A freind of find mine thinks otherwise of what i think.
I say that Satanism is a type Christianity because of the fact that it follows some of the same structure that main stream christians do, just that they are on the other side of the war. She says that (she is christian and i am athiest) Satanists are not "christian-like" which she deams the meaning of the word christian. I say that the word ( as most words in the english language have done over time) has changed to meaning something other than it started out meaning. It covers all religius beleifs that agree to some major points of the religion, like GOD, jesus, satan, how they came to be. things like that in general. there are many religions withing christianity, like Catholic, Penticoscle ( sorry if misspelled ), ect.. they are all different versions of christianity, as is satanism, satanism is just the exteame, there on the opposing "team"

What are everyone elses prosepective (try not to be offended for being called christian if you are satanic, just a catagorization thing, nothing more)

Satan means adversary to them. They are more or less pissed of atheists with some silly rules to follow.

yah th last heathen is right... it has nothing to do with christianity besides the word satan...

Depends on your version of Satanism. As far as I'm aware there are two versions.

You have the LeVey version, or the ME FIRST version. It has almost nothing to do with satan with the exception that many of the commandments and laws are direct opposite of christianity's laws. Which doesn't really mean anything, since most religions share many of the same rules. So for the most part LeVey satanism is the opposite of many faiths.

Personally, I think the people that practice that faith should get together and pick out a different name. Just so they won't have to deal with being confused with the other group of satanists.

The other group of satanists are the ones that actually worship Satan. And that one has everything to do with christianity. Mostly because much of the rituals and practices deal with the perversion of christian practices. The entire motivation behind that version of satanism is doing anything to oppose christianity. Therefore without christianity and the christian idea of Satan, there would be no satanism. At least in this particular version of satanism.

Mostly the people that follow that brand of satanism are kids that are still dealing with the rebellion of their parents making them go to church. Most people do it for a little while and leave it behind when real life starts getting more important (house payments, bills, kids, stuff like that).

Okeeday, where to begin? Well in the effort of seeming objective and impartial I'd just like to say that Satanism has always struck me as the bastard child of Christianity. The droppings of "the faith" all seemed to coalesce into some sort of strange inbred....philosophy? Honestly it seems to me that some people just needed an excuse to be offensive or to practice magick with themselves in mind first and foremost. Kudos to you if you are a believer or practitioner of this sort of thing. While I myself think it to be a load of tripe I do acknowledge the guts it can take in some circles to break away. I have no doubt that there are worthwhile satanists much as there are, dare I say, worthwhile Christians. In all fairness my personal experience with organized religion is that it's just a big hall of mirrors with every mirror reflecting the same thing but distorting it differently. If organized religion is to be followed it ends up being a "going through the motions" type exercise and it loses it's meaning because it is taken for granted. I am an eclectic pagan maybe (?) and I still have problems with taking things for granted and staying inside comfort zones and the like...honestly I have yet to even practice a magickal ritual though I plan to. My point is simply that each of us needs to find our own truths in order for it to mean anything to us. Also, therefore, we must each come up with our own language so that words have the chance to regain their meaning. FTEN RITC Sitnarch futnanny engtlan *gets knocked off soapbox by a cinderblock to the head*

Regards,
Cyrus
-The God of Obscurity and All Things Nonsensical

Well, in any case, they're both connected--same story, characters, pretty much, but different view-point.

[quote]Originally posted by Edy52285
[b]
I say that Satanism is a type Christianity because of the fact that it follows some of the same structure that main stream christians do, just that they are on the other side of the war.


You have made a very interesting point, Edy-- and I, being an avid reader of Anton LaVey an non-official member of the Church of Satan, would like to point out what I feel to be the flaws in your philosophy.
In a vague sense, you are correct-- Satanism DOES have some of the same structure that TRADITIONAL (not mainstream) Christianity does, in that it recognizes that ritual and dogma are essential to a religion in order to satisfy part of man's basic carnal nature-- ritual and dogma are some of the only reasons why people turn to religion in the first place. This, however, is where the similarities end.
Christians feel the need to externalize their basic, carnal egos into an external manifestation they can call "God". "God" can do all of the things man is not allowed to do, such as judge, kill, perform miracles to gratify His will, etc. Christians are basically just a part of the masses, who buy into the social taboos that it is not acceptable for one to recognize oneself-- all blame (and credit) must be placed elsewhere. For example, prayer is a completely worthless activity-- the time one spends praying and waiting around for God to act could be spent actually going out and doing something about the problem yourself. Ritual and dogma are what sets us apart from atheists-- recognizing ONESELF as God is what sets us even furthur apart from the Christians.

