All hail Satan

[DrZoidberg]

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progr...nts-are-morally-superior-to-ten-commandments/

I only have one problem with this. Why have any commandments at all? It's already well established that they don't have an impact on our behaviour.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, if you don't provide a set of guiding principles about how to act, why bother forming a religion at all? It's kind of what they're all about.

 

[Underseer]

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progr...nts-are-morally-superior-to-ten-commandments/

I only have one problem with this. Why have any commandments at all? It's already well established that they don't have an impact on our behaviour.

Dunno, but it's a nice illustration of how trivially easy it is to come up with a set of commandments more moral than the ones (yes, plural) in the Bible.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Meh, Satanic Temple. I think this is a con. They are far too pallid to be true heretics. Fellow atheists can attest to our commonalities and ongoing projects: 1) Tempting the Catholic priesthood into sins of the flesh 2) Indoctrinating America's youth into unbelief 3) Bringing the vast Christian crusade of Trump to a halt 4) Worshiping our dark Father inside the Ark Encounter 5) Putting CBN out of business. And where, pray, is the recipe for kitten bouillabaise????
Oops - mentally edit 'pray'. None of that in America.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

When one compares the two sets of tenets it's like comparing writings from different stages of life. The biblical tenets came from a small, provincial mind that wasn't developed and experienced, let alone likely very old. The satanic tenets are thought out and come from a mind that has experienced different cultures. Sounds like Satan is just a grown-up Yahweh.

 

[Politesse]

 

[steve_bank]

There are several figures who invented forms of Satanism for fun and profit.

Leister Crowley was one. The other major one I'd have to look up. Church Of Sate. They are all generally a fabrication for profit,

The forms of Satanism and the rituals tend to boil down to heightened sexuality.

Examples of synthesis. Satan does not necessarily mean the biblical character.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley\
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Satan

 

[Politesse]

Aleister Crowley was not a Satanist; he founded a religion called Thelema.

 

[steve_bank]

Aleister Crowley was not a Satanist; he founded a religion called Thelema.

It is the same old occult nonsense.

 

[Politesse]

Aleister Crowley was not a Satanist; he founded a religion called Thelema.

It is the same old occult nonsense.

So you... popped up here to share some information you knew to be inaccurate? What's the point?

 

[steve_bank]

Aleister Crowley was not a Satanist; he founded a religion called Thelema.

It is the same old occult nonsense.

So you... popped up here to share some information you knew to be inaccurate? What's the point?

Sorry man, the batteries in my light saber are dead. We could try ping pong.

If posting examples of non Christian occult religious synthesis is too deep relative to the question of commandments in a particular Satanism then that is not my problem.

Consider Christianity at its heart is occult.

 

[Politesse]

So you... popped up here to share some information you knew to be inaccurate? What's the point?

Sorry man, the batteries in my light saber are dead. We could try ping pong.

If posting examples of non Christian occult religious synthesis is too deep relative to the question of commandments in a particular Satanism then that is not my problem.

Consider Christianity at its heart is occult.

None of that has anything to do with confusing Satanism for other religious traditions that are not, in fact, Satanism.

 

[skepticalbip]

Well, if you don't provide a set of guiding principles about how to act, why bother forming a religion at all? It's kind of what they're all about.

Well there is the collection plate, and then the priest does need to say something authoritative like "be nice and mind your manners" during the hour per week he's on the job.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Aleister Crowley was not a Satanist; he founded a religion called Thelema.

It is the same old occult nonsense.

Not necessarily. Crowley was about reaching ecstasy. Altered states of mind. And using available mental tools to get there. His article on yoga is still one of the best ever written. Crowley was seriously deep. Thelema is about embracing the mystery of life and revelling in it. Because.. why not? If we will never find a singular meaning of life, why not find a way to enjoy that.

Satanism is more just a joke religion. Like Flying Spaghetti monster. They're more an anti-religion.

 

[Angry Floof]

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progr...nts-are-morally-superior-to-ten-commandments/

I only have one problem with this. Why have any commandments at all? It's already well established that they don't have an impact on our behaviour.

