Editor’s note: The following article refers to spiritual concepts. Please read Lovefraud’s statement on Spiritual Recovery.
By OxDrover
In the Bible the story of Adam and Eve living in the Garden of Eden, in perfect paradise, is a story familiar to most children who have gone to Bible school at one point or another in their lives. If you take that same story, though, and look at it through adult eyes, you can see that there is a great moral to this tale, whether you believe it as a “creation” story or not.
Before the “fall,” Adam and Eve had only dealt with a loving God/Creator who had given them a wonderful place to live in peace and plenty. They were naked and innocent in this paradise on earth. They were given an occupation of “dressing the garden” and only given one warning that they must not disobey, and that was to not eat from the tree of the “Knowledge of Good and Evil,” for if they did not heed this warning, they would die.
The original psychopath, Satan, in the disguise of a serpent, like all villains shows up on the scene. We know about psychopaths and we know that Satan personified this personality disorder, because he saw someone who was happy and prosperous, but naïve, and he wanted to bring about their downfall. Not for any gain or motive we can perceive on his own part, but simply to have someone else believe his lies and suffer for that belief. He wanted to enjoy the downfall of someone else. That was his “reward” for telling the lies to Eve, to get Eve to disregard the warning she had received from God ”¦ just as our psychopaths lie to us to get us to not heed the instinctive intuitive warnings we get when we catch them in a lie, or something doesn’t feel right.
How did Satan accomplish his task? The story tells us that Satan was “more subtle than any beast of the field.” ”¦ ”and he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'” Satan knew this was not true, but he was setting her up with a conversation starter he knew she would respond to.
The woman said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said ”˜Ye shall not eat of it’”¦or ye shall surely die.”
The serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and she shall be as gods, knowing Good and Evil.” Here the psychopath, as they all do, tells Eve that the warning from God is for God’s benefit, because God wants to “keep the best stuff” for himself and that if she will just not heed the warning not to eat of the forbidden fruit, she will be equal with God.
Here Satan is creating a need in this woman, and holding the hope of accomplishing that need in Eve. Before Satan’s lie to her, Eve wasn’t unhappy, and she had no desires that weren’t met. She didn’t even desire to be “as gods,” but now she has started to desire something that Satan appears to be offering her.
How many times have our psychopaths held out to us a “prize” that we start to desire? A desire that they have created a fantasy of, and lied to us that they know the way for us to achieve this desire, our heart’s desire. Is it a perfect soul mate? A perfect love? A perfect marriage? A perfect business arrangement? A perfect child? The perfect restoration of something we have lost? What was the desire in you that the psychopath created with their lies?
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat.”
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”
Adam and Eve immediately knew that they had been had. They knew they were naked, and they did now know the difference between Good and Evil. They knew that they had been tricked, that Satan had done them in completely, and that there was no going back to naiveté. You can’t UN-ring a bell.
While Adam and Eve tried to find a way to hide themselves from God and the consequences of their disobedience and naiveté, Satan skipped off on his merry way, having accomplished what he desired, the destruction of human kind. The taking away of the innocence of humanity. The bringing of death to the world.
However, though Satan brought evil into the world of man, humanity also received the knowledge that will protect us in that fall from grace. We have the knowledge of Good and Evil. We can choose our path.
The psychopaths in our lives who have attacked us because we didn’t have a proper knowledge of their evil intentions when they started to destroy us for their own purposes, their own selfish games, have given us the same “fruit” that Eve in her naiveté ate, the wisdom of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
While Eve in the Bible story paid a stiff price for her knowledge by being cast from paradise into the world, we also have paid a stiff price for this knowledge, some of us in terms of money and property, all of us in terms of pain and emotional devastation. Just as Eve must have berated herself for being so naïve and stupid for doing something she had been told not to, we berate ourselves for being so naïve and stupid in ignoring the warnings we also generally had all along. Why did we not heed the warnings, just as Eve did not heed God’s warning not to eat the fruit?
Just as Eve, after the fall, had to learn to live in the real world, the world that is not paradise, that contains evil people, selfish people, even her own son, Cain, who killed her other son, Abel, we as former victims of the psychopath have to learn to live in the real world and to distinguish what is good from what is evil. We have to learn from our experience with our own personal version of Satan, and our own version of our fall from grace, to know what is truly important in life. To use this hard-won knowledge of Good and Evil to make us stronger and better people.
