# Can you sell somebody else's soul to the devil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709 "2010-12-10T21:56:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/121 "2012-11-23T17:21:05Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > So we are now in TRON’s world? If so, I’m adding Olivia Wilde to the original deal. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/122 "2012-11-23T22:53:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If so, I’m adding Olivia Wilde to the original deal. LOL. Unfortunately, a model with self regenerating souls implies that soul copying is just as effective as soul excision, so the market prices will not be high enough to afford Olivia. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/123 "2012-12-06T15:58:52Z")
It appears my idea has been superseded by [advanced technology](http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2799#comic). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Last](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@The\_Last](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Last)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/124 "2016-08-18T06:43:18Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Almost. There is [one unforgivable sin](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%203:28-29&version=NIV): If this is the case than you would not seek any repentance even at the last second faced with eternal damnation as you have slandered the Holy Spirit. At this point you will not seek any forgiveness, this alone would show that you have not sinned against the Holy Spirit. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/125 "2022-08-17T22:35:01Z")
You can’t _really_ transfer a soul to another soul. The devil is an allegorical reference to a soulless person’s past self. It’s like you become your own Satan. Selling your soul to the devil means to abuse another individual. So if you killed someone to obtain something, etc. When you get old and whatever, you go through horrible horrible things because of what you did when you were younger…assuming you sold your soul to the devil, which very few people ever do. Now, can you transfer a soul to another individual? No. If you sold your soul to the devil, you become the devil and have no soul. _ **Latex Dongs and things** _ If you already sold your soul you know what that means. It isn’t a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/126 "2022-08-17T22:55:01Z")
Just curious, but where did you get all this from? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/127 "2022-08-17T23:23:27Z")
Burdman, you’re treating this seriously, which is unsettling. (I’m betting you got it mostly out of your own head. But let us know!) On the lighter side… > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Isn’t that always the way? You think you’ve come up with an original idea and the Simpsons already did it. But they did it cleverly. Bart sold his soul to Milhouse for five bucks, but then notices that automatic doors don’t open for him, along with other metaphysical conundrums. He finally repents but Milhouse doesn’t have it, he sold it to the Comic Book Guy. Who, Bart finds out, sold it again, to a highly motivated buyer… This clip is cued up to him telling Bart, and uttering my favorite CBGuy line: “No banging your head on the display case, please. It contains a rare Mary Worth in which she has counseled a friend to commit suicide… Thank you!” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ISmYs2_fLuY/maxresdefault.jpg "Bart Simpson Needs His Soul Back") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmYs2_fLuY&t=126) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/128 "2022-08-18T03:44:56Z")
> [@burdman](#): > > _ **Latex Dongs and things** _ If you already sold your soul you know what that means. It isn’t a joke. I am relieved to find that I have not sold my soul. Because I have no idea what that means. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/129 "2022-08-18T14:37:57Z")
I thought alot about this. Anyways, religion is sort of like an ancient way of explaining psychology. Angels and demons; treating others as equal, treating others as inferior. There are two ways of explaining a soul. There’s the temporal way; it’s your first person perspective [a combination of a chemical reaction in the brain with the very short term memory]. There’s the psychological way; Are you a good person? Are you a bad person? If you were bad you have no soul. Before they turned bad, they had a soul, now that they’ve sold their soul to the devil, their past self has their soul and is the devil. Imagine spending all of eternity thinking about the devil and how they can’t get their soul back. When you get old you want your past self to be an angel, so you can look back on your life and view it as a gift from an angel. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/130 "2022-08-18T14:59:17Z")
If you walk around a graveyard and see a cross, that person had a soul [there are other symbols that mean the same thing]. If you walk through a forest and see scattering light [usually mirrors hanging from the treetops], those represent angels looking over you. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/131 "2022-08-18T15:20:00Z")
How interesting. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/132 "2022-08-18T15:22:29Z")
What is the value of a soul (for tax purposes)? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/133 "2022-08-18T15:27:10Z")
It depends on the state of the soul, and the state It is purchased in. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/134 "2022-08-18T15:32:26Z")
And depreciation. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/135 "2022-08-18T16:42:35Z")
Near the end, is life good or is life nothing? Everything else being equal, you probably want life to be good. I suppose that would make it worth more than anything worldly. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/136 "2022-08-19T10:00:40Z")
If life was good the resale value of your soul doesn’t matter because you wouldn’t sell it anyway. Besides, there are an infinite number of points between “good” and “nothing”. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/137 "2022-08-19T13:43:03Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m thinking apparently not. In the majority of the “deal with the devil” stories I’m familiar with, the seller always expresses regret and repentance at some point. But it’s never shown as being enough to overturn the deal. But maybe that’s because no soul-sellers have tried to enlist God’s help in reversing the sale? Maybe God’s not _all seeing_ and _all knowing_, but rather _all myopic_ and _all clueless_. Just turn on the crocodile tears and sob, _“the Devil duped me, G-man. The girls he provided for my threesome were frigid. Ya just gotta render our contract null and void…and did I mention what a good harp player I am? Pretty please!”_ Worth a shot. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/138 "2022-08-20T14:25:28Z")
Unfortunately we wouldn’t know whether life is good until the end. Although, there are enough hints out there to realize what’s going on. What looks like a brownie isn’t necessarily a brownie, but you wouldn’t know it until you take a bite. I don’t think religion is a culmination of superstition, I think they were really trying to tell us something. ---
**Author:** ![burdman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@burdman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burdman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/139 "2022-08-20T14:36:02Z")
Heh, this reminds me of the people who killed Jesus. They did the same thing, but God told them to bring him back to life first. What we got was a story about him rising from the dead. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709/140 "2022-08-20T15:41:34Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > What is the value of a soul (for tax purposes)? In _Fallen London_, an ordinary soul is worth 2 pennies, same as a bottle of cheap wine. A Brilliant Soul is worth 50. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-sell-somebody-elses-soul-to-the-devil/563709.md?page=8)