It clearly says 'tenets' and not 'commandments,' and they are morally superior to Christian dogma. I don't see the controversy here except maybe in the minds of religious zealots.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

This post proves that atheists worship Satan. /s

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Aleister Crowley was not a Satanist; he founded a religion called Thelema.

It is the same old occult nonsense.

Not necessarily. Crowley was about reaching ecstasy. Altered states of mind. And using available mental tools to get there. His article on yoga is still one of the best ever written. Crowley was seriously deep. Thelema is about embracing the mystery of life and revelling in it. Because.. why not? If we will never find a singular meaning of life, why not find a way to enjoy that.

Satanism is more just a joke religion. Like Flying Spaghetti monster. They're more an anti-religion.

Every religion is a joke religion except for the people who don't think their religion is a joke.

 

[steve_bank]

I read Crowley's book Diary Of A Drug Fiend back in the early 70s, the days of psychedelia.

From what I read of Crowley he was typical of the occult. Wealthy clients for which he provided rituals and an exclusive club. Taboo mysticism.

Hubbard was the next generation. Science mixed with mysticism. Same con job. There is an alleged collaboration between Hubbard and one of the occultists of the early 20th century.

Scientology and Church Of Satan and other occult systems all went through the same kind of evolution into a final form with a following. It is all about creating the feeling of religious exclusivity and belonging. Secret rituals known only to the chosen. I believe Masons actually have secret handshakes and signs.

 

[DrZoidberg]

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progr...nts-are-morally-superior-to-ten-commandments/

I only have one problem with this. Why have any commandments at all? It's already well established that they don't have an impact on our behaviour.

It clearly says 'tenets' and not 'commandments,'

On the difference between commandments and tenets. I think it's a wee bit nit-picky of you. Satanists are atheists. So obviously their commandments won't be. A commandment without a God to command them is just something that a group of people agree to obey. So tenets. But here's the thing. God doesn't really exist. So the Christian commandments are of course also in practice also tenets. So I'd argue that either we call both of them commandments or both tenets because they are the same thing.

and they are morally superior to Christian dogma. I don't see the controversy here except maybe in the minds of religious zealots.

I agree about that.

- - - Updated - - -

This post proves that atheists worship Satan. /s

And some fraction of humanity are called Adolf Hitler and murdered 6 million Jews. Without qualifiers you're not saying anything.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I read Crowley's book Diary Of A Drug Fiend back in the early 70s, the days of psychedelia.

From what I read of Crowley he was typical of the occult. Wealthy clients for which he provided rituals and an exclusive club. Taboo mysticism.

Hubbard was the next generation. Science mixed with mysticism. Same con job. There is an alleged collaboration between Hubbard and one of the occultists of the early 20th century.

Scientology and Church Of Satan and other occult systems all went through the same kind of evolution into a final form with a following. It is all about creating the feeling of religious exclusivity and belonging. Secret rituals known only to the chosen. I believe Masons actually have secret handshakes and signs.

But if these rituals can change your thinking and behaviour in measurable and positive ways it's not a con job. I know quite a lot of people, including myself who got immersed into Crowley and the occult. It's something that intellectually curious teenagers tend to explore. It was a lot of stuff that happened to me mentally around there. But I was a miserable prick as a teenager. Reading Crowley (and Nietzsche) primed my mind for embracing the mysteries of life. Accepting fate and not feel sorry for myself. When I took acid at 18 it was the boot that kicked me over the edge. My life was in an instant changed forever. I've since been very positive and happy about life. True story.

BTW, when I read Crowley I was always a staunch atheist. I always only saw the magick (that's how they spell it) as metaphor or psychological tool. I think that's normal. Reading Crowley is what intellectual types do, and they tend not to be suckers for woo. There's no problem reading Crowley as an atheist. I didn't think so. I got the impression that Crowley himself understood the difference. It's important to understand the age in which he was living. Spiritualism was the word de jour. That whole movement was rife with actual con artists, and he knew it. If he wanted to get his movement off the ground it was important to align himself with the spiritualists. Use their language. Just clean it up from the worst intellectually offensive ideas. Which I think is what he did.

We're still living in the tail end of the age of scientism, which didn't peak until the 1950'ies (or perhaps later). So that's the language we're most comfortable with. So we got to adjust our reading based on the context IMHO. Just the way I look at it.