I'm a Satanist, ask me anything

[Cubo de Sangre]

Yes and no, I don't believe there's anything inherently illiberal about Christianity as Jesus practiced it, but I think that's besides the point. If I as a Christian am following the tenets of satanism as defined in the OP, what's the actual complaint? These tenets are basically be a good person, which is not exclusive to any one ideology.

But as many others have noted, the fact that this is very troll-like is hard to ignore. But I'm fine with criticisms, it just seems to me that there are some contradictions in letting people do what they want, while at the same time complaining that they believe in God. Ultimately it depends on what the OP is suggesting we do to "stop" religion. If he just wants to criticize, I'm fine with that.

Since Christians seldom act Christ-like it'll have to be beside the point. lol

Satanism as per LaVey is very humanist. I've never taken it as looking to destroy the church, but rather be free of its influence. You can call live and let live contradictory, but pretty much all philosophies are going to have others that they resist. Jesus wants people to choose him but would certainly frown upon rape, murder, slavery. Live and let live has its limitations.

 

[dontsnitch]

Since Christians seldom act Christ-like it'll have to be beside the point. lol

Satanism as per LaVey is very humanist. I've never taken it as looking to destroy the church, but rather be free of its influence. You can call live and let live contradictory, but pretty much all philosophies are going to have others that they resist. Jesus wants people to choose him but would certainly frown upon rape, murder, slavery. Live and let live has its limitations.

Right, so it really depends on what the OP is suggesting, but remember that the tenets include empathy, respect, autonomy, etc., but then he turns around and says we must stop religion. That doesn't sound very respectful or empathetic. Again, it depends on what his solution is.

 

[ZOD66]

I ask you when you get old and fear come to you because death is close. Big bang make God

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Right, so it really depends on what the OP is suggesting, but remember that the tenets include empathy, respect, autonomy, etc., but then he turns around and says we must stop religion. That doesn't sound very respectful or empathetic. Again, it depends on what his solution is.

TS probably isn't an official representative of the church. It's not like Christians all say the exact same thing about what they believe their religion espouses and what the goals of their church is. If he means to keep religion out of the public sphere/process then sure. If he means prevent people from those particular superstitions then I don't know that's a legit goal of that brand of Satanism.

 

[dontsnitch]

TS probably isn't an official representative of the church. It's not like Christians all say the exact same thing about what they believe their religion espouses and what the goals of their church is. If he means to keep religion out of the public sphere/process then sure. If he means prevent people from those particular superstitions then I don't know that's a legit goal of that brand of Satanism.

Ensuring the separation of church and state is a fine goal, but one need not adopt satanism to do this, which is why the entire "religion" seems redundant , and if it's not redundant because it wishes to do more, it's contradictory.

 

[Islam Imamate]

So ITT we learned from OP that Satanism is fake and gay. Thanks OP.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Ensuring the separation of church and state is a fine goal, but one need not adopt satanism to do this, which is why the entire "religion" seems redundant , and if it's not redundant because it wishes to do more, it's contradictory.

Its a counter-culture ideology that espouses nihilism and hedonism. You don't need to be a Satanist to embrace those things but it helps.

 

[dontsnitch]

Its a counter-culture ideology that espouses nihilism and hedonism. You don't need to be a Satanist to embrace those things but it helps.

Agreed, which is why it seems unnecessary to me, but I'm not against it. Do what you gotta do.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Agreed, which is why it seems unnecessary to me, but I'm not against it. Do what you gotta do.

Its very unnecessary and like I said, also fake and gay.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Ensuring the separation of church and state is a fine goal, but one need not adopt satanism to do this, which is why the entire "religion" seems redundant , and if it's not redundant because it wishes to do more, it's contradictory.

Glad you recognize separation of church and state more as a goal than a reality. So you calling it redundant is contradictory in that regard. Looking at these tenants I don't see "live and let live" exactly. Let's see how these comport with the historical practice of religion.

I

• One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
• The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
• One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
• The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo your own.
• Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
• People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
• Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word

• Within reason leaves a lot to interpretation. Christ might vary greatly here based on "turn the other cheek".
• This sounds like justice opposing religious influence. Like every Muslim country and a good portion of Christian history.
• Christianity says to treat it like a temple and Satanism promotes a similar ethic (i.e. anti-drug).
• Not sure which religions stand up for the freedom to offend. I'm thinking the terms heresy and heretic. Those have never been punished?
• Science only rules out superstition. Basically saying it's stupid to worship theoretical Gods.
• This one sounds like Jesus' teachings.
• Last one I'm not sure about. Seems pretty basic but I'd need to know what is meant by "the written or spoken word".

 

[dontsnitch]

Glad you recognize separation of church and state more as a goal than a reality. So you calling it redundant is contradictory in that regard. Looking at these tenants I don't see "live and let live" exactly. Let's see how these comport with the historical practice of religion.

