San Jose Pentecostal church conducts exorcism ritual on 3-year-old, leading to death

[Edward]

and the Priest in the exorcist! He needed to pray and fast more!

 

[T. E. Smith]

Ok. But I don't even know enough about it to be able to ask good questions about it. All I have ever heard about it is a few testimonies here and there. And a couple of converted witches. So go for it. Learn something new every day!

If you have any questions, Magus Peter Gilmore's essay What, the Devil? helps to clarify some things: https://www.churchofsatan.com/what-the-devil/ And the Satanic Temple has their About page: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us

 

[Edward]

If you have any questions, Magus Peter Gilmore's essay What, the Devil? helps to clarify some things: https://www.churchofsatan.com/what-the-devil/ And the Satanic Temple has their About page: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us

How am I supposed to ask questions about something I don't know hardly anything about?

You seemed to imply in your post that it is not the way it is portrayed to be. So you seem to have a handle on it and know more than the average person about it.
So here's my question...What's it all really about then?

 

[T. E. Smith]

How am I supposed to ask questions about something I don't know hardly anything about?

You seemed to imply in your post that it is not the way it is portrayed to be. So you seem to have a handle on it and know more than the average person about it.
So here's my question...What's it all really about then?

No, I'm sending you the links not so you can ask questions but so you can know more about it.

Now, I am a Satanist, but of TST (the Satanic Temple) not CoS (Church of Satan). As TST says, "The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits."

• One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
• The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
• One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
• The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
• Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
• People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
• Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
• 
  
  

 

[T. E. Smith]

Edward Ah, I accidently hit Post too early. Some more thoughts: TST explains Satan: "Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds. Satan is an icon for the unbowed will of the unsilenced inquirer – the heretic who questions sacred laws and rejects all tyrannical impositions. Our metaphoric representation is the literary Satan best exemplified by Milton and the Romantic Satanists from Blake to Shelley to Anatole France."

(Anatole France's The Revolt of the Angels is my favorite book.)

On the difference between TST and CoS: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/church-of-satan-vs-satanic-temple

Essentially, CoS

1. Fetishizes authority and embraces social Darwinism
2. Is apolitical
3. Potentially accepts the reality of magic (though not a literal Satan)
4. Is too individualistic, and so has no congregations

I disliked all of those things about CoS, and was delighted to find that the founders of TST agree with me. They reject these four elements of CoS, being instead anti-authoritarian, equality-focused, politically engaged, rejecting magic, and having congregations.

 

[Edward]

Now, I am a Satanist

Interesting. So you do believe in Satan, but you don't believe in God? So am I correct to assume that Satan is your God? That you look to him for your teachings and about life?

Hey, there's some questions right there, lol!

 

[T. E. Smith]

Interesting. So you do believe in Satan, but you don't believe in God? So am I correct to assume that Satan is your God? That you look to him for your teachings and about life?

Hey, there's some questions right there, lol!

No. From TST, "Do you worship Satan?":

No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition. As such, we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan. To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. Satanists should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world — never the reverse.

 

[Edward]

yeah but do *you* worship satan? That's them.

 

[T. E. Smith]

yeah but do *you* worship satan? That's them.

No. Why would I replace belief in one Abrahamic God with another? That's nonsensical.

 

[Edward]

No. Why would I replace belief in one Abrahamic God with another? That's nonsensical.

Has he ever done anything for you? My God has done a lot for me. How many testimonies do you want to hear?

 

[T. E. Smith]

You seemed to imply in your post that it is not the way it is portrayed to be.

TST has an After-School Satan Club (don't judge before researching: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/after-school-satan) It was blocked by a PA school district for no reason after ignorant parents were outraged, and TST is suing for religious discrimination.

The SCOTUS ruled that all public schools with "limited public forums" were forbidden from discriminating on the basis of religion. Thus, if a school allows the formation of extracurricular clubs, then a religious one that follows all the rules can't be banned.

Do you object to the word "ignorant"?

