Since most people do not understand what Satanism is...I am just wondering how many have taken the time to find out what it really is and become followers of the practice.
anyone here ever been a Satanist?
by gravedancer 6 Replies latest jw friends
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Solace
Jehovahs Witness
Satanist
Whats the difference? -
GentlyFeral
I haven't, but Satanism, like other paganisms, is actively represented on the Web. Isaac Bonewits, author of the "Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame," was a Satanist briefly, and either left the church in disgust or was thrown out in disgrace, depending on who you ask. A Google search turns up many references to his articles, "I Was a Teenage Satanist" and "Fundamentalism, Satanism and Other Bad Ideas," including rebuttals.
Some Satanists are looking for excuses for sociopathic behavior. Others make it a way of disciplined self-indulgence and exploration. As with all religions, the variety of its disciples make it a stew of good and bad.
A few links:
http://www.boudicca.de/files/97/files.htm - a bunch of essays in .zip files.
http://www.satanservice.org/smackers.html - "text from all manner of self-described Satanist, from the organizational to the independent, conservative to radical, reliable to blatantly false." Satanic churches describe themselves.
http://www.satanservice.org/theory/osvstnsm2.txt (listed on the page above) - "Satanists are outside of Christianity. Yet so many claiming to be 'Satanists' exist solely within the Christian context. They take their cue from Christian theology and Christian imagery, and merely reverse it, to be 'blasphemous' in an effort to infuriate that jealous old Hebrew god Jehovah, which they obviously believe in, and think they are so 'evil' for doing so."
And: "Surely the JOY of life is the very essence of Satanism. What happened to the Devil as the cosmic Trickster - virtually a Universal Archetype (Coyote to the American Indians, Loki to the
Norse, for e.g.)? The Devil as the Joker in the pack, the Mocker, that gives unpredictability and chance to life?"What about Satan as Dionysus or as Pan, as the frolicking, wild, chasing, playing god of the pagans? That figure of merriment that the Christling Church hated so much that he became the very face of Satan himself, as the horned and goat-footed god of the witches?
"It is the Christling church which has defined Satan and Satanism as sombre and the Satanist's favourite hangout as the graveyard. Some sorry and misguided types actually fall for that and become the very definition of a "Satanist" which the Christling priests invented. And of course some are indeed sombre and joyless, so lacking in Life that their TRUE place is in the Christling Church."
Hmmm... by this definition I may be a Satanist, after all.
Gently Feral
just a little ol' pagan, really -
VioletAnai
For two years under my older sisters influence I became a satanist. I couldn't handle their selfish attitude. Their manta is: Do what you want, get what you want by any means and fuck the rest! I couldn't live like that....so I became a wiccan witchypoo. For 4 years I dabbled and got great satisfaction from my feeling of self worth and power...kinda trippy actually!
You've been a BAD boy, go to MY room
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MegaDude
Hi GD,
I studied it to some degree. Had some brief dialogue with one of the founders. I'm sure you already know there are two main branches of Satanism, the official Church of Satan (Lavey) and The Temple of Set (Aquino). Some of them are very intelligent, extremely bright, and some aren't much smarter than a bag of hammers, looking for a radical identity. If I didn't believe in a God, I certainly would be a follower of this philosophy. Not from an organizational point of view, but it made a lot of sense to me if I decided there was no loving ultimate diety.
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Xander
but Satanism, like other paganisms
Just FYI, 'Satanism' has nothing to do with 'paganism'. Pagans worship a variety of Gods and Goddesses related to parts of the Earth and natural world. In essence, we are 'nature worshippers' (not accurate exactly, but close enough for an outsider).
Pagans DO NOT believe in a single almighty being, Pagans DO NOT believe in a single powerful entity of evil. Everything that is good and evil is already within everyone.
Satanists, on the other hand, believe in a being of evil that can be seperately worshipped.
It could be argued that Satanists have more beliefs in common with Christians than Pagans.
A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
--George Santayana -
cellomould
For anyone interested in a good read, see the book to which I refer in my quote at the bottom here.
It's got an interesting portrayal of Satan.
cellomould
"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
