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Satan's Last Gasp
Washington Post ^ | March 24, 2009 | Deepak Chopra

Posted on 03/25/2009 1:21:11 PM PDT by Alex Murphy

Satan is losing the battle for people's minds. This is a clear trend, and it's been mounting for a long time. The basic reason is that evil has gotten a lot of competition. Are schizophrenics possessed by the Devil? Raise your hand if you say yes. A century ago, countless more people would have raised their hands than today, when we use "sick" in place of "evil" for many things, including psychosis. The more replacements we find for evil, the weaker Satan grows. After all, the Devil is the embodiment of absolute evil, the kind that admits no other explanation. His fortunes decline when valid explanations are at hand.

Besides psychosis, we attribute criminal behavior to a host of influences -- poverty, domestic abuse, peer pressure, social resentment -- that overshadow the simple word "evil." Centuries ago, the first word that would come to mind when a murder took place would be "sin," opening the door automatically to think about the great tempter and progenitor of sin, the serpent in the Garden. Today, if we fail to understand why sadistic violence occurs, we might fall back on a phrase like "pure evil," but even then we don't automatically insert Satan's name or make him the cause. We simply mean an evil that passes understanding -- for the time being. Understanding can grow, after all.

And it does grow. Leaving aside the dwindling number of fundamentalists who have made the Devil a core belief, fewer people see the hand of Satan at work around them. Abu Ghraib was a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved, but who did the media rush to for explanation? Psychologists, not preachers. If you take the most evil acts in the world, such as the Holocaust, you must run out of human explanations

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Apologetics; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: deepakchopra; evil; moralrelativism
Leaving aside the dwindling number of fundamentalists who have made the Devil a core belief, fewer people see the hand of Satan at work around them. Abu Ghraib was a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved, but who did the media rush to for explanation? Psychologists, not preachers.

....If Satan is so cosmic, why did he wait billions of years to appear on the scene, until the day when the Old Testament was written?

1 posted on 03/25/2009 1:21:12 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
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To: Alex Murphy

Deepak Chopra always reminds me it’s PBS pledge time.


2 posted on 03/25/2009 1:24:48 PM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Alex Murphy

I disagree with the premise that “not crediting Satan reduces his power”.

Power is determining an outcome without anyone knowing.

I’d say Satan is alive and well in today’s world.


3 posted on 03/25/2009 1:26:23 PM PDT by TheZMan ("I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.")
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To: Alex Murphy
The more replacements we find for evil, the weaker Satan grows

Exactly wrong. The devil doesn't want you to believe he exists. The more modern replacements or explanations we have for pure evil the greater in strength Satan gets.

Deepak + washington post + newsweek = lunacy.

4 posted on 03/25/2009 1:26:26 PM PDT by frogjerk (NO TAXATION FOR REAMORTIZATION!)
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To: Alex Murphy

Barack Obama sold his soul to the devil for the Presidency. Obviously.


5 posted on 03/25/2009 1:27:20 PM PDT by exist
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To: Alex Murphy

This needs a barf alert.

Typical liberal mindset. Abu Gharaib = evil. How many heads were cut off there?


6 posted on 03/25/2009 1:28:25 PM PDT by CASchack
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To: Alex Murphy

I was forced to listen to a Deepak Chopra tape at work where he claimed, “The world is exactly as it should be.”
I burst out laughing.

Anybody with half a clue can look around and realize the world is not as it should be.


7 posted on 03/25/2009 1:28:49 PM PDT by DannyTN (Impeach and Deport)
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To: Alex Murphy

Comparing the Holocaust w/ Abu Ghraib is so stupid.


8 posted on 03/25/2009 1:30:11 PM PDT by jjm2111
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To: Alex Murphy

Deepok has it backwards... The Devil’s greatest feat was to convince people he doesn’t exist and to persuade people to call evil sick. The hustler works best when you don’t suspect him of being there. Working in secret is his weapon.

Deepok Chokra is a jack ass.


9 posted on 03/25/2009 1:30:24 PM PDT by Professor_Leonide (I said to the young man who showed me a photo, "Who can ever be sure what is behind a mask?")
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To: Alex Murphy
Then how does he explain B Hussein's election?
10 posted on 03/25/2009 1:33:48 PM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Democrats spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: Alex Murphy
Abu Ghraib was a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved, but who did the media rush to for explanation? Psychologists, not preachers. If you take the most evil acts in the world, such as the Holocaust, you must run out of human explanations

Yet another example of demented moral relativism. Abu Ghraib in the same paragraph as the Holocaust???!!

No mention of Saddam's human-shredders, or even of the Nick Berg beheading, which took place a day or so after "Abu Ghraib" stormed the world's headlines in 2004 but garnered barely 10% of the attention.

Conclusion: Chopra is a psychobabbling idiot.

