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janicka
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18 Apr 2007, 4:45 pm

What does Satanism have to do with not believing in Christianity?

Call this an attack on Atheism or Agnosticism, if you must, but don't drag Satanism into this. As far as I know, all of the people you've singled out in this thread are very strong atheists.



jimservo
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18 Apr 2007, 6:11 pm

Sort of related: The ACLU has sued to get Satanists treated the same as any other religion in terms of providing military chaplains (the ACLU also wants to get rid of all military chaplains). I don't really buy their argument though since the people who filed the lawsuit rather openly acknowledged that they weren't so much worshiping Satan but mocking the tenants of "traditional" religions. Hence, it's not so much a religion, but an anti-religion.

This is not to say that one could not form some religion involving Satan. Islam claims that Judaism and Christianity are false religions, but Islam also makes spirituality claims. One could posit, I suppose, that the story of Satan's seduction of Man was a lie, or that the story itself was a manipulation or the facts, or something (or really any number of things). But for one to claim to be a religion (at least in the traditional sense, I am reading a book on "political religions"; more on subjects that can take the place of religion can be read here (link)) requires at least some kind of spiritual component, although what this is varies to a massive extent.



skafather84
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18 Apr 2007, 6:26 pm

jimservo wrote:
Sort of related: The ACLU has sued to get Satanists treated the same as any other religion in terms of providing military chaplains (the ACLU also wants to get rid of all military chaplains). I don't really buy their argument though since the people who filed the lawsuit rather openly acknowledged that they weren't so much worshiping Satan but mocking the tenants of "traditional" religions. Hence, it's not so much a religion, but an anti-religion.

This is not to say that one could not form some religion involving Satan. Islam claims that Judaism and Christianity are false religions, but Islam also makes spirituality claims. One could posit, I suppose, that the story of Satan's seduction of Man was a lie, or that the story itself was a manipulation or the facts, or something (or really any number of things). But for one to claim to be a religion (at least in the traditional sense, I am reading a book on "political religions"; more on subjects that can take the place of religion can be read here (link)) requires at least some kind of spiritual component, although what this is varies to a massive extent.



Satan

In the Satanic Bible, Anton LaVey describes Satan as a motivating and balancing dark force in nature. Satan is also described as being "The Black Flame" which is a person's own inner personality and desires. Satan is seen as synonomous with nature and a metaphorical God, or supreme power in the universe.

Satan is said to appear in mythology and literature around the world as a trickster, rebel, and hero. Figures such as the Greek Prometheus are said to perfectly exemplify the qualities of Satan, the prideful rebel. Other deities such as Ahriman, Apep, and Loki serve as examples of different manifestations of the same archetype. Satan is seen as the powerful individual who acts regardless of what others might say.

The word "satan" is Hebrew and means "adversary." Satanists claim to be adversaries of mainstream behavior which they define as "herd conformity" seeing it as stifling to individuality, creativity, and progress.



God

Satanists do not believe that Satan is a god; rather the function of God is performed and satisfied by the Satanist him/herself. That is, the needs of worship, ritual, and religious/spiritual focus are directed, effectively, inwards towards the Satanist, as opposed to outwards, towards God.

LaVey proposes instead that as all gods are creations of man, worship of an external deity is worship of its creator by proxy. He suggests, then, that the rational Satanist should instead internalize his god, and therefore worship himself; hence the Satanic maxim, "I am my own god."

It follows that Satanism shuns the idea of belief in all other deities as well. Belief in any such externalized deities is generally considered grounds for excluding someone as a Satanist, and devil worship in particular is considered nothing more than a misguided inversion of Christianity.



skafather84
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18 Apr 2007, 6:31 pm

janicka wrote:
What does Satanism have to do with not believing in Christianity?

