Quote:
Originally Posted by ExChurchKid
I've been interested in the Church of Satan (sorry, if you want more discussion on the ancient origins, feel free to ignore me, but I figured the Church of Satan would be a good place to get a modern viewpoint on him). From their website:
Founded on April 30, 1966 c.e. by Anton Szandor LaVey, we are the first above-ground organization in history openly dedicated to the acceptance of Man’s true nature—that of a carnal beast, living in a cosmos that is indifferent to our existence. To us, Satan is the symbol that best suits the nature of we who are carnal by birth—people who feel no battles raging between our thoughts and feelings, we who do not embrace the concept of a soul imprisoned in a body. He represents pride, liberty, and individualism—qualities often defined as Evil by those who worship external deities, who feel there is a war between their minds and emotions.
We Satanists are thus our own “Gods,” and as beneficent “deities” we can offer love to those who deserve it and deliver our wrath (within reasonable limits) upon those who seek to cause us—or that which we cherish—harm.
Side note: honestly, this sounds better than a lot of Christian pitches I've heard. Maybe I'm a Satanist?
|
Liberty and individualism? Sounds like the American Constitution 😂. But yes I agree we are like gods in our wisdom, and it basically follows the golden rule- Do unto others what you would want them to do to you. Satan was originally just another deity/angel in Jewish mythology. He was part of God’s Council. He was the one that would bring people or other beings to stand trial in God’s divine court. In the non-canonical books and agnostic books, Satan is portrayed very differently. Lucifer was a different character than Satan and was only combined into the “Devil” in the Middle Ages. It wasnt until much later that the “Serpent” in the Garden of Eden was also combined into the character of Satan/Devil. In Jewish mythology, the serpent was just an animal like any other in the garden, not an evil angel disguised. Lucifer’s name meant “Morningstar”, as did Jesus. God considered him a “lawyer” type figure by comparing viewpoints rgarding the character of Job in the Bible. BTw , Job is the oldest book in the entire bible, older than Genesis.