him, with any inkling of Him as good ... that might be enough. Such a person is inclined to God and can see in himself any laws God writes on his heart and desire the good, with no theological knowledge of the devil.
But ... that's not who you are. Rather, you have been blessed (or burdened?) with a great deal of theological information and access to much more. You can't claim total ignorance. So you are doing what we all do - the best you can. Which if I understand in your case is right now to put away everything in order to cut yourself free from errors. That's commendable. But what will you build on it? I'm sure again, like we all do, you will do your best, desiring to please God.
I dont see the nonacceptance of a Devil, as a rejection of the Teachings of Christ, as Christ only taught in Parable, and without parable spoke he not unto them........yet to the disciple who went within....revealed he the mysteries of the Kingdom. We cant go within while worrying about things without.. I think it possible that the devil could be symbolic of more important concepts......concepts we will never be able to comprehend and wrestle against as long as we are looking for the man with the pitch fork.
I agree we need to forget about the guy with the pitchfork. If the enemy shows up (literally) he would be much more likely to be much less threatening and more appealing. An angel of light, you know?
I admit offhand I'm not thinking of a direct statement of Christ that can't possibly be taken in any metaphorical way, but it stretches imagination with the ones I can think of. I could very well be forgetting something He did say though.
But how do you know what Jesus said? Did the Gospel-writers tell the truth? Then who in the world was tempting Jesus? I don't think it's possible even with poor Christology to imagine He was talking to Himself. And it would have to be a poor Christology that imagined Christ had any evil within Himself. God forbid!
So ... just by logical extension, I think you must say you wouldn't be accepting what the Gospel-writers said. We can put aside possible authority of the Epistles, the Church, the early Councils, and so on until after that is dealt with, as your line for authority probably falls short of that if you are seeking right now what you can trust as true.
I hope that explains a little. Forgive me that I'm not sure I've done a very good job of it.
But maybe it's a good time to ask - what DO you hold as authoritative Truth, and why? Once we tear down possible misinformation, it's important if possible to replace it with what we can and do trust. Otherwise we might need to worry about the condition of the man in the story who had a demon cleared out but the "house" was simply swept clean, so that ultimately the spirit returned with others even worse than himself. When we remove error, replacing it with Truth is a good protection against further error creeping in to fill the vacuum.
But I admit that I could be wrong....which is why I'm less likely to be deceived..... AS knowing I have the truth, is a prerequisite of deception......
We should always be willing to admit that WE might be wrong. The trick is to find what we can trust as being true.
But your statement reminds me of one made by one of the Saints or elders - I forget. He said something to the effect that we are all deceived in some way - a major deception being to suppose that we are not at all deceived. That's just an aside though.