~*Rayn Nocturna*~

The so called second kind of satanists are not satanists, they are devil worshippers. Also, satanists do not follow christianity just from a different perspective. It is an atheistic religion.

yes..

christianity and satanism are build upon each other, with out one, there is no other

what I mean is that since they are build upon each other, they need each other
because what is good worth if there is no evil and how can evil be evil without good...
so in the sense that they need each other, they are the same... they have the same need, they need aliances and to fight each other

Wow, how deep.
Satanism may have been a reaction to christianity, but if it dies nearly any other major religion will do fine as the opposite of satanism. Christian myths and stories have nothing to do with satanism, only the self denial and forgiveness, which are things found in most religions.

LaVey most likely had his tongue in his cheeck while coming up with satanism, anyway.

"Satanic Statement IX-
Satan is the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!"

They are most definatelly two seperate Religions

You may think that they are two separate religions, beef_e, but it's just as The Last Heathen (and, originally, Anton LaVey) said earlier:

The Ninth Satanic Statement:
Satan is the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!

Satanists (at least those who follow the theory of LaVey) view the Almighty Adversary as a metaphor, the same way that they do God. The Christian Church would NEVER, under any circumstances, have survived without an evil entity that they could frighten people into conviction with. Satanists who follow LaVey view themselves as their own God, which in all honesty, THEY ARE-- as I said before, "God" is simply a metaphor-- an externalization of one's carnal ego. I often like to think back to the movie "Romero", and never hesitate to let myself remember that, "The Church is a whore-- She'll spread Her legs to the highest bidder."

~*Rayn Nocturna*~

well since Satan is a concept of the Christian belief, maybe so..just a branch off of it

You may think that, but Satan is NOT necessarily a concept based off of Christian belief-- "Satan" is a concept based off of man's inner, epicurean, carnal ego. Satan represents the TRUE, inbred nature of Man, the one which Christianity and most every other God-fearing religion attempts to repress and shun through pointless, obsolete morals, values, and religious codes of law. Anton LaVey chose to call his theory "Satanism" because his philosophy advocates people recognizing and, essentially, worshipping the TRUE "god" of a person's lifetime-- oneself-- the very basic and carnal ego that most people blindly choose externalize into a higher being. Man has always created gods-- gods have never created man. The theory of the Satanist is, "Why not worship the very embodiment with the power to CREATE "God" in the first place?" This very carnal embodiment is what all God-fearing religions, in their unconscious philosophy, see as "Satan"-- the TRUE, unbridled nature of Man that must be harnassed by "God". Anton LaVey simply chose to call his philosophy "Satanism" since, in our culture, "Satan" is the word most closely attuned with evil. I think I've made my point clear. If any more cult-fanatics/"experts" go raving on the Geraldo Rivera Show, I swear to myself I'm going to fucking scream.

~*Rayn Nocturna*~

Out of curiosity, what is the biggest sin in Satanic religion?

According to Anton LaVey, there are many different so-called "sins" in the Satanic religion (twelve to be exact)... but the greatest sin out of them all would probably have to be stupidity, followed by solipsism... one shouldn't lead themself into believing that stupidity and ignorance are the same thing, however, as they are two completely different ballfields... a Satanist cannot afford to be stupid... neither can they afford to engage in solipsism, the act of thinking and believing that everyone else in the world thinks and, therefore, acts the same way that they do... Satanists have a very carnal theory on man... engaging in solipsism not only proves ignorance (not stupidity), but leaves the often higher-minded Satanist feeling frustrated with the world around him... to avoid engaging in these sins, many Satanists choose to apply one of LaVey's Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth-- "Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked."... in truth, this is good advice for pretty much anybody, as we all can think of times where stupidity and solipsism have caught us by the throat because we've neglected to shut our mouths around unenlightened people.

~*Rayn Nocturna*~

i can't even remember how many times i read the word, "carnal."

How many times?... I didn't count... you should take that word into consideration... it's probably a side of yourself that you're denying, and therefore are getting frustrated over reading about .

~*Rayn Nocturna*~