11 posted on 03/25/2009 1:34:08 PM PDT by rfp1234 (Phodopus campbelli: household ruler since July 2007.)
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To: Alex Murphy
Deepak clearly has been fooled by the best deceiver in the business. I'd say that when it comes to evil, the devil is doing well these days, wickedly well.
12 posted on 03/25/2009 1:34:09 PM PDT by GBA
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To: TheZMan
I’d say Satan is alive and well in today’s world.

__________________________________________

Alive? Satan owns this world. I figured that out the first time I read the scripture about the third temptation. How could Satan offer to give the world to Jesus unless he owned it.

This world is nothing but a battleground between good and evil.

13 posted on 03/25/2009 1:34:13 PM PDT by wtc911 ("How you gonna get back down that hill?")
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To: CASchack

I’m sick and tired of hearing about Abu Gharaib too.

I never cared about it.


14 posted on 03/25/2009 1:34:27 PM PDT by HailReagan78
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To: CASchack

I’m sick and tired of hearing about Abu Gharaib too.

I never cared about it.


15 posted on 03/25/2009 1:34:33 PM PDT by HailReagan78
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To: Alex Murphy

So according the Chopra, there is no absolute evil (unless it is Abu Ghraib—funny how it gets listed with the Holocaust) and the Devil is just our negative feelings.

Well, as one of those knuckle-draggers who believes there is a Satan, all I can say is that Satan must be happy that he is being denied. It is easier for him to ply his trade when people say he does not exist, is it not?


16 posted on 03/25/2009 1:34:36 PM PDT by Cheesel (The Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.)
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To: Alex Murphy
The basic reason is that evil has gotten a lot of competition.

The devil of the gaps.

17 posted on 03/25/2009 1:35:32 PM PDT by Inappropriate Laughter
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To: AlaskaErik

That wasn’t satanic.

We’re all gonna have rainbows and gum drops and unicorns and..


18 posted on 03/25/2009 1:35:59 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 65 of our national holiday from reality.)
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To: Alex Murphy

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing people he doesn’t exist.”

—Kaiser Soze (The Usual Suspects)

I buy the above premise. The more we think the Devil is more notion than genuine entity, the more effective he becomes.


19 posted on 03/25/2009 1:38:40 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: Drango

plus the countless “oldies” concerts that run all week


20 posted on 03/25/2009 1:40:52 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (today's free oxymoron : CNN News)
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To: Alex Murphy
Are schizophrenics possessed by the Devil? Raise your hand if you say yes.

YOW!

His fortunes decline when valid explanations are at hand.

Hey, so do mine. Looked at your 401(K) lately?

21 posted on 03/25/2009 1:43:40 PM PDT by humblegunner (Where my PIE at, fool?)
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To: wtc911

Well, he only thinks he owns it, but it’s by the Lord that he has any say about it. Besides, how many criminals are out there selling pieces of property that don’t belong to them? It’s a con as old as, well, the temptation in the desert. Remember the Brooklyn Bridge!


22 posted on 03/25/2009 1:45:38 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (today's free oxymoron : CNN News)
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To: CASchack; jjm2111
Unless Abu Ghraib was a lot worse than we heard, bad comparison.

Personally, considering what types of individuals we were/are dealing with, I hope it was HELL for the terrorists.

23 posted on 03/25/2009 1:45:46 PM PDT by wolfcreek (There is no 2 party system only arrogant Pols and their handlers)
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To: Alex Murphy
(1) A national socialist and captivating speaker named Hitler murdered about 18 million innocents.
(2) A soviet socialist and captivating speaker named Stalin murdered about 20 million innocents.
(3) A Maoist communist socialist and captivating speaker named Mao murdered about 30 million innocents.
(4) Another Maoist communist socialist and captivating speaker named Pol Pot murdered about 2 million innocents.
(5) Prison guards from the United States military put panties on the heads of several terrorist thugs, threatened them with dogs, and took their pictures.

If you had to pick four of the above five events from the last 100 years to demonstrate "a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved", which one would most sane people leave out? Could it possibly be the one that this anti-American writer chose to highlight?

Frightening fact #6:
(6) Another socialist and captivating speaker has just taken power in what is the strongest country in the world and used to be a bastion of freedom. The socialist's supporters are hoping that this experiment will turn out better than all previous attempts at socialism. After all, their messiah promises "change" once he has enough power, and he makes it sound good. What could go wrong?

24 posted on 03/25/2009 1:48:47 PM PDT by TurtleUp (Turtle up: cancel optional spending until 2012, and boycott TARP/stimulus companies forever!)
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To: Alex Murphy

So once again we have a lib telling us that Bush replaced Satan. Incredible.


25 posted on 03/25/2009 1:50:05 PM PDT by Oldpuppymax (AGENDA OF THE LEFT EXPOSED)
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To: CASchack
"Typical liberal mindset. Abu Gharaib = evil. How many heads were cut off there?"

If the author had been referring to Abu Gharaib as it had been operated under Saddam, I'd be inclined to agree with him; however, there's little doubt he was instead referring to a few mindless fraternity pranks perpetrated by a handful of poorly disciplined US soldiers.

