At church this morning, the pastor opened his sermon with an
anecdote. A seminary student was asked if he believed in a personal
devil, and he responded that he did not. The people who asked the
question were concerned about whether the seminary student would make a
good pastor, and someone suggested that they not worry about it: in
pastoring a church, the guy said, the seminary student will come to
believe in a personal devil!
This anecdote made me think about whether or not I believe in a
personal devil. I was certainly raised to believed in one, and so that
belief is a part of me, somewhere. On the other hand, my education has
told me that the devil was only part of later stages of Jewish religion,
and that Christianity inherited that belief from there.
To be honest, I do not worry much about a personal devil. My challenge is dealing with myself and my own sins and flaws.