# The Devil Depicted As Tormenting Sinners. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2013, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631 "2013-10-30T07:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/21 "2013-10-30T18:02:08Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > While the devil as torturer is not a primary focus in Christian theology–certainly not these days–the idea is not outside scripture: > A devil seeking to devour people is hardly a passive character, nor is he a a recruiter for a college football program. He wants to lure people to him so that he may inflict pain on them. I’m not so sure that its so that ‘he’ can inflict ‘pain’ - if you take the literal ‘game’ between God and Satan as between ‘faithfulness’ and ‘free will’ - he wants you to question authority and exercise free will - the punishment for that is seperation from God and whatever ‘reward’ that would get you. It easier to call Satan evil and something to be feared if you picture him as the one doing the torturing, as oppose to the reality of it being God allowing the torment (irrespective of ‘what’ is causing it). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/22 "2013-10-30T18:03:56Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Also, the question was “Why is the Devil \*\*\*Depicted \*\*\*As Tormenting Sinners.” Emphasis added. So, internally consistent reasons for that \*\*depiction \*\*are legitimate GQ material, irrespective of the actual existance of either fallen angels or afterlifes. I did address that. Some Christian mythologies - not all - use the story of a tormenting devil as as a metaphor for the consequences of sin. The details of the story differ wildly; change with every retelling probably. The details are not internally consistent nor do they ever have to be. Metaphors and stories are seldom internally consistent - go to CS for a thousand threads tearing stories apart. Questioning the inconsistencies, however, is discouraged, because that’s seen as questioning the religion itself. Belief in the various religions lumped together under Christianity is not the same thing as belief in the folk stories that have accreted under Christianity. Even the definition of a sin varies greatly from sect to sect. Why is drinking or dancing or divorce considered sins by some Christians and not others? There is no objective factual answer except that their telling of the story works out that way. Same with the devil. It’s a good story. Period. Why did eternal torment appeal sufficiently to Christians to make it a popular story that has lasted for centuries? That may be what the OP is really asking. The answer is that a torturing Satan gives people an official imprimatur for the kind of revenge that societal mores prevent them from carrying out in real life. Have your cake and eat it too. That’s good crowd control from the point of view of the authorities and it’s what Marx meant when he said that “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people,” a phrase similar to an earlier one from the Marquis de Sade. The iconography of Heaven and Hell is a juicy subject for dissection. To analyze it gets you into a discussion of every kind of relationship and human activity. Belief is almost totally irrelevant. Any self-aware believer can work through the subject as much as any self-aware nonbeliever. But like philosophy, there are no answers, and it sure isn’t appropriate for GQ. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/23 "2013-10-30T18:17:12Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#): > > Biblically, Satan is not in charge of hell, but is cast there to be punished along with those who followed him. So if anyone is being tormented, it’s not Satan doing the torment. Hell is the wrath of God, not of Satan. I suspect (more or less without evidence) that the concept of Satan being the boss of hell in charge of administering the torments originated in medieval Catholicism and was popularized by Dante in _The Inferno_. Nitpick: In Dante’s _Inferno_, Satan was depicted at the center of the Ninth Circle, chewing on the traitors, as mentioned in the OP. However, he was also trapped in the ice himself, constantly flapping his wings in an attempt to get free. There were certainly other demons in _Inferno_ that appeared to be part of the bureaucracy of Hell, but Satan was depicted as the ultimate non-human prisoner, rather than the big boss. So Satan’s depiction in _Inferno_ actually supports your statement, rather than popularizing the opposite. At least in the translation I read. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/24 "2013-10-30T18:22:26Z")
> [@Garth Marenghi](#): > > Slight hijack, but The Devil and his compatriots were depicted as having “fun” in the French stereo photo cards called “[Diableries](http://www.londonstereo.com/diableries/)” that were popular in the late 1800s. Does look kinda fun, actually. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/25 "2013-10-30T18:22:54Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > So why is he depicted tormenting bad people? 🙂 Well, Satan is first mentioned by name in Job. And at that time, as depicted in Job, Satan was the “tester.” And he and God make a sort of wager concerning Job and his faith, and the whole thing ends up with Satan putting Job through various trials and tribulations. Similarly in one of the gospels it very clearly states that Jesus went out in the desert to BE TESTED by Satan. I forget which gospel. But, Jesus seeks Satan in order to be tested. And it’s not a monumental leap from “tester” to “tormentor” really and there is some mention of Satan testing by tormenting as in Job. And then you can add the Deuteronimic Theory of Retribution, which is the early idea that if things go wrong it must be because you pissed God off. So, in Hell you have Satan, the “tester” tormenting people that pissed God off. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/26 "2013-10-30T19:03:20Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > Well, Satan is first mentioned by name in Job. And at that time, as depicted in Job, Satan was the “tester.” And he and God make a sort of wager concerning Job and his faith… This story has always troubled me when Satan is presented as a creature whose sole purpose is to spite God through the corruption of humanity. It more or less admits God keeps Satan on the payroll as His official doer of dirty deeds. Satan is well adapted to the role. He possesses wit and wile, and he loves his work–which makes him revolting–but he is, nevertheless, what God created him to be. With respect to the OP, Satan exists to make sure only the worthy and good make it back to Heaven, whereas the rest of humanity, who lack faith and obedience, are trash. The fallen humans are the evil ones undeserving of mercy or kindness, not Satan. Satan’s just doing God’s work of sorting the wheat from the chaff. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/27 "2013-10-30T19:37:22Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > This story has always troubled me when Satan is presented as a creature whose sole purpose is to spite God through the corruption of humanity. It more or less admits God keeps Satan on the payroll as His official doer of dirty deeds. Satan is well adapted to the role. He possesses wit and wile, and he loves his work–which makes him revolting–but he is, nevertheless, what God created him to be. With respect to the OP, Satan exists to make sure only the worthy and good make it back to Heaven, whereas the rest of humanity, who lack faith and obedience, are trash. The fallen humans are the evil ones undeserving of mercy or kindness, not Satan. Satan’s just doing God’s work of sorting the wheat from the chaff. That sounds about right to me. And if that were not the case, and Satan was actually acting independently, then he would be another god separate from the one God. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631/28 "2013-10-31T01:25:19Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#): > > I suspect (more or less without evidence) that the concept of Satan being the boss of hell in charge of administering the torments originated in medieval Catholicism and was popularized by Dante in _The Inferno_. Probably pre-medieval. The Apocalypse of Peter mentions: “And other men and women were being burned up to their middle and cast down in a dark place and scourged by evil spirits, and having their entrails devoured by worms that rested not. And these were they that had persecuted the righteous and delivered them up.” So there was at least one pre-medieval work that had evil-doers tortured by evil spirits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-devil-depicted-as-tormenting-sinners/672631.md?page=1)