26 posted on 03/25/2009 1:55:30 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Alex Murphy
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world [satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them....

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [satan], the spirit [satan] that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

So where can one start with an article written by Deepak? - One to whom the Gospel is hid because the 'god of this world' (satan) has blinded ... Mr. Deepak does not know. He does not believe Scripture and he is blind leader of the blind...

Mr. Deepak can philosophize all he wants, but satan 'wins' by getting people to take their eyes off of Christ -- our only hope for Salvation. 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life' ... Jesus is The Only Way - satan deludes us by getting us to follow all kinds of fairy tales: self-help programs, gaia as god, government as god, pretending that we wrestle only against flesh and blood and not that we are in mortal warfare against 'principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness in this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places'. Mr. Deepak would have served his readers better than by writing his essay and just repeating the tried words of Peter:

1 Peter 5:8-9a Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil [satan], as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith...

27 posted on 03/25/2009 1:59:27 PM PDT by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: Alex Murphy
Abu Ghraib was a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved

Deepok has not seen true depravity if he thinks this the most depraved humans can get.

28 posted on 03/25/2009 2:11:06 PM PDT by LiteKeeper (Beware of socialism in America; the Islamization of Eurabia)
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To: Alex Murphy

>Satan is losing the battle for people’s minds<

No he isn’t!

11/4/08

I rest my case.


29 posted on 03/25/2009 2:20:12 PM PDT by Califreak (111th Congress: Destroying America With Reckless Abandon)
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To: Alex Murphy
Satan is losing the battle for people's minds.

Seems like he's got a good hold on yours, Deepak. (Or maybe you are just hiding in a cave and haven't looked around at the world lately.)

30 posted on 03/25/2009 2:25:32 PM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: Alex Murphy

I have always suspected schizophrenia could be satanic. However, I don’t know how that could ever by proven.


31 posted on 03/25/2009 2:35:07 PM PDT by Marie2 (I don't know what that bird told you, but I'M Brian Fellows)
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To: LiteKeeper

Yeah, underpants on the head, the horror.


32 posted on 03/25/2009 2:36:50 PM PDT by Marie2 (I don't know what that bird told you, but I'M Brian Fellows)
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To: Alex Murphy
Abu Ghraib was a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved

Yea, naked Muslim twister and panties on heads rank right up there with Auschwitz.

33 posted on 03/25/2009 3:05:37 PM PDT by Minn (Here is a realistic picture of the prophet: ----> ([: {()
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To: Alex Murphy

Deepak Chopra is such a total fiduciary bag.

I’ve heard him rail against the concept of “evil,” on the grounds that it “leads to war.” (Classic liberal relativism.)

And I’ve heard him rail against “evil.” (Anything done by a Republican.)

Asking why Satan didn’t “show up” until the Old Testament was written is like asking why there was no gravity until Isaac Newton. Oh, and tell me: Did the Aztecs and Mayans get all those images of dragons and serpents and monsters, and their practice of human sacrifice from the Old Testament? Satan didn’t “show up” in Mexico City a long time before any Old Testaments hit bookstores in America?

And speaking of evil: How many people were killed with poison gas at Abu Ghraib? How many people got their hands chopped off at Abu Ghraib? (Or maybe Chopra was talking about Abu Ghraib when S. Hussein was running it!)


34 posted on 03/25/2009 3:21:20 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: wtc911
How could Satan offer to give the world to Jesus unless he owned it.

He was lying, of course. It's all he does, because he has no power of his own.

Christ is King.

35 posted on 03/25/2009 4:08:47 PM PDT by Zero Sum ("Al Gore's just an opportunist." -Freeman Dyson)
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To: Alex Murphy
If Satan is so cosmic, why did he wait billions of years to appear on the scene, until the day when the Old Testament was written?

The Old Testament was written in a day? Who knew?

Putz.

36 posted on 03/25/2009 4:14:20 PM PDT by Zero Sum ("Al Gore's just an opportunist." -Freeman Dyson)
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To: Alex Murphy

>> The more replacements we find for evil, the weaker Satan grows. After all, the Devil is the embodiment of absolute evil, the kind that admits no other explanation. His fortunes decline when valid explanations are at hand. <<

It’s funny the way Chopra states that like a simple truism. Yet Christianity teaches the opposite notion. C.S. Lewis put it well: “The greatest triumph of Satan is convincing Man he doesn’t exist.”

>> Abu Ghraib was a horrific example of human nature at its most depraved, but who did the media rush to for explanation? Psychologists, not preachers. <<

First, if Chopra thinks Abu Ghraib represents human nature at its most depraved, he’s a jaw-dropping idiot who desperately needs to tour Hussein’s old torture cells. But putting that aside, does the media’s response really say anything great about the cosmic nature of the universe, or the shallowness of the press?

>> ....If Satan is so cosmic, why did he wait billions of years to appear on the scene, until the day when the Old Testament was written? <<

Uh, what?


37 posted on 03/26/2009 5:03:24 AM PDT by dangus
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