# Satanism....... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 4, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436 "2003-04-04T12:26:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/41 "2003-04-05T02:41:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mephisto \* > \*\*I also think it’s funny that someone with the name **_Beelzebub_ba** has trouble with _possession_ . . . ah, wish I could turn it into a better joke . . . > \*\* You’d have to work in the “inbred hellbilly” bit somewhere 😉 ---
**Author:** ![IEatFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c5a1d2/32.png) [@IEatFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IEatFood)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/42 "2003-04-05T05:06:46Z")
> [@](#): > > What has Satan (or Lucifer) given to humanity? A balance of power of course. Am I the only one here who has always seen God & Satan more as a pair of bitter divorced parents (God having full custody, Satan having visitation every other weekend and for weeks in the summer…), or perhaps more like the old CCCP and USA than purely the emodiment of good & evil? As for the type of Satanism posted by Mr Splitfoot… Sounds all well & good, but I have to wonder (as a point of debate), if that hedonism would do us all that well, were it to be accepted as the culural norm? To wit, on a macro scale, would it cause things to break down and enormous amounts of social friction that didn’t previously exist to occur, or would things run a lot smoother with this somewhat modified version of “The Golden Rule”… Historically, Christian or otherwise, it’s the guy with the huge wallet & a lot of patience that keeps the whole ship from going to hell (no pun intended)… ---
**Author:** ![Mudling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@Mudling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudling)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/43 "2003-04-05T15:13:28Z")
Umm, this may sound like really stupid question, but here goes. Isn’t Satan, the devil, Lucifer etc, the same ‘person’? (Im afraid I have never been educated on anything related to religion and have never sought out information on it.) Also, knowing absolutely nothing about Satan, what’s the story with him (nothing too detailed, I don’t want to bother anyone too much). ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/44 "2003-04-05T15:18:27Z")
Zeena LaVey & Nikolas Schreck (sp?) now? Os Guisness, a British C’tian philosopher on LaVeyan Satanism- “Ayn Randians in black robes”. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/45 "2003-04-05T18:20:03Z")
I think as far as a title for this belief system goes, Egoistic Hedonism works pretty well. In essence you do what you want when you want, and don’t care how it affects anyone outside of your own circle of friends, nor could you be bothered with events that exist outside of your personal microcosm. That, to me, perfectly describes an egoistic hedonist. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/46 "2003-04-05T18:33:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IEatFood! \* > **A balance of power of course. Am I the only one here who has always seen God & Satan more as a pair of bitter divorced parents (God having full custody, Satan having visitation every other weekend and for weeks in the summer…), or perhaps more like the old CCCP and USA than purely the emodiment of good & evil?** Satan may represent a balance of power, but I wouldn’t consider that something given to humanity. I read the God-Satan relationship as more of the father and rebellious son type. Son rebels, Father kicks him out, son says “I’ll show him”, etc. Maybe that’s why I associate Satanism with teen-aged boys. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/47 "2003-04-05T18:42:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LifeOnWry \* > \*\*Just so’s you know, Anton LeVay was a charlatan and a performer - and not a Satanist, even by his own definition. > > If you need a cite, here’s one: [http://www.churchofsatan.org/aslv.html](http://www.churchofsatan.org/aslv.html) > > If you want to know why I think I have a valid opinion here, you should know that he was my cousin. \*\* Are you serious? WOW!!! What was he really like? I can imagine family reunions were fun-was he ever invited to any? Or like christenings or weddings? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![mr.splitfoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@mr.splitfoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.splitfoot)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/48 "2003-04-05T21:09:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by soulmurk \* > **I think as far as a title for this belief system goes, Egoistic Hedonism works pretty well.** Has a nice ring to it, too. Maybe I’ll go with that from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/49 "2003-04-06T00:04:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by soulmurk \* > \*\*I don’t recall ever being told that pride was a sin. Excessive pride yes, but pride no. It’s a natural human emotion (not that some of _those_ haven’t been declared sins) and perfectly normal. Excessive pride is self-destructive, which doesn’t serve the self very well at all. > > And I’d like to point out that there is a difference between taking pride in accomplishments and being egotistical about natural traits. For instance, being proud that you finished a marathon is perfectly acceptable, but feeling superior because you have high cheekbones should not be. > \*\* In Christian school (Baptist denomination) we \* were \* taught that pride was a sin. What they said was that all talent comes from God and is given to you to use in his service. Thus, having pride in an accomplishment is wrong. (It’s not your accomplishment: it’s God’s.) Pride in an ability was seen as being just as shallow as pride in beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/50 "2003-04-06T05:07:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mr. splitfoot \* > \*\*To get this started a little more, I’ll repost some of what I wrote in cadolphins thread. > > We love our friends almost as much as we love ourselves, and would help them anyway possible. We really don’t care at all about strangers. Why waste some of my love on someone I don’t know, when I can give that much more to the people I do. > \*\* This sounds a lot like tribalism. Wouldn’t society fracture into small groups under such a belief system? ---
**Author:** ![Tertius01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tertius01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tertius01)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/51 "2003-04-06T11:21:26Z")
1 John 2 15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the **boastful** pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. It seems that self-aggrandizing pride is the problem. I don’t think that a sense of satisfaction after a job well done is seen as a sin in Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/52 "2003-04-06T18:36:23Z")
Has anyone here read Dr. Elaine Pagel’s book, _The Origin of Satan_? (1995, Random House). She offers some interesting insights into Christianity’s version of Satan. The character is very different from the one that appears in Jewish scripture. To simplify her statements, Between the time of the building of the 2nd Temple to the Roman occupation of Palestine, within the Jewish community there ere a small yet vocal group who excoriated their fellow Jews by identifying them with Satan. In the first century, C.E. this small yet vocal group took the unpleasant figure of Satan and twisted him into the evil, malevolent character better know to Christianity. They turned the prosecutor of God’s court into His antagonist and even His rival. These writings inturn influenced Mark and the other Gospel writers, giving us the version of Satan best known to Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436/53 "2003-04-06T19:07:45Z")
Have you ever “called up” a demon? Did you actually see them? If so, do you realize you can make a million dollars by proving this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satanism/166436.md?page=2)