The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Selling your soul to the devil?

Theology Biblical Theology
#1

Not sure what section to ask this question in…hope i chose the right one. :blush:

Where do Christians get the idea that someone can sell their soul to the devil? They always talk about rock stars and celebrities of having sold their soul to the devil for riches and fame and of course will be damned for all eternity. And many celebrities have claimed to have made an oath to Satan… :smiling_imp: :unamused:

Is there a passage in the bible that even remotely hints at being able to do this? Because many Christians truly believe this is possible. I don’t personally believe it because of my EU beliefs but i am curious as to where they get this from.

:question: :question: :question:

#2

I don’t recall the phrase itself ever being used, but RevJohn has something of this sort in regard to taking the mark of the beast.

Jesus’ opponents in the Gospels often accuse Him of this sort of thing, too, although I don’t offhand recall Jesus affirming it can happen. He doesn’t deny it can happen, either, although naturally He denies that the accusation is true about Himself.

I feel like I recall some things from the (canonical) Catholic Epistles (i.e. the epistles other than Paul’s) on this topic, but note my rare usage of the word “feel”. :wink:

#3

i think it probably comes from medieval christianity, which had a LOT of weird things…very superstitious things.
i like the episode of the Simpsons where Homer sells his soul to Satan for a donut, but it turns out it belongs to Marge so the deal was invalid

gosh, there could be something to that! free donuts with no fear of damnation…

edit: i’ve just realised many of my posts lately have to do with food…hmm sorry about that LOL

#4

They may have gotten the idea here Luke 4:[5] The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. [6] And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. [7] So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”

#5

Also probably from : what good is it to gain the world and forfeit your soul

#6

:laughing:

Sword of ManticorE that’s probably it…or at least the main one.
And redhotmagma good one too.

And thanks everyone, great answers. :slight_smile: Thing is, one can’t damn their own soul for eternity, even if there was an oath to Satan. As if God is going to let one of his beloved creation just sell their souls away while He sits back and does nothing about it. Like… oh well… another one bites the dust! :unamused:

#7

Well first off, God says, “All souls are Mine.” That’s pretty unequivocal, seems to me. Surely the devil knows no one owns his/her own soul and for him to “buy” a soul would be pretty silly.

I always figured this was just a metaphor for trading worldly riches, pleasure, etc. for heavenly things. There’s town near here that has made itself the welcoming home to a yearly event that includes a lot of sin and debauchery, etc. We sometimes say the town has sold its soul for the material wealth it gains from this yearly event. No one thinks there’s any kind of contract locked up in a vault anywhere. It’s just a metaphor.

#8

Hmm, when I sold my soul to the devil, my beliefs were based on a mix of pagan and Christian beliefs. Also, Christianity teaches that all unbelievers already belong to the devil, so any such deal is a moot point.

I wrote a little about my experience:

theoperspectives.blogspot.com/2008/02/freedom-from-witchcraft.html

#9

I don’t think the devil is a thing in the sense that you can sell your soul to him…