I agree...kinda
 

A good friend of mine, a satanist, once told me that true satanists worship satan like christians worship god - that means no sacrifices, no blood rites, no pacts, no sexual relations during service, no inverted pentacles or crosses...none of that.

In the same tack, there are the "shock-factor" satanists who dress goth (not dissing any non-satanic goths who might be reading, btw), pervert the religious symbols of non-satanic religions like wicca and christianity, read the bible backwards and do everything else in reverse because "satan is the opposite of god, right?"

These have become the face of not only satanists as a sect, but also most of the pagan religions. You tell someone "I'm a witch" and they automaticly picture you standing next to a slain infant drinking the blood from a chalice while people have sex at your feet and snakes slither all around them.

Where did this image come from? That's one reason I chose to walk away from the christian path - I am not a satanist, real or otherwise, but I will never "return to christ's fold" Christianity has painted a face on anyone who doesn't follow christ and then bitch and moan when people point that and other mistakes out to them. The last witch to be burned for witchcraft was in 1952 - only 50 years ago for crying out loud.

The killings may have ended, but the lessons of the Mallus* remain - any who practice witchcraft are in league with satan and must be damned for their crimes. Get real. The pagan religions pre-date christianity by 2000 years... Just because a religion is "brand new" and "improved" doesn't make it right.

On a similar note, speaking of people from one religion perverting the practices of another, biblical scholors have shown that christ was born in mid-May...not december - why was his birthday moved to cover the pagan holiday of Yule, the trees that the druids brought in from the cold and decorated suddenly represent the wood of the cross, and many other pagan holidays suddenly given a christian twist?

I have read the bible - nowhere in the Easter scene does it mention ducks, eggs, chicks, and bunnies (all pagan symbols of fertility). Just all seems rather...convienent.

"But pagans worship satan" - yes, this is the pagan face... <shrug>

* 1486 The Mallus Maleicarum (The Witches Hammer) written by Kramer, and Sprenger.

i'm not saying it's rough or not rough...i can certainly stand up under bashing or ridicule... but that doesn't happen often. (mostly around juju.)

i know EVERYONE has bashing... blacks, jews, arabs, irish, italians, smart people, dumb people, fat people, thin people, wasps, new yorkers, frenchmen, swiss, german..maybe not swiss, those australians who stick their hands up croc bums..everyone.

i have LOTS of buddies, so don't bother lumping me anywhere. and i'm in lots of those bashed groups, so don't bother lumping me there, either.

i forget what i was going to say..oh yeah, forgetful people. they bash us, too.

here's the way i live:

i am a 34 year old mother of one. i struggle with money, don't clean my house enough, though i know i should, don't go to church anymore though i know i ought to...don't cook dinner for my husband enough. sometimes i sneak a game of solitare at work, sometimes i work hard. i'm opinionated, and not often right, and apologize most of the time when i should, but not all of the time. sometimes i'm careful and sometimes i'm not. sometimes i'm narrowminded, and sometimes arrogant, and sometimes openminded and caring....i get bashed, and sometimes i do the bashing...in short, mostly like everybody else.


dar

Re: I agree...kinda
 

Um...the content aside, wouldn't a better translation of "Maleicarum" be "Evildoer's" rather than "witches'"?

Sounds like you live by carrying around a lot of frustration and guilt about what "should" be, but aint. Relax, put down your bashing tool and step away...

You make it sound like washing powder "now with twice the salvation!(tm)"

Very, very true. Few months ago a long time friend of mine (extremely bright, duxed her school, now doing arts-law) convinced me to come along with her to her church youth group thing...well. There are about 3-4 people on her level, extremely articulate, intelligent rational thinkers. The rest were the most depressing bunch of mindless drones i've ever been unlucky enough to come across. My friend has since left the church (and is in a kind of religious limbo) but damn..that was scary. I got the impression from various group discussion they couldn't form a rational argument between them without some serious prompting.

comments 1 - my dad was a raving drunk alchoholic, so he didn't brainwash me at all...i came to Christ as a rational, intelligent, free-thinking adult.

second of all.. the children comment stands for most any religion or philosophy....parents with manners teach their kids manners. parents who speak english teach their children to speak english. catholics, pagans, agnostics, christians, chicken-sacrificers, snake dancers...teach their children what they know. it's an odd and unthinkable system, that. most people don't call that kind of thing brainwashing, they call it "raising kids."

it's strange...i try and try to teach my kid arabic, just so she isn't brainwashed into being an american...you know, free to make her own choices...of course, i don't know arabic.. so it's just plain hard to do. i'm still trying though...i want to live up to your standards.

Of course. That's why you're one of the good ones. Most of them are just brainwashed, though. The ones i've met, anyway.

Why is it I usually only meet the insane ones? People are trying to say that they're not all insane, yet 90% of the ones i've met are deeply insane. How can this be? Am I some sort of fundamentalist magnet?

I understand this. I know it's not some devious plan, it just seems like the natural thing to do. I still believe that it's very, very bad, though. It's kind of the same principle as raising your kids to hate blacks, or to believe that the moon is made of cheese. It may seems like the thing to do at the time, but it still negatively affects the person's rationality.

because 90% of them _are_ insane. :)

~james

and that sums up the kid-raising philosophy... you start out thinking having kids is insane, it will wreck your life..then you think it's the reasonable, expected thing to do. then you spend the rest of your life wondering if what you teach them..anything..isn't gonna put them into therapy forever.

me for instance...yesterday, i chased my toddler around with a nail studded baseball bat because she was crying since she was hungry. i beat her for an hour, then buried her in the backyard up to her neck. while i was reading and sipping iced tea, tossing her bits of peach skin, i started to wonder if it was gonna affect her later on in life.

see? one moment of ah..... and the rest of your life in ehhh???

Are you being sarcastic?

which?

You know, i've always admired your compelling way with words. :)

Funk Religion-
 

Religion is for cavemen, and funk paganism too. It isn't paganism if there is no anti-semetic ritual involved, it's just being human. Funk ignorance and destroy all issues pertaining religion period. No man or woman can prevent life from going on for all of us forever, and that is a mighty long time to never have learned to chill lightly and to make the most of everything available. Not that I don't feel like screaming about the things that are out of my control, but the world was never intended to be perfect. You have to work for what you want in life, and to me a positive attitude is most important in achieving those unique goals you set for yourself while others laugh at you and not with you.

Re: Funk Religion-
 

juju! warm up the tub and fetch me my razor blades!