The Black Vault

I've had reservations about starting this topic for quite a while, I'll admit. I've watched interviews, read articles and have checked out their website. I remember briefly reading parts of the Satanic Bible back in highschool as well as the Necronomicon. A curiosity thing mingled with a bit of rebellion, if you will.

So what do you make of these people, this church and their message? They claim that they don't believe in Satan, they refer you to their bible to answer questions but don't like the parts about Satan to be mentioned. They claim to celebrate nature and human nature, lumping all nature-based religions into their fold. This is something Christians are all too willing to take at face value and spew from the pulpit. Mostly because it fits nicely with their doctrine. Are they being deceived though? I wonder if that thought ever crossed an evangelical's mind.

I think healthy discussion is important, I also believe in "know thy enemy". After all, they know you and your religious beliefs and scriptures. So, what do you make of all this?

At best, Satanism is about self-empowerment in lieu of being empowered by any gods.

I've read parts of the Satanic bible, back when I was open to exploring different ideas, as well as a Necronomicon and books on Witchcraft.

But I haven't read the entire Satanic bible nor do I remember it all.

One of the misconceptions is that Satanism is synonymous with hedonism. While that may be true of some self proclaimed Satanists, it is not a part of the doctrine.

Nor do Satanists worship Satan, by and large.

From what I gathered it's mostly about selfishness and self-preservation, with humans becoming like animals. Also, the name is clearly there to provoke and poke fun at Christians.

Not anything to take seriously as a philosophy, just some ***holes screwing around. And yes, it has nothing to do with Satan at all, their beliefs are atheistic.

Yet another hasty generalization, eh?

Thanks for the feedback, At1. I'm curious as to why they invoke Satan in ritual and praise his name if they do not worship him directly. I get their ideals, I understand where they are coming from when they do interviews. I'm just not yet convinced that Satan, in their philosophy, is purely symbolic or representative of man's nature. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in the guy but I realize some people do.

I don't understand their rationale in making broad statements about nature-based religions being one and the same with their philosophy. These people aren't stupid, in fact they're quite intelligent. So I have to wonder why they would say things like that.

at1with0 wrote:Yet another hasty generalization, eh?

That directed at me? You disagree, think we should take these guys seriously?

The clue is in the name, At1. No serious philosophy uses completely loaded terminology from a belief system they do not believe in.

It's clearly there to provoke. You would expect it to be limited to unruly kids as was the case with the OP, but some never grow out of the nonsense, it seems.

humphreys wrote:The clue is in the name, At1. No serious philosophy uses completely loaded terminology from a belief system they do not believe in.

It's clearly there to provoke. You would expect it to be limited to unruly kids as was the case with the OP, but some never grow out of the nonsense, it seems.

Correct, my initial experience was one born of rebellion. It's only now that I'm going back and looking at the different philosophies out there with the mindset to understand them. As far as taking them seriously, well I don't see them as a threat to society at large, unlike $cientologists.

I just don't think they're all ***holes.

The philosophy of Laveyan Satanism forces one to act like an ***hole.

Isn't the very definition of an ***hole someone who looks out for himself and himself only? Satanists only do good if they think they'll profit greater in return for it.

Sure, we're lacking a proper definition of ***hole, but I would expect these to be Universally agreed upon traits of ***holes.