The Serpent Research Paper

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Tile Across the world cultures, have different beliefs about the nature of serpents. Including animism, deification, and the serpent as the origin of all evil. The animism and deification of the serpent is in direct conflict with the concept of Christ as the one true God. Thereby requiring that the serpent be seen as a foe of God and therefore evil. SERPENT OR SNAKE: Most earth-centered or pagan cultures worshipped the serpent. It represents rebirth (because of its molting), protection against evil, either male of female sexuality, rain and fertility, a mediator between the physical and spiritual world.... It also represents female energy or lifeforce in goddess worship, sometimes linked to the eastern Kundalini force or a supposed "goddess…show more content…
A concept within Christianity that is often misunderstood. It is not the knowledge itself, but the reliance upon that knowledge rather than a reliance on God. Proverbs 3: 3-5 3Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Bible.com) While knowledge and things of the world are necessary they are not to be relied upon more than God is. Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Bible.com) This verse shows that God is to be what is followed rather than things of the…show more content…
The image of the serpent is linked to Satan and the dragon in Revelation 12:9 9And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Bible.com) The serpent as the devil is clearest when Satan appears before Christ tempting him, with things of the world if Christ will worship Satan. This example encompasses all the previous depictions of the serpent as evil and personifies that evil as Satan. Each piece of the theme of the serpent as evil over laps to a degree; temptation, forbidden knowledge, sin, false idols, and the devil, each of these visit and revisit the serpent as evil. This repetition cements the serpent as evil from a Christian perspective. The serpent as evil is illustrated in temptation, forbidden knowledge, sin, false idol’s and the devil. This theme is pervasive in Christianity and takes the serpent from the status of a natural creature to the symbolic status of evil
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