I, like most people, am stuck in this stage where I am trying to find "my true self" and understanding what I believe in and being secure in what I believe in. I've briefly looked into many religions and decided that there has to be some sort of God. "Science explains how something happens. Religion explains why." -Albert Einstein (source not confirmed, I will confirm that once I find the taped lecture again). What I want to get clear is the whole concept of Christianity and the full story of Lucifer. All I know are brief parts of the story. Lucifer used to be the highest angel, the closest to God's power than any other; Lucifer was this beautiful angel who was a master of music and prose; when God created the Earth Lucifer thought that angels should be ranked about the humans; some sources say that Lucifer wanted to share God's power, but I don't know much about that; God disagreed and Lucifer pressed on until he and some other angels he convinced left heaven and descended to Hell. I asked a Catholic friend of mine about the story in more detail and he told me that such talk was banned.

As overly simple as this might sound, I'd have to just suggest the wikipedia article on Lucifer for a great deal of knowledge. Most of the stuff is cited with outside sources, so its easy to look into greater detail as well.

As much as this may not be the most appropriate source, Anton Lavey states in the Satanic Bible that Lucifer was a Roman light-bearing god. Apparently, Satan means "accuser" (quite appropriate) then you've got Devil which comes from the Indian word for god (Devi).

as a matter of further interest to you, Belial means without a master and leviathan means the serpent of the deeps. There are a few hundred synonyms listed in this particular chapter that all mean different things.

Of course, being subscriber to this particular Bible, I probably shouldn't tell you that LaVey may be the teensiest bit biased in their meanings as it wouldn't have sold Satan that well to have said any names that mean "bastard" in effect.

this much I know is backed by other sources as well- he used to be an angel who reported bad deeds of mankind to God up until about the fourteenth century when he started to be disliked.

I've never heard much on this topic, but it's interesting that it supposedly happened in the 14th century.... if that's the believed story, how is the devil mentioned in Genesis, when he tricks Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden (Way before the 14th century)?

Or did you just mean that's the belief in the Satanic Bible?

-IMP ;) :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer

This is the story I've heard of. Oh and sitegod, the name Lucifer is a latin word meaning "light-bearer".

Yea, the fallen angel thing is what I had heard. (All praise Wikipedia!!)

I think the image and idea of the Devil and Lucifer is sort of a combination of many different gods from the myriad religions Christianity engulfed over the eons. Many depictions are strikingly similar to the celtic god Cernunnos (aka the Horned King) as well as the greek Hades (or Pluto) and Pan surprisingly, in addition to various other goods from ancient european mythologies.

Its hard to pin things like this down because Christianity spread so far, often by force, that many other religions and belief systems got rather coarsely mixed in.

I think your friend is mistaken that such talk is banned in the Catholic Church. I've never had a problem talking with priests about it. What is a given though is not a whole lot of people know much about where Lucifer comes into play.

He doesn't play a large role in most of the scriptures, and the only story of the "fall" or the war in heaven comes from Revelations.

My impression has always been that the idea of Lucifer comes from Judaism and its influences on Christianity. From what I know (and i know very little) of Persian mythology Lucifer bears a striking resemblance to one or more Persian mythological figures. During the exodus story of the Jews wandering is when most of the Torah got written. They kept interacting with different cultures and I think it's fairly safe to say that they were influenced by some of them. In fact a few biblical scholars believe that the Jews didn't have the creation story in Exodus until that time, it hadn't occurred that they need a story about how their God had created the world until they kept hearing Persian creation myths. For that reason it's not meant to be read as a creation ex-nihilo (or from nothing) rather God appeared and ordered things, separating out Light from Darkness, etc.

ooooo, heres what Chaucer had to say about Lucifer in his Canterbury Tales:

"With Lucifer, although an angel he
And not a man, I purpose to begin.
For notwithstanding angels cannot be
The sport of Fortune, Yet he fell through sin
Down into hell, and he is yet therein.

O Lucifer, brightest of angels all,
Now thou art Satan, and canst never win
Out of thy miseries; how great thy fall!"

not that this means anything, just thought it was interesting...