Quote from Chockeh;751860:
I kind of pity myself. I just don't understand anything right now and I think that this thread would help me.
That's Occultism, and unfortunately I don't know much about it. I don't even believe in it personally...
I had a dream where I talked to Lilith once and she told me why they were really cast from Heaven, but uh... that's the limit to my knowledge of Occult.
...the real Lilith, not Ithi.
Quote from Episkey;751820:
Yet another Ad hominum attack. Gesh, I'm soooo surprised.
I don't see how pointing out that you're being intolerant is a personal attack. If anything, perhaps it should cause some introspection. Try to be less judging of others, ey?
Let's not be so hostile. There's no need for it.
Quote from Episkey;751820:
Analyze my original post and I stated that I don't care whether or not you believe or practice Satanism. However, I merely analyzed the existence of the name Satan and tried to refute such claim that Satanism was indeed not a religion.
So no. There was no-holier than thou attitude.
There have been all kinds of holier-than-thou attitudes from your posts. First of all, you supposedly know more about a belief that you don't practice yourself or even know anything about, than me (who does).
Next, supposedly your terminology is superior to mine
because of your Religion. It's the argument that because Satan exists in Christianity, that Satanism
must be about Satan. No, that's absolutely not true at all.
If anything, we should look at it within a very non-literal sense. In some sense, Satanism is an opposition to the dogmatic beliefs of Christianity. And it is, I suppose. Belief countered by non-belief. If God wants you to believe in him and worship him, what is worse than simply believing in him and not worshiping him? Denying his existence all together. So sure, there may be some roots. I can't say. Though, I can also say that Science is also the enemy of Religion. Why? Because Science tries to explain some things that Religion explains, and they contradict one another.
As for Satanism being about the malevolent being Satan himself... That's simply not true. That's a misconception that I created this thread to clear up.
Occultism is about the worship of Satan. And while Occultism is a part of Satanism (Opposition to Christianity, if you would), it isn't the entirety of it, and it certainly isn't a belief held by all Satanists. It's like saying anyone who is into politics must be a hardcore conservative extremist. Well, that's not true. Because there are conservatives and liberals and libretarions and fedralists and so on. The problem here, is that what you're doing is applying the ideology of one small extremist faction to the whole of the group of ideologies. There are dozens of different versions of Satanism, some similar, some very different from one another. But they can't all be grouped all into the extremist category simply out of ease. It's just wrong. It's saying people believe something that they don't, and it's misrepresentive.
Of course in modern times with such prevalence of Christianity, I don't think it should be called Satanism at all. I think that another word should be used, like Atheistic Evolutionism, or some kind of thing like that, although these things don't really get into the history of the world because quite honestly... they for the most part aren't religions at all, but rather just belief systems, like a code of conduct or a charter for behavior and a vision of the world. Not really anything metaphysical or theological at all.
Quote from Episkey;751820:
My entire point was about your misconception about misconceptions concerning Satanism.
Well, while not knowing practically anything about Satanism, you sure seem quick to point out
my misconceptions about it, whereas I am informed regarding it and you are (seemingly) only informed of your own religion, Christianity.
How can you know more about it when you do not in fact know more about it? Sure, you may be able to lecture me about Satanism and Satan in the Bible, but as I've said numerous times now, that has nothing to do with the Satanism being discussed in this thread. It's an Atheistic Belief System. Non-Theistic.
The Occult is the theistic Satanism, and it has nothing to do with the ones I mentioned in this thread. In fact, I purposefully left them out to avoid religious debates.
I expected to be able to answer questions about Satanism and clear up further misconceptions.
Quote from Episkey;751820:
Thanks again. Now I'm blind and too "indoctrinated", which is really ironic since I've only been a Christian for about 1.5 years - not my whole life.
What would you call it?
You don't seem to be able to see that the treatment of these angels by human standards seems very inhumane and poor, at best. You don't particularly acknowledge that slavery is wrong, or that slaves could possibly have a reason to revolt.
And why? Why is this? It is because
it says that they loved him and were happy to love and serve him. But wait a minute... Doesn't that sound like someone who owned a bunch of slaves would want you to think? I mean, the entire point was so that you have a good impression of him. He wouldn't want to tell you all the bad things. It's propaganda, you know. If you're trying to endorse your leader, you don't list his flaws, you list his good features.
I certainly believe that
if it were true (which, mind you, I don't believe even for a minute), that it would have been a very horrible life of enslavement, forced servitude, and compulsory worship. And honestly? I just don't think that's right.
I have a problem with the entire way the belief system is arranged around worshiping something. I don't think we should bow to others. We should bow to no one. We should worship and be slaves to no one. That's what I think, and I suppose (other than blind belief and lack of evidence) that's my biggest problem with mainstream religion.
Quote from Episkey;751820:
You are making a thread about Satanism. And you didn't expect other religions to be brought in? My my my. Now that I know who I'm dealing with, I'll end by saying this.
Sure, I expected that it could happen (it's inevitable, isn't it?), but you can't tell me that from my opening post that I somehow have provoked you.
I tried to make it organized, unoffensive, and educational. The idea was to try and clear misconceptions, not start a holy war here. I mean, I'm not even talking about theistic Satanism. That alone should do a good bit to knock out religious debate. I mean, there's no religion involved, so how can we discuss religion? It's all belief systems.
I mean, we can basically imagine we're discussing "Harry's Code" from Dexter here, because that's basically what it equates to. It's a guideline for behavior, not so much a religion, because it has nothing to do with god. I haven't heard of a non-theistic religion, because if it isn't theistic then it isn't a religion.
I've said it before, but look at it this way:
ABC - Buddhism
Fox - Christianity
Aljazeera - Islam
NBC - Judiasm
These "channels" on the TV could be considered "religions" (note the channel connection is irrelevant). We tune in to these "channels" and we're tuning into different theistic beliefs. However, if we switch the TV "Off", then what do we have?
Off - Atheism
The absence of religion. No channel. No theism.
How can an absence of religion be a religion? How can no channel at all be a channel?
It's a belief, sure. But it isn't a religion. It isn't theistic.
Quote from Episkey;751820:
I do admit to my blunder there. I was not trying to imply that you should go Hell because that is a fate worse than death. But alas, my statement could be interpreted as such. I personally was getting fed-up and wanted to end on a strong point.
I rectified my mistake and removed that comment after about 5 minutes after I typed it. Of course, you had already saw it and I can't take back my words. Needless to say, I didn't intend that in any way possible. Whether you believe it or not ... well, frankly I don't know.
Well, I'm glad to hear that. It is best to remain civil, and tolerant of others, after all.
Quote from Episkey;751820:
I hope that you guys reading this at the very least gained some insight into the severity of such things. To me, Christianity is something I believe in. It's part of who I am. So naturally, I couldn't help but bring it up - since I believed it was related to the topic.
While I don't respect Christianity whatsoever, I respect your right to your beliefs.
But, I don't see why you feel the need to bring it in here. I mean, we're talking about another belief system here. It's like you just have to force your beliefs down someone else's throat that believes differently than you. I made a thread to clear misconceptions, and look at what we're forced to talk about. It's pretty offensive to be honest...
I mean, Christians get super offended when people mock and question their religion, but somehow it's okay when they constantly do it to others.
Well, I don't agree with that. I don't think it's right.