Can you kill the devil?

That was the question on last night’s episode of Reaper, the CW series about a guy whose parents sold his soul to the devil. At age 21, Sam was contractually obligated to become a reaper: He catches souls who have escaped from way down under. Not exactly a fun job. Plus, he also punches the clock at the Work Bench, kind of like a Home Depot from Hell.

Anywho, in the most recent episode, Sam met up with a bunch of reformed demons, who tempted him to participate in a plan to slaughter Satan.

Of course, the plan didn’t work, because without the devil, well, there’d be no TV show.

But it did make me wonder: Is it possible to destroy the devil?

I asked two devil experts.

Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Satan: A Biography, says no: “The body can be killed, the soul can’t. Angels and fallen angels are immortal, and the idea of killing them is nonsense.”
Greg Mobley, a Bible professor at Andover Newton Theological School, says, “In Christianity, the answer is ‘not yet.’ The devil can only be killed at the end of days." But even then, the Christian Bible says “and the devil … was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

In other words … not dead!

But what about other religions around the world? Can their devils be killed?

Kelly  put the kibosh on that line of inquiry: “The devil is only in the Bible and Christian tradition. Calling any non-Christian entity ‘the devil’ is taking liberties or just making stuff up.”

Meanwhile, on another topic, when the devil visits Sam at the Work Bench, he makes a purchase. “Paper or plastic?” Sam asks. The devil opts for plastic (pictured, above). What an anti-environmentalist!

-Marc Silver

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