• Within reason leaves a lot to interpretation. Christ might vary greatly here based on "turn the other cheek".
• This sounds like justice opposing religious influence. Like every Muslim country and a good portion of Christian history.
• Christianity says to treat it like a temple and Satanism promotes a similar ethic (i.e. anti-drug).
• Not sure which religions stand up for the freedom to offend. I'm thinking the terms heresy and heretic. Those have never been punished?
• Science only rules out superstition. Basically saying it's stupid to worship theoretical Gods.
• This one sounds like Jesus' teachings.
• Last one I'm not sure about. Seems pretty basic but I'd need to know what is meant by "the written or spoken word".

I'll go through the list just so your work is not in vain, though I think this is unnecessary because it depends on the purpose. If it is just a fight to keep church and state separate, that's fine, but I'm not sure you need to build a religion around that. And one can be religious and agree with that, I for one do.

Empathy is not exclusive to any one ideology.
Justice speaks for itself.
Autonomy also speaks for itself.
Belief in science is the obvious one that many religious people will disagree with, but its not all religious people.
People make mistakes- this one seems odd, but fine.
Compassion, widsdom, etc. Frankly there's a lot of buzz words here, this doesn't seem all that coherent.

One can be a Christian and adhere to all of these tenets. One can be an atheist and adhere to all of these tenets. Something is missing here, and it appears to me that it's an anti-theistic religion masquerading as humanism.

 

[Islam Imamate]

I'll go through the list just so your work is not in vain, though I think this is unnecessary because it depends on the purpose. If it is just a fight to keep church and state separate, that's fine, but I'm not sure you need to build a religion around that. And one can be religious and agree with that, I for one do.

Empathy is not exclusive to any one ideology.
Justice speaks for itself.
Autonomy also speaks for itself.
Belief in science is the obvious one that many religious people will disagree with, but its not all religious people.
People make mistakes- this one seems odd, but fine.
Compassion, widsdom, etc. Frankly there's a lot of buzz words here, this doesn't seem all that coherent.

One can be a Christian and adhere to all of these tenets. One can be an atheist and adhere to all of these tenets. Something is missing here, and it appears to me that it's an anti-theistic religion masquerading as humanism.

There's an element of anti-theism but I really think its just a weak attempt to try to tame and justify hedonism and nihilism while playing with religious symbols that mommy and daddy said were bad.

 

[dontsnitch]

There's an element of anti-theism but I really think its just a weak attempt to try to tame and justify hedonism and nihilism while playing with religious symbols that mommy and daddy said were bad.

Explain the hedonism angle, I really hadn't considered that aspect.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

I'll go through the list just so your work is not in vain, though I think this is unnecessary because it depends on the purpose. If it is just a fight to keep church and state separate, that's fine, but I'm not sure you need to build a religion around that. And one can be religious and agree with that, I for one do.

Empathy is not exclusive to any one ideology.
Justice speaks for itself.
Autonomy also speaks for itself.
Belief in science is the obvious one that many religious people will disagree with, but its not all religious people.
People make mistakes- this one seems odd, but fine.
Compassion, widsdom, etc. Frankly there's a lot of buzz words here, this doesn't seem all that coherent.

One can be a Christian and adhere to all of these tenets. One can be an atheist and adhere to all of these tenets. Something is missing here, and it appears to me that it's an anti-theistic religion masquerading as humanism.

Muslims show little empathy in regards to women and gays.
Justice does not speak for itself. Morality has changed quite a bit over the centuries.
Ok.
Science has proven no God so to place supreme faith in one is counterfactual.
They do.
Seems like the same thing Jesus peddled.

It's anti-theistic and humanistic. There's not much masquerading. Seems you just don't want to accept that people can use ritual and congregation in absence of theism. You also don't want to fully acknowledge the religious oppression throughout history. You act like the fight is over and secularism has won so it's stupid to still rail against it. But here we are at war with a religious ideology. Here we are still fighting religious zealots over abortion and gay marriage.

 

[Phr3121]

Let's start at the beginning. Why did God create us? The typical answer that is cited is that he created us to worship him, but if God is perfect and lacks nothing, he wouldn't need to create us and he certainly wouldn't need our worship. Such a God is not perfect, so why did God create us?

Oh, good, you asked one of the easier questions. You need to ask him that...just kidding.

No, I don't think it has to do with worshiping him. God was lacking something before the creation of the Universe. In my opinion, God created the universe and eventually man as part of a plan. Being created for God’s pleasure does not mean humanity was made to entertain God or provide him with amusement. God is a creative being, he is also a personal being, and it gives him pleasure to have other beings he can have a genuine relationship with. On earth God’s purpose is to have man reflecting his image and having dominion over the earth under his sovereignty. Man still has free will to accept or reject God. Man also has free will to do good or evil. I believe God's relationship is not just with man but all living things. Non-living things like planets, stars, and the universe fall under a different category. Just my 2 cents...