We are no longer naïve people who don’t know about red flags of warnings of psychopaths. We are no longer willing to trust others indiscriminately or lightly as Eve trusted the lying words of her own Satan. We are no longer willing to fail to listen to the instinctive cries of our own intuition about danger.
We have knowledge that we have gotten the hard way, and hard-won knowledge is a lesson that will stick to us forever. It is up to us to use this life’s lesson in Psychopath 101 for our own and others’ benefits.
Indi,
You no longer have to be an “easy target” just because you are a caring person. Jesus suggested that we should be “wise” and a WISE person doesn’t swallow every story some one spits out. We need to learn to be cautious and wise as well as caring.
OxD
I don’t think I am that easy now! :)~
But They are GOOD! at what they have learned!
We are fortunate that in todays Society most PEOPLE know better that this behavior is not Healthy! or Sane!
I still ! As I am sure lots of us feel ! How do they think?
Would a person have to think everyone else is why I do what I do?
I value my Parents and I Value my best friend! To throw away those relationships would be like Wrong! LOVE JJ
RELIGIOUS PSYCHOPATH VERSUS SATAN
I did a comparison of the Hare scale of psychopathy against the nature of Satan.
I am using this as a reference as it gives definition to the fallen nature.
John 8:44 (New International Version)
44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer
from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks
his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Religious psychopath versus Nature of Satan
( FALLEN NATURE) ( NATURE OF SATAN)
Glibness/superficial charm.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. Masquerades as “an angel of light.” (2 Cor. 11:14-15)
Grandiose sense of self-worth>>>>>>>>>>>>.. Defies God and despises truth (John 8:44)
Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom>>>>>>>>. Always seeks an “opportune time” to tempt us (Luke 4:13
Pathological lying>>>>>>>>>>John 8:44 for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Conning/manipulative >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. Came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10)
Lack of remorse or guilt>>>>>>>>>>>. Twists the meaning of Scriptures to fit his purposes. (Gen.3:1-5)
Shallow affect>>>>>>>>>>>>>. Offers counterfeit promises he can’t fulfill
Callous/lack of empathy>>>>>>>>5. Rules the masses outside God’s protection (Eph. 2:1-3)
Parasitic lifestyle>>>>>>>>>>> . Was given limited power (Job 1:8-12)
Poor behavioral controls>>>>>>>. Tries to hide the actual truth about our God.
Promiscuous sexual behavior>>>>>defies God on keeping sexuality in holiness and covenant
Early behavior problems>>>>>>> satan defied god and fell from heaven luke 10-18
Lack of realistic, long-term plans>>>>> 1. Created by God, and not equal to God (Prov 16:4)
Impulsivity>>>>>>>Lacks control and operates out of hatred
Irresponsibility>>>>>>> Twists the meaning of Scriptures to fit his purposes. (Gen. 3:1-5)
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions>>>>>>>>> accuses us before God and takes no resposibilityRevelation 12:10
many short-term marital relationships>>>>>>>>>>has no covenant and defies holiness
Juvenile delinquency>>>>>>defied God and fell from heaven’S luke 10-18
Revocation of conditional release>>>>>does not respect authority
Criminal versatility (Hare, 1986)>>>>>>is a master of disguise
(Narcissism also a characteristic)
A definition of Fallen Nature
“It must be remembered that even the most severely and obviously disabled psychopath presents a technical appearance of sanity, often with high intellectual capacities and not infrequently succeeds in business or professional activities for short periods, some for considerable periods .Although they occasionally appear on casual inspection as successful members of the community, as able lawyers, executive or physicians, they do not, it seems, succeed in the sense of finding satisfaction of fulfillment in their own accomplishments. Nor do they, when the full story is known, appear to find this in an ordinary activity.”
”“H.Cleckley, “The Mask of Sanity”
Isaiah 14-12
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.e
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the grave,
to the depths of the pit.
THE NATURE OF THE FALLEN MAN IS THE SAME AS SATAN
Dear Bibleannie,
Great comparison between the psychopath and Satan! Matches very well doesn’t it.