Call this an attack on Atheism or Agnosticism, if you must, but don't drag Satanism into this. As far as I know, all of the people you've singled out in this thread are very strong atheists.


nah, i'm the only satanist from the group. i'm also more of an agnostic. i'm not sure i exist. not enough proof yet.



ahayes
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18 Apr 2007, 7:24 pm

The Great Cat God PWNED satan a long time ago.



skafather84
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18 Apr 2007, 7:38 pm

ahayes wrote:
The Great Cat God PWNED satan a long time ago.




Image



AlexandertheSolitary
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18 Apr 2007, 7:43 pm

Griff wrote:
pinder2 wrote:
Im sorry but ive been reading through some of the topics such as the exorcism topic. And its people like 'flagg' and 'skafather84' and 'Kenm' are just showing their complete and utter ignorance and bigoted hypoctitical points of view and bullying other aspies that are christians. I think this is wrong and I think somebody should stand up to these bigots. :x
Well, atheists can come on a little strong. I appreciate your wish to promote sensitivity, but I don't think that the approach that you have taken to it is likely to be productive.

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(Jesus is my hero I know he doesnt care that i have aspergers) :)
Well, I suppose that is a good attitude.


Well yes, entitling the thread, "destroying satanists" does seem a trifle provocative; the actual content of the opening post does not appear quite so violent. Was the original title changed by someone else out of mischief? Is that even possible without the topic creator's consent? I have to say Flagg can be provocative at times; I will be willing to make concessions and he will seem to just make these flat statements that act like sledgehammers. Whether the topic is Christianity or C. S. Lewis (obviously linked) he frequently seems to do this. One post that particularly annoyed me made generalisations about the differences between Islamic, Christian and Jewish views of God that he made no attempt to support with either textual (in this case either scriptural - Tanak, New Testament or Qur'an - or commentary rabbinic, patristic, hadith, ijtihad, etc.) or personal anecdotal (words of individual Muslims, Christians and Jews of his acquaintance) evidence. Sorry to be holding on to that for so long; upon further acquaintance I find him less repugnant.


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skafather84
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18 Apr 2007, 7:45 pm

AlexandertheSolitary wrote:
Griff wrote:
pinder2 wrote:
Im sorry but ive been reading through some of the topics such as the exorcism topic. And its people like 'flagg' and 'skafather84' and 'Kenm' are just showing their complete and utter ignorance and bigoted hypoctitical points of view and bullying other aspies that are christians. I think this is wrong and I think somebody should stand up to these bigots. :x
Well, atheists can come on a little strong. I appreciate your wish to promote sensitivity, but I don't think that the approach that you have taken to it is likely to be productive.

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(Jesus is my hero I know he doesnt care that i have aspergers) :)
Well, I suppose that is a good attitude.


Well yes, entitling the thread, "destroying satanists" does seem a trifle provocative; the actual content of the opening post does not appear quite so violent. Was the original title changed by someone else out of mischief? Is that even possible without the topic creator's consent? I have to say Flagg can be provocative at times; I will be willing to make concessions and he will seem to just make these flat statements that act like sledgehammers. Whether the topic is Christianity or C. S. Lewis (obviously linked) he frequently seems to do this. One post that particularly annoyed me made generalisations about the differences between Islamic, Christian and Jewish views of God that he made no attempt to support with either textual (in this case either scriptural - Tanak, New Testament or Qur'an - or commentary rabbinic, patristic, hadith, ijtihad, etc.) or personal anecdotal (words of individual Muslims, Christians and Jews of his acquaintance) evidence. Sorry to be holding on to that for so long; upon further acquaintance I find him less repugnant.


i'm the only satanist here....i'm not especially offended by it.

i'll defend my positions...but not much farther than that.



ahayes
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18 Apr 2007, 7:54 pm

skafather84 wrote:
ahayes wrote:
The Great Cat God PWNED satan a long time ago.




Image


Yep... that's what happens when one pisses off The Great Cat God.