 

[T. E. Smith]

TST has an After-School Satan Club (don't judge before researching: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/after-school-satan) It was blocked by a PA school district for no reason after ignorant parents were outraged, and TST is suing for religious discrimination.

The SCOTUS ruled that all public schools with "limited public forums" were forbidden from discriminating on the basis of religion. Thus, if a school allows the formation of extracurricular clubs, then a religious one that follows all the rules can't be banned.

Do you object to the word "ignorant"?

Accidently hit Post. Continued: One Christian said: "When I hear Satan, I don’t research that. I don’t look it up." Here he admits his ignorance and is proud of it.

Has he ever done anything for you? My God has done a lot for me. How many testimonies do you want to hear?

No, neither have. On the other hand, Satanism itself has been fulfilling.

 

[Edward]

I do not get it dude. How can you be a satanist and satan not be your God?
That's nonsensical. It sounds like you're saying, I'm a satanist, but I'm not a satanist.

You lost me.

 

[Edward]

So what is satanism then?

He's never did anything for you. Interesting.

 

[Edward]

TST has an After-School Satan Club (don't judge before researching: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/after-school-satan) It was blocked by a PA school district for no reason after ignorant parents were outraged, and TST is suing for religious discrimination.

The SCOTUS ruled that all public schools with "limited public forums" were forbidden from discriminating on the basis of religion. Thus, if a school allows the formation of extracurricular clubs, then a religious one that follows all the rules can't be banned.

Do you object to the word "ignorant"?

Ignorant just means something that you don't know or ever taught. You can't expect a man to know something that he's never been taught.

 

[Edward]

or ever been taught lol

 

[T. E. Smith]

I do not get it dude. How can you be a satanist and satan not be your God?
That's nonsensical. It sounds like you're saying, I'm a satanist, but I'm not a satanist.

You lost me.

I have already explained it: "To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions... Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds. Satan is an icon for the unbowed will of the unsilenced inquirer – the heretic who questions sacred laws and rejects all tyrannical impositions."

The poet Anatole France expressed Satan as the hero of free inquiry when he said, "We have destroyed God, our Tyrant, if in ourselves we have destroyed ignorance and fear... we were conquered because we failed to understand that victory is a spirit, and that it is in ourselves and in ourselves alone that we must attack and destroy God." But in this, he explicitly refers not to literally overthrowing God from heaven, but in rejecting God in heart and mind.

This is very different from Christian theism. Satanism is not the "dark side" of Christianity, or the inverse. Its beliefs do not fit the same mould.

Ignorant just means something that you don't know or ever taught. You can't expect a man to know something that he's never been taught.

Nothing shouts "insecure" like a believer saying he hates something while boasting about refusing to research it. I was ignorant too. That's why I actually researched what the movement even is, rather than just saying "I don't look it up."

 

[Edward]

supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions

Soo...Would you also classify Christianity is a archaic tradition based superstition?

 

[T. E. Smith]

Soo...Would you also classify Christianity is a archaic tradition based superstition?

... Nothing personal.

 

[Edward]

"To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions... Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds. Satan is an icon for the unbowed will of the unsilenced inquirer – the heretic who questions sacred laws and rejects all tyrannical impositions."

Wow, talk about coming to the point.

I don't know if this is a coincidence or not, but the Bible is very clear about who owns the...name above all names. So I would think that one would rather embrace the name of the so called good guy rather the name of the so called bad guy. From some of how you describe it, it sounds like it has many of the same ideals as Christianity.

Ok so let me get this straight. You're a satanist, but satan has never did anything for you, but he seems to have ideals such as being honest and helpful and kind to others, just like Christianity, but for some as yet unstated reason, satans name is higher than God's name...

Do I have that right?

So what is it about satans name that you hold to be higher than the name of Yeshua?

And why would a guy ever want to convert to satanism when that guy wont do anything for you? God will and does and teaches many of the same moral ethics and stuff. So it's all in one book without dividing ones attentions to two books.