In a discussion I'm having with missionaries concerning HaSatan, the devil, evil inclinations, etc., I might have painted myself into a corner in my
attempt to explain the perspective from Judaism. Bear with me on this as I try to describe what I mean.
Judaism believes in an adversarial angel that tempts and accuses man. We also believe in the yetzer ha'ra and yetzer ha'tov which is part of human nature that G-d created us with. Are these two concepts one and the same or are they similar for lack of a better term? When I try to drive home the point that the evil inclination comes from within it's almost a contradiction to say that there is the satan whose job is to cause us to stray from G-d. How do we make clear that the evil man does is a choice that comes from within and not an external influence from an agent from G-d? That concept is more along the lines of the xtian devil. Am I making sense here? I was called on the carpet to distinguish between the two and realized that I sounded like I was contradicting myself. Is it an external influence or an internal choice? The story of Job (which I realize is probably not historically true) portrays HaSatan as a force that EXTERNALLY afflicts Job to test his faith in Hashem. This almost seems to counter the evil inclination that comes from WITHIN. Do I make sense? Any wisdom is appreciated on this issue.
Judaism believes in an adversarial angel that tempts and accuses man. We also believe in the yetzer ha'ra and yetzer ha'tov which is part of human nature that G-d created us with. Are these two concepts one and the same or are they similar for lack of a better term? When I try to drive home the point that the evil inclination comes from within it's almost a contradiction to say that there is the satan whose job is to cause us to stray from G-d. How do we make clear that the evil man does is a choice that comes from within and not an external influence from an agent from G-d? That concept is more along the lines of the xtian devil. Am I making sense here? I was called on the carpet to distinguish between the two and realized that I sounded like I was contradicting myself. Is it an external influence or an internal choice? The story of Job (which I realize is probably not historically true) portrays HaSatan as a force that EXTERNALLY afflicts Job to test his faith in Hashem. This almost seems to counter the evil inclination that comes from WITHIN. Do I make sense? Any wisdom is appreciated on this issue.
