The Bible says that Satan was created by God as a cherub, the most powerful of God’s angelic beings. Some time after his creation and before the creation of mankind, Satan rebelled against God and took one third of the angels (now referred to as demons) with him into rebellion.
Angels, including Satan, don’t have male or female characteristics in their heavenly state (which Jesus told us through His teaching although there is no evidence that Jesus ever existed). However, when they come to earth, they can take on human form. In the Bible, all angels who take on human form appear as males. All biblical references address Satan by the personal pronoun “he.”
Satan was created as a perfect being. He is described as originally being wise and completely righteous. However, pride caused Satan to fall, (“your heart was lifted up because of your beauty”), since he wanted to receive the worship due to God alone. At that point there was rebellion in heaven, when Satan convinced one third of the angels to rebel against God.
Michael, an archangel of God, fought with God’s angels against Satan and his angels, with Satan losing the battle and being cast from down to earth. It isn’t certain when Satan rebelled against God, but a passage from the book of Job suggests it occurred between the creation of the earth and the creation of Adam and Eve. In describing the creation of the earth to Job, God said that “all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Presumably, “all the sons of God” would have included Satan as well, suggesting he hadn’t rebelled at the point the earth was created.
Of course all of this is subject to question, and those questions foster other doubts as well. If God is this all powerful being why does he let little children suffer cancer, rape, murder, and starvation for just a few. Then they become more personal, God flooded the world, and destroyed 4 of the 5 cities of the plain which included Sodom and Gomorrah. Weren’t there young children in the world and in those cities? So God is a child murderer. Well he created them is the stock answer, which is false. God created man and man had sex and we now know that DNA and a sperm and ovum created new life. No longer is modern man satisfied with your answers to, “Why is my child dying of cancer?” with God works in mysterious ways.
Rituals are repeated human actions to fulfill, reinforce and maintain a part of the human function and experience. Brushing our teeth is a ritual created to tend to our dental health. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are daily rituals to tend to our caloric intake. Prayer before bed, meals or at church every Sunday is a ritual to tend to piety and relationship with God. Going to the gym is a ritual to tend to maintenance of our muscular and cardiovascular systems. But why don’t gym bags, toothbrushes and Eggo waffles send people running for the hills?
In the infamous revolt of the angels, Satan (let’s refer to him as Lucifer the Angel, as he is called in the New Testament) was, of the angels created by God, said to be the most perfect, powerful, and intelligent. God essentially created these angels to be hit men — immediately sending them off on quests to murder people who challenged him. Lucifer identified this problem, rallied some of the other angels, and confronted God to challenge his authority. Most any Christian you talk to will see this as Lucifer being arrogant, but we see it as bravery. As a result of Lucifer’s revolt, he was cast out of heaven by God, where he then fell to Earth and bestowed the gift of knowledge to human kind (specifically to Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis). We see ourselves as aligning with a literary figure that is heavily misinterpreted, and undertaking the same mission. Since we don’t believe in the supernatural, the concept of a nontheistic but Satanic ritual seems like an oxymoron.
by Ali Kellog