Satanism?

[Aglaya]

Originally Posted by Being

To many Christians whom i have got into some discussion with & their views on these areas is that a lot of it is Satanic. i have had a lot of talk & judgement that i'm possessed by demons, a Satanist & going to hell.

i'm Not a Christian in any exoteric sense, & i don't agree with a lot of it. imo the Devil/Satan does Not exist. Lucifer is an entirely different Being to the Devil, & i only see the Being of Lucifer in symbolic & mythological terms.

i don't consider myself a Satanist, although to a lot of Christians i probably am. Have other people here come across all this?

Satanism and Christianity are the two sides of one and the same religious cult. So, if you don't belong to this cult, the concept of Satan should not be so disturbing for you.

[WildHairedWoman]

Originally Posted by Being

Hope that this is in the right place.

i'm very interested in studying all forms of spirituality.

i have looked into a lot of Theosophy, Alice Bailey, Magick, Western Esotericism, Luciferian, Ancient Druidic, Egyptian/Heliopitian, Shamanic, Alchemical, Hermetic, Secret Societies, comparative religion & many aspects of Esoteric (for the few) & Occult (Hidden Teachings). i practise Reiki/Energy Healing.

To many Christians whom i have got into some discussion with & their views on these areas is that a lot of it is Satanic. i have had a lot of talk & judgement that i'm possessed by demons, a Satanist & going to hell.

i'm Not a Christian in any exoteric sense, & i don't agree with a lot of it. imo the Devil/Satan does Not exist. Lucifer is an entirely different Being to the Devil, & i only see the Being of Lucifer in symbolic & mythological terms.

i don't consider myself a Satanist, although to a lot of Christians i probably am. Have other people here come across all this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanism

As someone who's own siblings told her she was destined to "burn in hell" I can say yes, I have come across this. This pronouncement came from people who never asked any questions about my beliefs, just decided that I was wrong because I did not seem to believe the way they do. Over the years my sister and I have mended that fence starting with her asking me what I believe and hearing me, discussing it with me and even saying once "It seems like we believe a lot of the same things but I cannot go there with the UFO's, god would never do that to us." (I never did figure out what she meant by that last bit, I guess she was saying that she had a great fear of alien invasion).

If someone calls you a satanist based on invalid assumptions then it is not worth your time to try to explain anything to them. They are what my mother would call "fear biters". (she raised and showed dogs so she described people in dog terms ). You just have to stay away from them as much as you can. You can't help them understand and they can't convert/"save" you.

[davidmartin]

i think the good deity is far, far 'above' or 'beyond' darkness of any kind, although still working throughout nature and people all the same
many people find there's dark beings in the astral, if there is a dark being as such, it's locally to the astral area and far removed from the good one, they can't be compared but can be confused which is wrong. the beautiful one is very nice to know

[BigJohn]

Some Christians consider anybody who does not belong to their version of Christianity to be Satanist.

[Native spirit]

That is so true


Namaste

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Some Christians consider anybody who does not belong to their version of Christianity to be Satanist.

It's unbelievable but it's true.

I just attended a "Questioning Christianity" group where the seminarian co-leader unabashedly said that, since "Jesus is the only way", those who don't believe in Jesus go to hell.

[BigJohn]

.........and does that seminarian co-leader claim he is not prejudice?

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

It's unbelievable but it's true.

I just attended a "Questioning Christianity" group where the seminarian co-leader unabashedly said that, since "Jesus is the only way", those who don't believe in Jesus go to hell.

Originally Posted by BigJohn

.........and does that seminarian co-leader claim he is not prejudice?

By the end of our multi-week "Questioning Christianity" group, that seminarian was most assuredly a lot more hesitant and a lot less confident in his position. He was definitely shaken by comments from others in the group that his position was "bizarre" and that "I can't make any sense of this." Now that the group is over, he wants to get together to discuss such things more deeply.

During the class, I brought up how easy it is to get "brainwashed". Having been raised Roman Catholic in a totally Roman Catholic environment (Catholic school, Catholic parents, Catholic schoolmates, NO non-Catholic services, etc.), I really believed the Papal proclamation (as communicated to us) that, if one ate meat on Friday, it was a mortal sin and that one could go to hell if one didn't get absolution in confession. This sounds absurd now, but we impressionable children bought into it. It is very difficult to break through some structurally unsound foundations when everyone in one's life, including authority figures, all say the same thing. One does realize ultimately, of course, that such dogmas make no sense. Without attacking the seminarian's position, the implication was obviously that the seminarian could be similarly "brainwashed" or at least "prejudiced", as you indicated.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by WildHairedWoman

If someone calls you a satanist based on invalid assumptions then it is not worth your time to try to explain anything to them. They are what my mother would call "fear biters". (she raised and showed dogs so she described people in dog terms ). You just have to stay away from them as much as you can. You can't help them understand and they can't convert/"save" you.

Those "fear biters" who preach hell and eternal damnation with "satanist" statements are people whose opinions don't carry much weight with me. Your mother gave you good advice.

[NoOne]

Technically, if you take Christian teachings literally, anyone who worships or even acknowledges a God other than Yahweh is a Satanist and is going straight to hell. That was the traditional Christian view anyway.

I remember reading an essay from a fundamentalist pastor where he quoted passages from the Bhagavad Gita to "prove" that Krishna was in fact the devil.

Muslims claim that the Melek Taus (Peacock Angel) of the Yazidis (which the Yazidis themselves say is the same deity as Murugan of Southern India) is Satan. The main reason they are being mercilessly slaughtered, enslaved, raped and generally wiped out of existence as we speak is this belief, so it isn't trivial. A similar disdain for Hindu and Buddhist deities has been responsible for the genocide and cultural destruction of Hindus in the past, in many parts of Asia.

I am in contact with various pagan deities. This is considered witchcraft in many countries, particularly in parts of Africa and Asia. It carries the death penalty, often by stoning or being burnt alive. This is the sort of prejudice and danger that those of us not adhering to traditional religions have to face, outside the developed world. BTW, dozens of countries also prescribe the death penalty for atheism or apostasy.