Human sin or Satan? 1 of 100 Satan I'd say

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0704749.htm

(snips)
Dark spots exist in the Catholic Church, but they are only a small part of the reality of the church and its members, said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state. In an Aug. 20 interview with Vatican Radio, the cardinal said media that focus only on the failures of church members are giving the public a distorted vision of the church.

In the same way, Cardinal Bertone said, "the church is a great masterpiece of God's and of the men and women of the church," who have done and continue to do "an immense volume of good in every part of the world." Cardinal Bertone said that "sometimes it seems that there is a plan" on the part of the media to present only negative stories about the Catholic Church and to focus on them long past the time they are news.

He told the radio there are many signs that the devil continues attacking all that is good and all that is of God."Think of violence, which is so widespread and which erupts almost spontaneously, even in places that should be sanctuaries of love: within a family, in forums of sharing, reconciliation and friendship; and the violence that explodes on the part of religions," he said. "Religions were created for peace because they look toward the same God of all," he said. "Each of these are signs of the furious attacks of the evil one in our age, which we must oppose with a strong faith, the faith of one who follows Christ," Cardinal Bertone said.

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I'm a very big fan of Cardinal Bertone's and think that his comments (read the whole article in the above link) are very important and need to be heeded. I've known for a long time that there is a huge target drawn on the Catholic Church by secularists, controlling the media and who also use the court and tax systems for harassment. That is no surprise but the faithful need to be reassured that they aren't imagining things: that the Catholic Church IS good, and that blots on its character by those who sin inside the Church and outside are not the story of the entire faith, by far.

I also agree with him that people need to be reminded of the work of Satan. However, I disagree with his characterization of Satan as being behind the mundane widespread evil of the day. Here I have to be a bit Calvinistic, I'm afraid. If you look at the scriptures, Satan tends to move in "new" areas of sin. He tempts humans into huge, ground breaking new areas of sin. Humans, on the other hand, through their flawed nature and willingness to be tempted by sin (by sin, not by Satan) are responsible for 99 percent of what is evil in the world. When Satan works, it's a whopper of evil for sure; he stimulates the minds of the great sinners of the day, and is behind much of the "culture of death" that is disguised in being "humane." But violence in strife, theft, lying, cheating widows and orphans, depravity, slavery... all of these are driven by human's tendency to sin. Much of it is because humans did not follow the teachings of God in their evolution: they followed the evolution of technology and material goods. Moses received the commandments from God not because Satan was running around with the Israelites. Notice that? The Commandments were given because the people were sinning. Satan stimulated in Eve the need to be in control of humankind, and then he really didn't have to do too much work after that. He steps in once in a while to stir the pot into a new area (drugs and alcohol are examples, as are the destruction of the family) but for the large part, it is human's own desire to play God, to control other humans, and to covet and sin that stimulates the violence we see today. Satan rarely has to get involved.

In fact, if truth be told, Satan is becoming a little bit alarmed. See, if people eradicate themselves, Satan no longer has a hold on earth. Satan was not running around kicking sand in the faces of baby dinosaurs in order to piss off God before humans arrived on earth. Earth was peaceful and thrived, the original garden of Eden, for the 2 billion or so years of life before modern "civilized" humans emerged. He made his first appearance in humans, because they are in the image of God, and so he, also in the image of God, as a "fallen angel" is a part of human physiology and psyche. If people are not alive, neither is he. That is his "defeat" in the Apocalypse, oh dummies who cheer for the End of Times... he's defeated because all the people on earth die! He no longer has a "host" to support him, and thus he's confined fully to hell. Satan exists only as baggage that human beings carry. So the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees and the moon up above... none of them are under Satan's power, because he only exists where humans that can be tempted exist. And most of the time he does not have to stimulate temptation because human nature is to be grasping and sinful, to be honest... especially when the society has taken control and pushed Christianity, which is the antidote to Satan, out of the public square. So I agree with Cardinal Bertone, but have to remind people that Satan is moving only in the major developments of the culture of death and so forth.... humans are providing their own mundane day to day temptation, just as they did throughout the Bible's recorded history. Satan cannot be blamed for each of you who steals from me, for example... but Satan can be blamed for a society that believes that theft is OK and needs to be looked at "in context" or for New Age reasons. Satan stimulates the great "thinkers" and "false prophets" and then sits back on his beach chair and watches human sinfulness kick in and do the thousands of sins in support of the "thinkers" and "false prophets'" "policies." People do need a reminder from Calvin in this respect. I'd say about one time out of a hundred has a touch of Satan; the rest of the sins are just good old human nature, as usual.