Satanists: I wanna know more about your religion?

Question

After researching the internet, I found diverse contradictive explanations about your religion.

For instance, wikipedia says:

''Satanism is often mistaken as being a religion that encourages cruelty and irresponsible behaviour...''

''Satanists do not believe that Satan is a god, rather the function of God is performed and satisfied by the Satanist him/herself. That is, the needs of worship, ritual, and religious/spiritual focus are directed, effectively, inwards towards the Satanist, as opposed to outwards, towards God.''

''LaVey proposes instead that as all gods are creations of man, worship of an external deity is worship of its creator by proxy. He suggests, then, that the rational Satanist should instead internalize his god, and therefore worship himself; hence the Satanic maxim, "I am my own god."'

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

However, when i searched dictionary.com for the meaning of Satanist, it said:

''the worship of Satan or the powers of evil.'

Please I need Satanists to explain. I do not expect any disrespectful answers, I wanna learn something I don't know.

Satanists, according to you, how was the whole universe created?

And if you really do worship Satan, why do you do so if you are ''your own God''?

Thanks

Please take note that I live in the Middle East and could not possibly find a Satanic Bible. They don't sell it here.

Please take note that I live in the Middle East and could not possibly find a Satanic Bible. They don't sell it here.

Please take note that I live in the Middle East and could not possibly find a Satanic Bible. They don't sell it here.

Answer 1

Some Satanists do believe in a literal devil, some do not.

LaVeyian Satanism (the kind most Satanists practice) is a mass of contradictions, so it's no wonder you're confused. On the one hand they claim to be athiests who can "stand on their own two feet", but in reality it's a personality cult centered around Anton LaVey. The claim to have "Mastery of the Earth", yet we have no Satanist millionaires or billionaires, presidents, congressmen, etc. It's really a religion for anti-social misfits, people who are angry about life in general, occult geeks desperate to find something that "works", and the occasional sociopath (Ramierez, Susan Atkins, etc.). The list goes on.

Howard Anton Levey (a.k.a Anton Szandor LaVey) founded the Church of Satan in 1966 to cash in on the occult craze of the 1960's. LaVey's philosophy is one of hedonism and "free love" (hardly news for the 60's), and featured rituals with his nude wife and bare breasted female followers, which shows why males would want to join...even at the cost of $20 per meeting back then. LaVey didn't live up to his claims nor did he follow his own creed. Even though Satanism eschews charity of any kind, LaVey and his family lived on welfare and handouts during the late 70s-80s. Even though LaVey claimed Satanic magic could give "mastery of the earth", he still died bankrupt in a house he didn't own. LaVey lied about his accomplishments in life (i.e., an oboist for an orchestra, lion tamer, criminologist, etc.)and was in fact, just a high school dropout. While LaVey claimed he tried to "keep the nuts out" and disavowed criminal activity within his Satanic church, he admitted in several writings of engaging in a "cannibal feast" and forced females followers into prostitution...beating them when they did not bring back enough money. In the 1980s his common law wife Diane left him and sued, claiming LaVey beat her all during their relationship, which is confirmed by LaVey's children. LaVey claimed Satanists did not believe in harming children but according to his daughter Zeena, he was the passive witness to the molestation of his grandson Stanton, by a Church of Satan member. LaVey would reverse himself on many issues over the years. At first, the church of Satan welcomed gays and lesbians, but when LaVey saw the only people he could attract were mostly Neo-Nazis, his later writings gave hints of racism and of being anti-gay. After his death, the truth about him came out, but people still plunk down $7.95 for his "Satanic Bible", which is mostly plagiarized from other sources (Atlas Shrugged, Might Is Right, and the writings of Aleister Crowley) .

Of course most Satanists would tell you it's the "worship of the self". Most people who identify themselves as Satanists are the "LaVeyian" variety. Anton LaVey was a liar, fraud, bankrupt wife beating pimp. BTW, one idiot actually had the nerve to say "Everyone beat their wife in the fifties" when informed of this(even though he beat Diane from the 60's into the 80's). And no, not everyone did, and it was still wrong. This shows that rather than standing on their own two feet, Satanists slavishly make excuses for their cult figure, not unlike they way Scientologists do fo L. Ron Hubbard.

LaVey was apraoched by Avon books to wrote a book on witchcraft to cash in on the occult craze of the 1960's. He cobbled together "The Satanic Bible" from a forgotten right-wing political tract (Where of the material from the Book of Satan comes from), Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and the superstitous occult material of John Dee.

