this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2024
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My favorite part is how the devil is judging the contest himself, and even with that huge advantage he's still like "nah he's just better rip"
There's a subtext that you guys are missing. The devil wins whether he says Johnny won or lost.
If he deems Johnny the winner, Johnny is less likely to challenge the decision, and he's also more likely to continue committing the sins of pride and vanity (by boasting of his victory over the Devil Himself).
Johnny's only chance to avoid his fate (per most strains of the Christian faith) is to acknowledge and repent/confess/absolve his sins by seeking divine mercy. The devil knows this is unlikely.
Johnny lost as soon as he uttered his first line.
It's okay Johnny's Protestant he just has to repent
even if he wasn't, that golden fiddle would have bought him many indulgences
The boy said "My name's Johnny,"
"And it might be a sin"
"So I'd uh... I'd better not"
"I'm actually gonna go."
Except everyone is a sinner by default, so what's the downside? That's the problem with these "temptation" parables. Nothing Johnny could do himself would ever avoid that fate, so why act like it?
I'm just pointing out that within the constructs of the predominant Christian mythologies... Johnny's fucked himself over unless he recognizes he's being a shit and atones for it.
Whether you assign any validity to the underlying dogma is an individual choice. People have a tendency to overlook logical inconsistencies in their faith frameworks, in any case.