Here's 1 question. Hell - does it make sense to you? Because it doesn't to me... unless the devil is actually in cahoots with god, the entire premise of hell makes no sense to me. Why would the devil punish people who don't believe in god? Shouldn't hell be some heathen paradise as a reward for sinners?
This is just to answer the quesion. I'm not making any claims on my beliefs; only what I know and/or perceive on the subject at hand.
Like was said before, the premise of Hell was created by God Himself, not Satan. Satan was actually cast into Hell. Therefore, he had no control on what Hell would look like.
And the reason why the devil punish people is because we are God's creation. Remember, we were created in 'His' image, so therefore, any of us going to Hell would incite anger towards His divine creation. Since they can not harm God, they would thus put all their anger towards any lost soul who gets banished to Hell. It is a way to 'get back at God', so to speak.
Remember though, that God would rather see you in heaven than hell. It is therefore that Jesus sacrificed Himself for humanity, so that we would get eternal life. He actually feels very bad for anyone who strays to the path of damnation. But he has no control over people's actions due to our free will.
Why wouldn't the devil praise anyone for following him? Well for one, if you know the devil, you'd realize he is sometimes called the 'big deceiver'. Promising you riches on earth, but giving you damnation in Hell. It's not like it's a race that whomever gets the most souls win. Rather, it is his challenge on how many souls he can take away from God and Heaven. It is his version of 'payback', since he knows that God suffers and feels sorry for every 'child' He loses (remember, we are also referred to as "God's Children". So don't expect any praises or high-fives from the devil for following him....he is in it for his pleasure, not yours.
It is also known that the devil and God do talk to each other. I wouldn't say that they are in 'cahoots', but it is a balanced system. I believe God, being the all powerfull creator would have no problem of just doing away with Hell and evil altogether. But without evil, we would have no choice but be slaves to the good. In order to uphold the free will, there must be a good and bad. In other words, Hell needs to continue to exist for us to always have a choice.
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