The devil possibly doesn't exist as an evil conscious supernatural being.

Okay then, let's start. First of all let us remind ourselves what the word Satan really means. You see, back in the day, at the times of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word Satan wasn't used to describe an evil spirit or demon. Satan was a word used to describe someone who is an adversary. The word Satan was used to describe any individual who was an adversary. Anyone who was your adversary would be a Satan. I could say that right now you are my Satan. "The word satan in Hebrew (the language of the Old Testament), is generally accepted to mean 'to obstruct', but it also has in it the idea of an opponent or an adversary (i.e. one who challenges). Thus 'the satan' originally meant one who 'obstructs', or 'challenges'. This aspect of the satan is seen in the story of Balaam and his donkey (Numbers 22:21ff). Balaam was going on a journey against the wishes of God, who sent 'a satan' (obstructer) to stand in his way ('... the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him'). It is only because his donkey saw the angel and refused to go on, that Balaam was prevented from being killed. So here we see that a 'satan' in this instance is not an evil being, but simply an angel sent to 'obstruct' (literally stop) Balaam. In 1 Kings 11:14 the word satan is also used to describe an enemy of Solomon ('Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary'). Once again, satan here does not refer to an evil being." - http://www.thatreligiousstudieswebsite.com... You see, in this case an angel of the Lord was a Satan. Because Balaam was going on a journey against the wishes of God, God sent his angel to oppose Balaam. This angel was Balaam's adversary, his Satan, because he opposed Balaam. The book of Job was the first time in the Old Testament when the word satan was used describe a particular individual, spelled Ha-Satan, meaning The Satan. But this was not a devil or demon/fallen angel. It was an angel of god who tested Job's faith in god, Ha-Satan was the accuser. "Satan is primarily understood as an "accuser" or "adversary" in the Hebrew Bible, and is not necessarily the personification of evil that he would become in later Abrahamic religions." http://en.wikipedia.org... "In mainstream Judaism there is no concept of a devil like in mainstream Christianity or Islam. Texts make no direct link between the serpent that tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden from Genesis and references to a Satan in the first book of Chronicles[3] and in Job.[4] In Hebrew, the biblical word ha-satan means "the adversary"[6] or the obstacle, or even "the prosecutor" (recognizing that God is viewed as the ultimate Judge)." http://en.wikipedia.org... Let's have one thing in mind - all of the "later Abrahamic religions" were based on the Old Testament. Christianity and Islam isn't a completely new religion that is different from the Old Testament. They are based on the same god, the God of the Old Testament. "In Islam, Jesus (Isa) is considered to be a messenger of God (Allah) and the Messiah (al-Masih) who was sent to guide the Children of Israel (Bani Isra'il) with a new scripture, the Gospel" (Injil). http://en.wikipedia.org... Same god, you see? "In mainstream Christianity the Devil is known as Satan and sometimes as Lucifer, although it has been noted that the reference in Isaiah 14:12 to Lucifer, or the Son of the Morning, is a reference to the Babylonian king. http://en.wikipedia.org...; Oh, you thought Lucifer was Satan? Think again! "Lucifer is the King James Version rendering of the Hebrew word in Isaiah 14:12.[1] This word, transliterated h"l"l[1] or heylel,[2] occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible[1] and according to the KJV-influenced Strong's Concordance means "shining one, morning star, Lucifer".[2] The word Lucifer is taken from the Latin Vulgate,[3] which translates as lucifer,[Isa 14:12][4][5] meaning "the morning star, the planet Venus", or, as an adjective, "light-bringing".[6] The Septuagint renders (he!3;sphoros),[12][13][14] a name, literally "bringer of dawn", for the morning star.[15] In this passage Isaiah applies to a king of Babylon the image of the morning star fallen from the sky, an image he is generally believed to have borrowed from a legend in Canaanite mythology.[16]" http://en.wikipedia.org... Lucifer here isn't used to refer to a fallen angel, but it is used to describe a Babylonian king. "Christian tradition, influenced by the Jewish presentation of the passage of Isaiah as applicable to Satan,[18] came to use the Latin word for "morning star", lucifer, as a proper name ("Lucifer") for Satan as Satan was before his fall.[25] As a result, "Lucifer has become a by-word for Satan in the Church and in popular literature",[3] as in Dante Alighieri's Inferno and John Milton's Paradise Lost.[14] However, the Latin word lucifer kept its original positive sense for early Christians, as is evident from its use as a personal name by, among others, two 4th-century bishops, Lucifer of Cagliari and Lucifer of Siena, and its appearance in the Easter Proclamation as a description of Jesus." You see, even Jesus himself was Lucifer! Revelation 22:16 - I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. http://www.sacred-texts.com... Lucifer - the morning star, Venus, the light-bringer,shining one, bringer of dawn. Why did such a positive word of light become so perversely twisted to become a synonym for negativity and darkness? Probably because of misinterpretation. There isn't a supernatural being Lucifer at all. Lucifer is Venus. So let's mention the Inquisition. So many have died because of the Catholic churches misinterpretation that I am ashamed of being baptized. "During what is known as the Little Ice Age, Pope Innocent VIII, in his papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (5 December 1484) instigated severe measures against magicians and witches in Germany. The grip of freezing weather, failing crops, rising crime, and mass starvation was blamed on witches. He issued the bull to inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacobus Sprenger to systemize the persecution of witches.[17][18] "It has recently come to our ears, not without great pain to us, that in some parts of upper Germany, [...] Mainz, Koin, Trier, Salzburg, and Bremen, many persons of both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the catholic faith, give themselves over to devils male and female, and by their incantations, charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions" - http://en.wikipedia.org... Superstitions? How dare you Pope Innocent?! If anyone is superstitious it is you! You are not "Innocent" at all! If you ask me the Catholic church is the real "Devil" and the real "master of lies". No offense to any Catholics, just my opinion. But at least there were some people such as Johann Weyer who were smart enough to be against that stuff. Weyer believed that most, probably all, cases of alleged witchcraft resulted from delusions of the alleged witch, rather than actual, voluntary cooperation with spiritual evil. In brief, Weyer claimed that cases of alleged witchcraft were psychological rather than supernatural in origin. http://en.wikipedia.org... Very smart guy. Poor witches. I think that this "Devil" character is only in the minds of Christians and Muslims who cannot take responsibility for their mistakes, but would rather use the devil as a scapegoat for their "sins". Theistic Satanists are even more deluded, worshiping a non existing deity and thinking it will give them "powers". I know these things because I was a Christian and a Theistic Satanist. But now, I don't have any belief in this devil character at all and see it as joke really.