BazzaMcKenzie
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18 Apr 2007, 8:00 pm

pinder2 wrote:
Im sorry but ive been reading through some of the topics such as the exorcism topic. And its people like 'flagg' and 'skafather84' and 'Kenm'

I love Flagg and skafather84. I don't know Kenm but I love you too. If you were to slap me in the face, I would just turn my other cheek. But I don't believe you would slap me, I think you are good blokes.

Pinder2, I'm not so sure about you :? You've been here 2 minutes and start personal attacks?


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jimservo
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18 Apr 2007, 8:32 pm

Thanks for the info, skafather84. I do agree the title "destroying satanists" is um...rather...well... :? . Admittedly, rather direct and to the point titles aren't exactly new around here. :lol:



Esperanza
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18 Apr 2007, 11:39 pm

skafather84 wrote:
it's not my fault that believing in invisible beings who intervene in people's lives and yet do not do so in modern times is the popular myth. oh wait....now i remember why they don't intervene anymore....because every single miracle that's reported in the last few years is proven a fake by scientists. so much so that the organized church bodies are normally pretty squeemish about officially calling something a miracle.


look...you're welcome to believe whatever you want to. an invisible deity is about the same as a 24 armed god or an elephant as a god or saying that every pharaoh of egypt was a god. you are welcome to believe whatever you want.....but if you go beyond simply what you believe and look to impliment in the world of reality....fact....science....i will stand up against you there...because you have no right to push your belief on others and i will prove you wrong and expose the holes in your argument whenever i can.


Such truth!

First of all, exorcisms are dangerous, and it is a horrible horrible thing that SpaceCase's mother wants to perform one on her. By wanting to perform an exorcism on her, she is expressing a hatred, disgust and fear of something that is an integral, harmless and natural part of her own daughter.

Second, atheists are not Satanists. As an atheist, I think the whole idea of Satan is ridiculous. Any mundane ethical dilemma, such as the idea of stealing bread to feed a starving child, should be evidence enough for anyone that good and evil are not simple, separate, distinct things. It is childish to think of the world in such a black-and-white way.

Third, who's the bully, the bigot and the hypocrite here? As an atheist, I never said anything about destroying anyone because of their point of view.



janicka
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19 Apr 2007, 10:46 am

BazzaMcKenzie wrote:
Pinder2, I'm not so sure about you :? You've been here 2 minutes and start personal attacks?


Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

As far as I can tell, skafather84 and Flagg (not sure about Kenm) have just stated their disagreement with fundamentalist evangelical Christianity. They weren't promoting Satanism. I couldn't tell from a single one of skafather84's prior posts (until he said it here) that he was a LaVey Satanist.

It doesn't make sense to me that you are grouping Satanists with Atheists/Agnositcs and that you feel the need to "attack" anyone.



skafather84
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19 Apr 2007, 4:56 pm

janicka wrote:
BazzaMcKenzie wrote:
Pinder2, I'm not so sure about you :? You've been here 2 minutes and start personal attacks?


Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

As far as I can tell, skafather84 and Flagg (not sure about Kenm) have just stated their disagreement with fundamentalist evangelical Christianity. They weren't promoting Satanism. I couldn't tell from a single one of skafather84's prior posts (until he said it here) that he was a LaVey Satanist.

It doesn't make sense to me that you are grouping Satanists with Atheists/Agnositcs and that you feel the need to "attack" anyone.



i'm not promoting satanism because it's against doctrine.



janicka
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19 Apr 2007, 5:09 pm

skafather84 wrote:
i'm not promoting satanism because it's against doctrine.


Why is it against doctrine?



skafather84
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19 Apr 2007, 5:15 pm

it's not expressly against doctrine but i can't see someone being persuaded to join satanism as being especially following the rule of no herd mentality. satanism is very much about individuality and intellegence and is anti-ignorance. to promote and get some schmuck to get into satanism normally will end up violating one of those 3.

it's something that someone needs to come across on their own and pushed towards.