Skip to main content

Satanism


Some years ago I read portions of the book below. I didn't like it, but I learned from it. In essence, even those who claim to worship evil in fact are relying on good, and on God. Onward….

I had the opportunity to see ‘The Satanic Bible’. The book is an alternative world view. It is revealing that it was written in 1968, and revised in 1971. These were hardly times for deep insight into acts of social rebellion. There is material on the book, and Satanism in general, on Wikipedia, among other sources. The Satanic ‘creed’ is excerpted below-

1.Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence
2.Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams
3.Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit
4.Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates
5.Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek
6.Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires
7.Satan represents man as just another animal (sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all fours), who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all.
8 Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification
9.Satan has been the best friend the Christian Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these year

Here are the ‘rules’ of the Earth, according to Laveyan Satanism-
     1.     Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
     2.     Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
     3.  When in another’s home, show them respect or else do not go there.
     4.   If a guest in your home annoys you, treat them cruelly and without mercy.
     5.     Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
     6.   Do not take that which does not belong to you, unless it is a burden to the other person and they cry out to be relieved.
     7.     Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
     8.     Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
     9.     Do not harm young children. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
    10.When walking in open territory, bother no one. If   someone bothers            
you ask them to stop. If they do not stop, destroy them.

Some of these rules are simply differently worded biblical material. Some of it is ‘70s nonsense, such as ‘destroying’ someone who bothers you and will not stop. The real issue I have with this material, however, is that it is poor theology, poor philosophy, and practically unworkable.

The concept of Satan has evolved over many years. There are two terrific books about this- ‘The Origin of Satan’ and ‘A History of Sin’. Satan began not as a singularity representing evil, but a servant of the heavenly court. A Satan, an angel, was sent to interfere with human actions when they were contrary to the will of God. It was only in Christian times that Satan became the ‘anti-God’ and embodiment of evil. Much of our imagery of hell and Satan come not from the Bible, but from Milton and Dante.

There is no question Lavey was disgusted with the organized church when he wrote ‘The Satanic Bible’, but that does not make his alternative good theology. The great irony in his writings is that he depends implicitly on a conservative Christian image of Satan to promulgate a system supposedly in rebellion against that church. This is just like the need of adolescents to set their parents up as ‘straw men’ against which to rebel, in the process implicitly acknowledging the parents’ importance to the teen.

Besides being poorly baked ‘theology’, this is bad philosophy. All the indulgences and urges made normal by the Satanic creed are already acknowledged by Christianity and everyone else as a part of normal life. Christianity, however, puts limits on the expression of these natural urges. This is not repression; it is responsibility to self and others.

Restraining our emotional urges obviously serves others; how does it serve us individually? All the emotions put forth as a desirable expression of ‘real’ emotion are stale, unsatisfactory and damaging. Pursuing vengeance against a person sounds great as a way of expiating anger, but it is not. Unless a person is a psychopath, there is no joy or peace in seeing another person suffer, even when they have made you suffer. The individual soul is not improved or expanded by indulging in vengeance, possession, sexual promiscuity among others.

The Satanic creed says Man is just another animal, and any other belief is false and a pretension. It says spiritual ideals are pipe dreams, and suggests spiritual goals are self-deceit and the claim of a soul for Man is pernicious. If all that is true, what is the source of the restraining and advising voice that we all feel and hear? Is it merely enculturated prohibitions, church bred guilt? While there are cultural variations in what is acceptable, and this has certainly changed over time, there is remarkable agreement between cultures and religions on the main points of moral behavior.
 
My belief is that the restraining voice we hear is the voice of God. We may call it different things, such as conscience or social morals, but I think it is God. The idea that our values are merely a result of living together makes no sense to me, and no other animal has a conscience, just as no other animal attacks its own kind as voraciously as Man.

I do not share all the values of the organized Christian church. I do not see any reason, however, to accept Lavey’s writings as anything but self-indulgent pseudo-religion. The greatest compliment is imitation. Lavey has unwittingly paid that to Christianity. He says the church is the greatest friend Satanism has ever had. That appears to be true, as little of his ‘values’ would exist without a Bible and church based teachings against which to rage.

Like so many of my readings and wanderings, I come back to the same place- a profound belief in God, and that belief experienced in a Christian format.

Apostate Monster (but NO satanist!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Forgiveness

 In doing years of medical teaching, I have told students that teaching and learning are not directly related. I can teach and teach, but you may never learn. Conversely, you may learn continuously without me teaching you a thing. 'I teach' and 'you learn' are two separate, active processes that may overlap or coincide. The same is true of forgiveness. I am an unforgiving man. I am the very opposite of God, who is slow to anger and of great kindness. I am quick to anger and very slow to forgive. I'm kind and insightful with people generally, but when mistreated or insulted I am not kind at all, nor do I forget, or forgive.  The Bible tells us to do something else. We are told to forgive. In Matthew 18:21, Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive his brother's sin. The Jewish standard was three times. Like the young man in the story of the Samaritan, who asks who his brother is in order to know to whom he should be loving, Peter appears to be asking for guida...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Broken Tooth

 I broke a tooth today. I've done that before; I inherited my mother's horrible teeth, and if not for crowns I would have the smile of any drug-addicted homeless man in the street. But the tooth broke, rather than the crown coming off. I've had that happen a couple of times, and it's nothing. After all, the tooth is just fake, held on by cements similar to the ones I use for my models. This time, however, I have to have the root extracted so I can get the modern version of a bridge. And this new dental experience has reduced to me to jelly, this not helped by the condescending, sexist comments of the dental assistant. I have a long, longe memory, my first recollections coming from age 2. I have well-developed, detailed memories from age 3 onward. I vividly recall being at the dentiswt as a child, when it was fashionable to fill baby teeth. I can recall being left there by my mother as a 14 year old, on the day I was paid for working as 'the 5th ace' at Camp Maga...
1 comment
Read more

Politically Correct Dishonor

The Biblical prophets warned aloud that devastation would come to those who were unclean. Those that profaned God and the house of God, those who were drunken, fornicators, idolators, those that cheated, that gave unclean offerings. Israel was warned of the consequences of their behavior. And God did not punish Israel. Rather, by walking away from God, Israel simply suffered the consequences of its behavior and choices. I chose, I chose , to live, to receive a transplant. I struggled to have the surgery that prolonged my life, I accepted the gift of a kidney from a whole person that I might live. I was convinced by family and friends that I had some role in the world, something I might contribute. And I believed that. My idea of contribution was to teach, to give to others what I had learned to do. But I have lived to see injustice. To see self-interest and greed triumph over not merely right but reason as well. I see incompetence passed off as expertise, the mundane as the s...
2 comments
Read more