# About the Hell mailbag answer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 15, 2000, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-hell-mailbag-answer/41325 "2000-11-15T17:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-hell-mailbag-answer/41325/41 "2000-11-22T14:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > **Jab1 is correct that Isaiah 14:12 didn’t originally refer to Satan or any supernatural figure** Thank you. I’m blushing. > [@](#): > > His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.\*\* The next time some lamebrain tells you “I believe every word in the Bible is literally true,” throw that verse at them. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-hell-mailbag-answer/41325/42 "2000-11-22T17:04:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danielinthewolvesden \* > \*\*And also, from Don’t Know Much About the Bible, by Kenneth Davis, re Satan in Job: "the Satan of Job… is more of a figure… of a prosecuting attorney, than the figure of pure evil as …now commonly concieved. > > \*\* That is absolutely correct. The Hebrew word “Satan” means advesary or opponent. An example of it is in the story of Biliam. The word used to describe the angel who encounters him in this situation is “L’Satan”; to be an advesary to him. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![JubilationTCornpone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JubilationTCornpone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JubilationTCornpone)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-hell-mailbag-answer/41325/43 "2000-11-22T18:19:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > > **Jab1 is correct that Isaiah 14:12 didn’t originally refer to Satan or any supernatural figure** > > Thank you. I’m blushing. > > > [@](#): > > > > His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.\*\* > > The next time some lamebrain tells you “I believe every word in the Bible is literally true,” throw that verse at them. \*\* To be fair, most of these people would admit that the Bible does contain allegorical devices – the parables being the most obvious example. If asked, I’m sure that most of them would also acknowledge that metaphors are used as well, and that there is rampant symbolism in the books of Daniel and Revelation. It’s unfortunate that some of them recklessly oversimplify by saying that EVERY word in the Bible is literally true. I wish they wouldn’t do that, since it only serves to muddy the waters. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-hell-mailbag-answer/41325/44 "2000-11-27T17:07:35Z")
Actually, I was not referring to the Isaiah passage, the interpretation of which is disputed, but to the fact that the legend of the war in heaven (based in part on that passage) that Milton used is much, much older than Milton, as another poster remarked. As to the Book of Mormon issue, I don’t think the argument holds; Joseph Smith claimed to have translated the text into English; the point could be argued that “Lucifer” was the best available English translation. No, the fatal flaw in the Book of Mormon is that it is demonstrably dependent on late medieval manuscripts of the Book of Matthew. (Other, related flaws are the laughable notion that the “Sermon on the Mount” is a _verbatim_ transcription of some one actual sermon preached by Jesus [if there is one thing we know for sure about Him, it is that He was a great preacher, and great preachers don’t preach sermons that are entirely made up of their Famous Sayings with no structure above the level of the paragraph], and, even if the above were to be granted, it is equally implausible that he would preach the _very same_ sermon again to a wholly different audience from a different culture.) (It is one of the saddest things about extreme Christian and semi-Christian sects that they end up making Jesus into a meat puppet.) “…and all because they are afraid of four little words: ‘He was made Man.’” – Chesterton [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-hell-mailbag-answer/41325.md?page=2)