Bah. Pay no heed to the man behind the curtain. He’s an imposter who’s off impersonating God on another board.
Standard delusions of grandeur… :rolleyes:
Maybe the question is whether evil really exists, or is it solely a man-made, man-practiced concept?
I would have thought that depends on your viewpoint. I suspect religious types think that there is such a thing as “evil”, but for the rest of us isn’t it just a consensus across society, and therefore changing over time? A hackneyed example would be nowadays many would think it evil to make small boys climb up chimneys to clean them for a living.
Well, the Military Chaplain’s Handbook acknowledges the Church of Satan as a religious group along with the Temple of Set. Not that this in and of itself necessarily serves to make them “official” but there you have it. Just some info.
www-cgsc.army.mil/chap/relpractice/other/satan.htm
I have a hobby. I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen some of it.
As a devot Catholic, I would like to say that we DO NOT WORSHIP MARY AND SAINTS, ETC.!
That’s another stereotype I’m tired of.
Ahem! As former devout catholic, actions like the resurrection of dead threads is one of the reasons why I became a non-believer. 
For a moment I thought Satan was capable of posting while banned! That thought scared me more than Satan ever did when I was a believer. :eek:
Just so you know, JimSox5 came along after this thread was bumped.
Oh well, sorry about that, is this a Halloween tradition?
my thought is this, whether you believe in god or in satan, from what i have read and heard about ol’ lucifer, he isn’t the nicest guy around. wouldn’t you be far better off to take the high road, ( be nice to each other, golden rules, etc) rather than worship this dude, and be condemned to a an eternity of terrors that the human mind can not begin to fathom?
~And I know it wasn’t right- But it felt so good… -Better Than Ezra
Pascal’s Wager, which is essentially what you are positing, can be neatly exploded thusly: ‘Isn’t it so much easier just to become a Buddhist and live according to Buddhist precepts than to risk eternal rebirths?’ That’s just an example, as Pascal’s Wager works equally well (ie, not very well at all) when applied to any religion.
Just so my point is perfectly clear: Since Pascal’s Wager applies equally well to all religions, using it to boost any religion is fallacious.
As I understand it, the “Satanism” of Lavey is more or less a reformulation of Nietzsche’s philosophy, with a very American emphasis on rugged individualism. As a matter of doctrine, Satanists of the Lavey persuasion don’t believe in an actual supernatural demonic being. Rather, it’s kind of a tongue in cheek, slyly provocative kind of thing to identify with Satan.
Actually, from what I’ve read, the Church of Satan agrees with the Christian Coalition on some matters of social policy, such as support for the death penalty and a disdain for government social welfare programs. But I don’t think they’ve mass produced or distributed any “Satanic Coalition” voter guides.
This site outlines the social principles of the Church of Satan:
http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/Feared.html
In a nutshell, they hate egalitarianism, love individualism, and want a criminal justice system more firmly based in the principle of lex talionis.