"We are each our own Devil, and we make this world our Hell" - Oscar Wilde
"Where God has his church the Devil will have his chapel" - Spanish Proverb
Anything can be labeled as satanic and evil if it suits the purpose of those doing the labeling. In the Fall of Man myth Adam and Eve are tempted by the serpent (who later becomes Satan) to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge which had been forbidden them by God. The Serpent aware of a God like quality that would change humanity's condition, gives through active cooperation of Adam and Eve the gift of "Knowledge" to humanity, and is then cursed for doing so. The temptation of Adam and Eve serves as a point of evaluation to humankind. Yet, same as the myth of Prometheus steeling fire from Zeus to give to Humans, both he and he Serpant defied a more powerful deity for the sack of all only to be punished in the end. Satan represents the pattern of those who benefit humanity at great cost to themselves.
The name Devil derives from the Greek word "diabolos", which means "slander or accuser". The Devil or "Satan" which comes from the Hebrew word for "adversary" is commonly associated with heretics, infidels, and other unbelievers. It is a term that originates from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally applied to the angel Ha-Satan, a servant of God whose job it is to test humankind. Ha-Satan whose name means "the obstacle or prosecutor" was a member of the divine council and was sent out at the request of God to challenge the religious faith of humans. If you are to read through the Hebrew bible are Old Testament you'll notice that it does not assign the level of personification to a devil, but rather identifies all good and evil as originating in the will of God.
In mainstream Christianity, God and the Devil are usually portrayed as fighting over the souls of humans, with the Devil seeking to lure people away from God and into sheol. The myth has always been the same weather it Enki and Enlil of early Sumerian text, Osiris and Set of Egypt, or Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca of Mayan mythology; without a finely balanced force in opposition, life and growth for human beings would be impossible.
In Indo-European times divine and devilish were relative terms, as the primary sense of the Hebrew words for good and evil really meant " beneficial and hurtful". It is through this concept that instead of being evil, the principle of opposition can be view as divinely inspired and supported. Thus regardless of a belief system this makes Satan and other such deities, archetypal figures for these opposing forces and representatives of certain behaviors and qualities experienced throughout human history.
