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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lothaire" data-source="post: 327569" data-attributes="member: 540">Hrm, a few things to point out.The word "Satan" is of Persian derivation and it means prosecutor or advesary. It was the title of the prosecutor in Persian courts. In most Jewish traditions, "Satan" is not the adversary of God, but rather man. Hence "Satans" appearence in the court of God in the book of Job. God grants "Satan" permission to try Job as a proof of his loyalty. "Satan" is in all ways obediant to Gods will, never transcending the boundaries set on him. "Satan" does not appear in the Old Testament prior to the Book of Job.However due to Milton, and other such Christian Theologians, "Satan" was assumed to be the malevolent force possesing the Serpent which caused the fall of man. Furthermore the other gods, mentioned in the Old Testament, the Ashteroth, the Baalim, the gods of the Philistines, Hittities and other non-Hebrew peoples in the Middle East were viewed as actual gods. Early Judaisim was not Monotheistic, but rather Monotralistic. Many gods were thought to propogate the world, but there was one true god, that created everything and was all loving and all powerful. The other gods, were wicked and ill-intentioned to man. Again, that might be demons by your count, as the terminology and faith has evolved over several thousand years.Later Christian theologians assigned various demons / fallen angels to these Old Testament false gods. There is a precedent for allowing magic in a world grounded in Judeo-Christian doctrine. After all, the Pharohs court magicians were able to casts spells, however Moses, through the thaumaturgy gifted to him by god was able to best their magic. The Old Testament never refers to any of the rivals of God being able to grant miracles, although prayers were directed to them. However it never states that such never happened, so its a judgement call on your behalf. But in the New Testament the Pharisees declared that Jesus had the power to cast out demons through power granted to him by Baalzebub, a demon / fallen angel / malevolent god of the old testament. So there is justification for giving evil gods the power to grant spells.Going back to the Nepilum, the sons of the gods, referenced as giants in Genesis. They are read by some bibilical scholars as the progeny of the rival gods to Jehovah. While other Scholars read this line to mean that members of the angelic host mingled with men and procreated.This is getting kind of long so I'm going to post this and start another reply.</blockquote>

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