LaVey never really seemed to know what Satanism was himself. Some of his writings seemed atheistic, at other times he called Satan "the dark side of nature" and often refers to Satan as a personification. One thing is for certian, the Satanic Bible gives specific instructions on timing, tools to be used, specific rituals for sex spells, revenge spells, etc (The Book of Belial)., and it seemed he expected results.

Eventually, people realized the spells didn't work, and so began the whole "Well, it's really a philosophy" excuse. In the 1980's, when LaVey was living in poverty he then claimed he was shunning consumer materialism ( a complete role reversal from "Indulgence instead of abstinence!") ala Pee Wee Herman's "I meant to do that!"

LaVey claimed that nuts were given "the bum's rush" when trying to join the Church of Satan, but clearly nut was in the eye of the beholder. LaVey has admited to holding a "Cannibal feast" of a human leg in at least 3 books. The Satanic Bible &Satanic Rituals certainly describe many things most normal people would consider pychotic such as Nude girl is used as an altar (Satanic Bible, Satanic Rituals)A human skull is used in Die Elektrischen Vorspiele ritual (Satanic Rituals, p. 109)Human leg bone or arm bone is used in Homage to Tchort ritual (p.137)
Woman dressed as nun urinates before group into a bedpan in the Black Mass ritual (p.43) Urine is then sprinkled like holy water (p.44)Man climbs into coffin with nude woman (or nude man if he is gay) in Le Epais ritual (p.59).

As a "philosophy", Satanism could be boiled down to hedonism, which was hardly a new idea in the 1960's. Oddly enough, most Satanists don't fit the bill as swingers. Some seem to lead fairly uneventful lives. Here's an example:

"I've been forced to give up coffee - the acid was responsible for a minor ulcer and I can no longer take any chances with my health. This was my solitary vice - now it is gone. I do not drink, do not smoke, do not use recreational drugs and have nothing remotely resembling a sex life!"
--"Lord" Egan of "The First Church of Satan"

Wow! What a swinger! So then the picture begins to develop that Satanism is not so much a philosophy of life as it is a fantasy; a means to escape a life not worth living.

To anyone intersested in becoming a Satanist, my advice is to rethink the whole thing and try reading something more worth while and life affirming, like the non-fiction writings of C.S. Lewis.

Answer 2

How was the universe created?

To even attempt to answer this question would be harmful to me as a Satanist. For myself, it would be in direct conflict with the second Satanic Sin. "Pretentiousness—Empty posturing can be most irritating and isn’t applying the cardinal rules of Lesser Magic. On equal footing with stupidity for what keeps the money in circulation these days. Everyone’s made to feel like a big shot, whether they can come up with the goods or not." I do not claim to have the answer to this question, nor do I care. What difference could this possibly make to me? I live in the here and now.

Does a Satanist worship Satan?

NO. A devil-worshipper deludes himself as to such. A Satanist recognizes no external deities. Theism is not a part of my religion. There is no connection to devil-worshipping whatsoever.

Answer 3

I am interested in Satanism myself. Not to convert but to learn more about it. As soon as I can get my hands on a copy, I'm going to get the Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey. He is the creator of the Church of Satan. He is not, however, the founder of the religion. Satanism existed long before Lavey.
One site that I've been reading, to learn more about other religions, is www.religioustolerance.org

Good luck in your search for answers.

Answer 4

Read the Satanic Bible and that will, in itself, have the truth for you. You can send me an email and we can discuss it.

I'm Satanic and have one available if you so choose to speak with me about it.

Answer 5

I am a devout Christian but need to explain that I do not believe in religion,it is carnel(man-made)the labels put on our love of Christ and I can not put a label on my love of Him God said upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it He didnt call any religion we are members of a body that makes or builds His church so any name would be a wrong one

Answer 6

that was too long.. as a former member of the LeftHand Path i will tell you Satan has NO power of his own he tricks people into doing stuff, he also is jealous of God that he (Satan) is not .loved and clean and hallowed and he (Satan) has immense contempt for those who claim to follow him because he knows he is empty and there is NOTHING to follow but a jealous decrepit shell and a shamed weakling who could not even defeat a simple archangel, such as he himself (satan) was once in Heaven

Answer 7

I'm not a Satanist, but I can direct you this website which will explain it to you:

www.churchofsatan.com

Answer 8

ummm why won't you be a Gnostic instead, they are better.

But you'llbe stricken eternally to a life of blood soaked nightmares IN HELL!

Answer 9

For the life of me, why would you want to dive into satanism? Do you think it will be "thrilling?"

Honey, don't go there. Please don't go there.

God sent His Son to this earth to talk to us face to face. Turn to God. Accept His Son, Jesus Christ.

There isn't anything more thrilling than that!

Answer 10

I am not stuck on religion but stuck on Jesus.