It

"It": A curious title for a post? I thought it would describe the intrigue of something that happens in C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. We are reading through the book in the college group at our church and came to an interesting shift in the use of pronouns from "he" to "it" for one of the ghostly characters (the "Big Man") who had come from the grey town (purgatory or hell...but there's more to be said describing how it can be one or the other...for another post).

We talked about why as the discussion between the ghost and a "solid" person progressed, the ghost went from being a man to being merely a ghost with an impersonal pronoun ("it"). We concluded that it had to do with the hardening of the ghost's heart in rejecting the opportunity to experience the grace of God. It became very obvious that Lewis was emphatically using the impersonal pronoun when he uses "it" four times within a couple of lines/sentences. This happened at the end of the conversation and signaled the conclusion that the ghost had rejected the offer to have his person (with all the relationships entailed in such a term) restored.

Why not continue to use the personal pronoun? I am reminded that the word "person" from a Christian perspective finds its roots in the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, whereby we believe that God is three "persons" in one essence. If God is perfectly good (as Christians believe) then that means that "person" carries with it a sense of goodness.

Hence, I think the answer to the question, "Do you believe in a 'personal' satan/devil?" is no. Satan is not personal, but de-personal or anti-personal, for his intent is to attack or diminish/deplete the personal out of humans.

God (a three-Personal Deity) has a mission to restore persons.