 

[Codpiece]

Let's start at the beginning. Why did God create us? The typical answer that is cited is that he created us to worship him, but if God is perfect and lacks nothing, he wouldn't need to create us and he certainly wouldn't need our worship. Such a God is not perfect, so why did God create us?

First up, thanks for giving me a nice easy question for a warm-up. Here I thought I'd be asked something which to answer would require a complete understanding of the mind of a perfect, eternal and self sufficient being. Seriously though, I'll give it a shot:


Ravi Zacharias - Who Is God (21:20): God is perfect. Explain. - "He is the only entity in existence the reason for who’s existence is in Himself. All other entities or quantities have the reason of their existence outside of themselves. So in that sense, God is uncaused, non-contingent, implicitly perfect, His very existence is not dependent on anyone else." I would add to that explanation that the Christian God is also be self-fulfilled.

With that in mind, I believe any explanation of God's desire to create in general or create conscious beings in specific as being born out of a lack or need is selling Him short. I believe to create is in His nature, and to love is in His nature. At times an artist may produce artwork to fill some need, for example financial, for attention, as a coping mechanism. But often times an artist creates something because they want to, it's the artists' nature expressing itself. I think of God's creative acts in similar terms.




If you'd like to continue (I would!) then maybe this should be done via PM or seperate threa, so we don't derail this one? If you'd like to you could invite @Phr3121 or anyone else who is interested.

 

[dontsnitch]

Muslims show little empathy in regards to women and gays.
Justice does not speak for itself. Morality has changed quite a bit over the centuries.
Ok.
Science has proven no God so to place supreme faith in one is counterfactual.
They do.
Seems like the same thing Jesus peddled.

It's anti-theistic and humanistic. There's not much masquerading. Seems you just don't want to accept that people can use ritual and congregation in absence of theism. You also don't want to fully acknowledge the religious oppression throughout history. You act like the fight is over and secularism has won so it's stupid to still rail against it. But here we are at war with a religious ideology. Here we are still fighting religious zealots over abortion and gay marriage.

If we agree it's anti-theistic and humanist, I don't see much to disagree about. I have no problem with people congregating in the absence of God, people have been doing that for centuries in clubs with different names.

What I'm suggesting is that if you want to live by the humanist code, it doesn't strike me as consistent to try to "stop" religion, unless it's actually infringing on people's rights, and if that's the case, you don't need to build a religion around those principles because we should all agree with that. That club is called humanity, or at least it should be.

Other than that, be a satanist, I'll support your right to do that without question.

 

[dontsnitch]

Oh, good, you asked one of the easier questions. You need to ask him that...just kidding.

No, I don't think it has to do with worshiping him. God was lacking something before the creation of the Universe. In my opinion, God created the universe and eventually man as part of a plan. Being created for God’s pleasure does not mean humanity was made to entertain God or provide him with amusement. God is a creative being, he is also a personal being, and it gives him pleasure to have other beings he can have a genuine relationship with. On earth God’s purpose is to have man reflecting his image and having dominion over the earth under his sovereignty. Man still has free will to accept or reject God. Man also has free will to do good or evil. I believe God's relationship is not just with man but all living things. Non-living things like planets, stars, and the universe fall under a different category. Just my 2 cents...

Other than the part where you mention that God was lacking something, this is a good answer. If God is lacking something it would make him incomplete and thus imperfect.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Explain the hedonism angle, I really hadn't considered that aspect.

LeVayan Satanism encourages hedonism, probably because the Abrahamic religions discourage it. The Satanic Bible even encourages the seven deadly sins because they make you feel good. Like children deliberately doing what their parents tell them not to do.

 

[dontsnitch]

First up, thanks for giving me a nice easy question for a warm-up. Here I thought I'd be asked something which to answer would require a complete understanding of the mind of a perfect, eternal and self sufficient being. Seriously though, I'll give it a shot:


Ravi Zacharias - Who Is God (21:20): God is perfect. Explain. - "He is the only entity in existence the reason for who’s existence is in Himself. All other entities or quantities have the reason of their existence outside of themselves. So in that sense, God is uncaused, non-contingent, implicitly perfect, His very existence is not dependent on anyone else." I would add to that explanation that the Christian God is also be self-fulfilled.

With that in mind, I believe any explanation of God's desire to create in general or create conscious beings in specific as being born out of a lack or need is selling Him short. I believe to create is in His nature, and to love is in His nature. At times an artist may produce artwork to fill some need, for example financial, for attention, as a coping mechanism. But often times an artist creates something because they want to, it's the artists' nature expressing itself. I think of God's creative acts in similar terms.




If you'd like to continue (I would!) then maybe this should be done via PM or seperate threa, so we don't derail this one? If you'd like to you could invite @Phr3121 or anyone else who is interested.

Yeah, you nailed it. It's the best answer there is.

I was just having a bit of fun with you guys.