I'd like to see what everyone thinks about "Satan". Is Satan an actual being who tempts humanity into committing acts of evil, is Satan nothing more than a concept - a personification of the darker side of human nature, or is Satan something else?

[This message has been edited by Gnool (edited 07-20-2004).]

i think he's an actual being. Tries to get people to not believe in God. Just to spite God. Asshole.

*laughs*

As simply as that was put, ZMan, I agree with you.

He's crafty...the greatest thing he ever did was to convince the world that he doesn't exist. (yes, this line came from Devil's Advocate, but the ideal has been around since the beginning of time)

... according to LaVey, Satan is dark forces of nature...

... according to Christianity, it is someone whom they always blame to justify their sins and crimes.

...

Anyway, Satan is essential for the sake of the balance.

That yin/yang thing always made sense to me until I considered the ultimate balance of good and evil. Everything balances out except for the balance of power between Satan and God; God being omnipotent. Maybe I'm thinking too literally. I'm also digressing.

I see Satan as the physical incarnation of evil. You could look at it in the Apollonian/Dionysian sense and say that he is chaos. Like God he does not necessarily have to have a physical form; he just is.

Hope this helped.

Satan is a scapegoat for christians. He and Jehova had a disagreement and now he is blamed for all the bad stuff that happens. People don't take responsibility for their own actions, and need someone to blame everyhing on.

satan is everything and nothing within this world. He is everything in the sense he personifies every single dark and evil thing in this world. However he is nothing because when you look at it as the one who causes the darkenss and evil in this world, then we ourselves become satan, because we are the ones who deem what is good and what is evil, so therefore satan could be said to be society itself

Good and evil monotheistic religion has been around since Zoroastrianism. The difference between this type of theistic belief and paganism/polytheism is that pagans revere all 'gods' (i.e. facets of life, animate and inanimate beings and phenomenon, abstracts, etc) equally, while monotheistic religions say what parts of life or abstracts or phenomenon are 'good' and which are 'bad'/'evil'.

LaVey just turned Christianity on its head and called it a religion- and made a ton of money by doing so.

in the actual satanism religion,satan is more like god,he is everything,good and evil.it isnt the satanism that christians view it to be at all.i am an athiest,but actually satanism makes more sense to me than any other religion.there arent as many contradictions as christianity,it seems it was thought out alot better.i dont believe it any more than i believe in god,but if i,for whatever reason,changed my mind about my beliefs,satanism would probably be what i would go to.there are far too many contradictions an unanswered questions in the bible.satanism is much more pure.



-MandatorySuicide

quote:Originally posted by Barefoot J:

Satan is a scapegoat for christians. He and Jehova had a disagreement and now he is blamed for all the bad stuff that happens. People don't take responsibility for their own actions, and need someone to blame everyhing on.

What i don't understand, is how people can justify blaming the devil. Where in the bible do people get that idea? Sure satan is "the tempter of the brothers", but how does that make us any less responsible for our actions.

If anything, following Christ should call people to be more responsible for their actions, given that we are going to have to give an account for what did with what we knew and had.

quote:Originally posted by Gnool:

I'd like to see what everyone thinks about "Satan". Is Satan an actual being who tempts humanity into committing acts of evil, is Satan nothing more than a concept - a personification of the darker side of human nature, or is Satan something else?

[This message has been edited by Gnool (edited 07-20-2004).]

In the event that God is real, I believe that Satan is as well. Logic tells me that He was probably the first created by God, and thusly His favorite. The one He was most proud of, the one He apointed leader.

I think Satan was an outspoken, Brat-Prince who was/is deeply loved by God and he(Satan) took advantage of God's deep love for him. God gave Satanial and his 'Watchers' the duty of observing and aiding Man's evolution, all the while they were to never interfere with His plan for them(Mankind).

That is to never know us, to never reveal themselves to us in any form, and needless to say, to never ever copulate with Mankind. They were to invisibly guide us, meaning they were to quietly give us ['i]signs[/i] or make something known to us without actually telling or revealing themselves.

Well needless to say, they broke all the rules, and the 'Watcher' project was aborted. Mankind was left to it's own devices, and God's grandchildren were to be forgotten and dubbed Demons. Satan being the first to 'Fall' recieved the most flak for his action.

But his disobidiences didn't end there. He used God's love for him and continualy mated with Man's Daughters, knowing all the while that God would not choose to destroy him no regardless to the blatantarrogance and impudence of his actions.

So God dubbed him His 'Adversary'. And gave him the lot of lecturing our souls in a realm where we have the choice to go if we're strong enough to have an afterlife, A.K.A hell. Passing or Graduating from 'The School of Hell' enables your passage to heaven. In the original bible everyone went to hell.

And logic tells me that that makes a hell of a lot more sense than the modern day views of hell. That being, the idea of hell being a place of learning, realizations, and reformation.

All the malicious horrible acts that are committed by man is TOTALLY MAN'S DOING. I hate these fuckin childish, imbecilic,irresponsible, wannabe badasses who commit blasphemous crimes then blames it on a theoretical intity. As-fuckin-if Man needed an invisible god to implant the seed of destruction in irs head.

As-fuckin-if man needs someone to teach it how to be 'evil'. The way I see it, man is pretty goddamned creative and the shit we do, we do with our own free-fuckin-will. We do it on our on accords, we don't need an invisible 'evil' motivational speaker who brainwashes or persuades us to do anything.

We do what we do on our very own accords. And if Satan can or does implant thoughts of evil in our minds, then it'd be your fuckin fought that you're too damned weak to make your own choices and decisions, and you are therefore a threat to humanity so you should die.(I'm not actually saying you, I'm just saying-)

quote:Originally posted by Zman:

i think he's an actual being. Tries to get people to not believe in God. Just to spite God. Asshole.



quote:

Most Satanists do not accept Satan as an anthropomorphic being with cloven hooves, a barbed tail and horns. He merely represents a force in nature - the powers of darkness which have been named just that becaue no religion has taken these forces OUT of the darkness. Nor has science been able to apply technical terminology to these forces. It is an untapped resivoir that few can make use of because they lack the ability to use a tool without having to first break down and label all the parts which make it run. It is this incessant need to analyze which prohibits most people from taking advantage of this many faceted key to the unknown - which the satanist chooses to call "Satan".



And that is the end of that chapter

Hey Metalligod, you know that is exactly the view put across in the vampire chronicle books by Anne Rice, u read them by any chance?

what chapter? I wasn't talking about satanists

quote:Originally posted by mongolia_d:

Hey Metalligod, you know that is exactly the view put across in the vampire chronicle books by Anne Rice, u read them by any chance?

Yes however, that is why I read them, because I've finally found someone who shares my views. I first came about with this little 'theory' when I was 10, I used to talk to a Rabi and he spoke to me as he would any adult so I admired him and learned from him.

He said it's strange for a little boy to know so much about such thing so early in his life, and he told me that it was almost exactly what is said to have happened in the Book of Enoch.

So from there is where I came up with such a notion. Yes I do indeed read 'The Chronicles', but I just read Memnoch back in Jan.

quote:Originally posted by Zman:

what chapter? I wasn't talking about satanists



lol, I was attempting to make the idea that the responce would finish any possible questions pertaining to what you had stated, or what may be stated pertaining to the ideals behind it. The end of a chapter, generally, ends ties up all the lose ends for that chapter, and leads towards the questions and ideas of the next :P