Satan is the Liar and the FATHER of liars, i.e. the “father” of the psychopaths who show their Satan-ianity by practicing what Satan “preaches” the way a person would show their Christ-ianity by practicing what Christ preached.
Good point, Annie
BibleAnnie and Oxy, Great posts.
I’m still trying to figure out how Satan implants his seeds in unsuspecting women? While they are sleeping … maybe?
Sounds like an excellent question to pen to Pastor Murray to find out if those experts on God’s truth can give us an answer?
Wini
Because Satan Masquerades as an Angle of light to deceive. Women are more easily deceived and men are typically deceivers.
There have been many, many dreams I have had over the years that I finally recognized that came because when I sleep, my defenses were down. Some of these dreams affected my whole spirit. Depression, obsessive thoughts, negativity and so on. I finally realized I needed to start praying at night before I slept for God to save me from these attacks at night as well as during the day. It took some faith and consistency and now I can say, that God’s word protects us, He protects us.
Recognizing our “strongholds” is where the beginning of knowledge is wisdom. We have strongholds in our lives that we don’t even know that this is what they are. They are the devils way to keep us under his evil spell and keep us deceived and confused.
haha – the banner at the top pf the page is for ‘imosh, the satanic jewelry specialist’ I am NOT making this up!
the knowledge of good and evil. yes. i think of this often, but really i think of how do i fit my knowledge of evil into my knowledge of good? and just now – i realize the answer to this. it’s a Buddhist answer – enlarge good so that evil floats within the space of it. make good the ocean and evil a wave. but really both good and evil are waves in the ocean of what is – no moral attachments to either – just are. but i digress, because i am not there, nor to am i working toward that view with this situation.
so, instead of thinking about evil…to think of good and evil is different. i just finished watching a defunct series called ‘carnivale’ – about the fight, ney, balance of good and evil in the world. that it continues to roll forward – one good person goes, then evil has no one to kill and the same with the death of an evil one. something to think about for sure.
i finally got an appt with the PTSD shrink. next week.
Oxy, what a great post. That’s exactly what I have been thinking lately.
S’paths don’t believe in good and evil, so they don’t think that what they are doing is evil, it’s just survival or pleasure. So without the basis of a definition and belief in good/evil or right/wrong, it is very hard to argue that Psychopathy is a disorder or that they need to change (not the they ever will).
I don’t have a problem with defining it as evil because I have that belief that there is a good and evil, and that story of the Garden of Eden makes sense to me. I try to do do the right thing because I try to obey God. But it is quite legitimate for someone who doesn’t believe there is a God to say, who’s to say what is right or wrong? If I feel like hurting you, what’s wrong with that? They have a point there. So I don’t know how therapists or professionals deal with that if they were trying to deal with any disordered person, say an abuser in an abusers mens group. If there is no God, who defines good and evil?
Some might say there is some inherent understanding of common good, but s’paths can just argue that that is man-made. Someone made up the rules of society. And when it is convenient, s’paths will put up with them, but when they feel like it, they will go against any moral law without feeling an inch of remorse. And who’s to tell them that what they did, to lie, defraud or emotionally torture someone, was wrong? They will say, by whose standards?
For my children, I will say by God’s standard. For me, it is the same thing – not that I try to live by His rules, but because I have a close relationship with Him, I feel His love and I don’t want to to do anything against His nature. My relationship fills me with such deep satisfaction, richness, joy and peace that I wouldn’t want it any other way. So that’s my motivation not to hurt others. If I didn’t have that motivation, I don’t know what would motivate me. In fact, before I had this walk with God, I showed a lot of sociopathic traits – maybe that was just normal for an older teen. I actually not only despised God, I despised most people as well. I didn’t care if I hurt anyone and I felt it hard to empathize or feel for another, I don’t know why – probably a result of distant and non-nurturing parenting. It took many years for this to change, but the first change happened when I met God – suddenly, even good and evil made sense. I think others must have their own sense of a higher power, because without it, the s’path (or any other disordered character, for that matter) has a point that evil is only what you make it out to be and if you feel like killing someone, why is that wrong?
Great article, Oxy!!!!
Nice piece of writing…,
Thought you’d appreciate this:
“It was not that Adam ate the apple for the apple’s sake, but because it was forbidden. It would have been better for us–oh infinitely better for us–if the serpent had been forbidden”
Mark Twain