Kevin's Watch

theDespiser wrote:...you may not call yourself a 'christian' because you may not believe or follow the teachings of jesus christ, but you still believe there is a god and say you oppose him by following his enemy, the devil, so in essence, you still follow the christian faith, but choose the bad side, not the good side...

Well...I can't say I agree with your use of the term "Christian" in that sense, then...to BE a Christian is literally to be Christ-like, and to follow Christ. When the term was first used in Antioch it was a derrogatory term meaning "little-Christ" (not that any real Christian would find that offensive...), therefore, by definition, the Satanist would not--could not--be a Christian, in any sense of the word. It does make them deists, because they believe there is a god, but not Christians.

I once heard someone say "Going to church makes you about as Christian as going to a pet store makes you a cat." I think that kinda applies to believing there is a god, too, even if it is whom we Christians call our God.

a christian is one who believes in the teachings of jesus christ...in order to be a 'satanist' in the christian sense, you must first believe they(the teachings) exist, and oppose them..

or something along those lines... i didnt say if you went to church, you were a christian, either....

satanism is pretty much bogus anyway...those that say they oppose god and christianity are hypocrites, and those that say they are 'true satanists' and feed you that line of crap like "satanism isnt evil, its about doint what you want and being yourself', and 'yeah, i read the satanic bible(anton lavey) all the time, then theyre just begging for attention, trying to piss off mommy and daddy cuz nobody loves them or some other such crap...

theDespiser wrote:a christian is one who believes in the teachings of jesus christ...in order to be a 'satanist' in the christian sense, you must first believe they(the teachings) exist, and oppose them..

But just believeing they exist doesn't make you a Christian, either...that's what I meant by the "going to church..." example (sorry, I know I didn't do a very good job of illustrating that point...). Lots of people believe that Jesus existed, and call him "a great moral teacher," and do all they can to live by the "socially acceptable" portions of his teachings (i.e. the ones that don't require you to believe in God), but a great many of those absolutely deny that they are Christians, and might even be insulted by the suggestion. As I said, a REAL Christian is one who FOLLOWS those teachings out of love for the Christ, whom we believe died for our sins...that entails a LOT more than just believing that those teachings are true.

i dont know about all powerful beings that created the cosmos and all that, but to me christianity is nothing but a glorified cult that succeeded in brainwashing people all over the world into believing what 'the church'wanted them to believe...and the sheep followed

Forgive me if I'm more than a little insulted by this...as I'm sure a real Satanist (whatever that may mean) would be by your comments about them.

I'm certain there would be a less insulting way to phrase that as well. Please keep in mind that though we respect all opinions here, we would appreciate it if you would edit that.

one, satanism is a joke, and anyone who claims theyre a satanist is a joke, and they can be offended all they want...ive known satanists, ive talked to satanists of many different kinds, and there are several ways to look at it...the ones that say they "worship satan" and talk about "sacrifices" and all that nonsense are dillusional

two, maybe i went a little overboard implying that all christians were sheep...people are free(in most places anyway) to choose the religion they believe in, and thats fine...but there are SOME people that will believe anything people tell them...but...i dont know any of you personally, so im not judging...you all seem cool...i wasnt really trying to insult anybody(sometimes it just happens)


but i dont really see why i should edit my opinions....


i CAN however not mention it again




and there is the possibility that i just read too much into what iryssa was saying

Nonetheless, you don't see we christians slamming either satanism, witchcraft or athiesm, all of which may or may not be aborrhent to us. We respect the beliefs of those different from us, and if we have an opinion which may offend another poster, we try our best to keep it to ourselves. To add to that, I have not seen any athiests, witches or satanists make such defaming remarks. The closest to this would be in another topic, but that issue was closed. Please try to refrain from making such negative remarks about a belief system that other folks that post here may find offensive. Calling other members 'sheep', for instance, is nothing but defamation, insulting in the extreme. Though I will leave your post unchanged, I think that it is extremely important that we all respect each others beliefs, or lack thereof. May we all debate in peace.


-B

understood...and while nobody here has done what you menitoned in the first line of your post, it has been my experience that many do exactly that

I agree that many do that...and I do apologize (for what it's worth) for the mistreatment you may have recieved from other Christians. Let me assure you that, in my experience, the Christians who enter into discussion here in The Close are generally pretty peaceful, loving, and level-headed.

well, im not a satanist, so i havent experienced it first hand, but i have experienced what Metal Demon said in his first post...THAT doesnt bother me much, because all people see is the way i SOMETIMES dress, or certain other aspects...for the most part it just happened in high school, and...we all know that thats gonna happen regardless what you do(not necessarily peopole thinking your a satanist..just...weird, stupid, a loser, etc.)


but, as i said, i have known a couple of different kinds of 'satanists'...thats where my opinions come from

I agree with The Despiser in a way. Satanism is simply the flip side of christianity. Can't have one with the other.

Iryssa's right though. Mostly, it's mere ignorance/fear of something different. It's all too easy to slpa the "Satanic" lable on it and forget about it with no more consideration.

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