Kinds of marriage - Page 3

kjk437 · 09-06-2007, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skepticologist

Thanks for the quick response. I did an admittedly quick scan of the sites and have some initial impressions I'd appreciate your reaction to.

Modern Satanists do not worship Satan or any other diety. They choose Satan as their symbol as the antithesis of (primarily the Christian) god.
They emphasize self-reliance and autonomy and give credit only to themselves and other mortals who assist them in accomplishments, vs. thanking a god.
They practice religious tolerance, even in terms of the christian church that excoriates them.
They subscribe to a set of moral codes not unlike those covered in the ten commandments.

I fully realize it probably goes a lot deeper than that, but my initial impression is that satanism is essentially a support group for atheists who want more structure for their beliefs, and who perhaps want to make a stronger statement to others regarding their denial of god, i.e. anti-theism vs. simply a-theism.

This is the impression I got as well, and would like to know Geshtinnanna's thoughts.

BTW, thanks for the links. It was an interesting read, but admittedly, it left me with more questions than before.

SirArthur · 09-06-2007, 07:31 PM

Then the word is the problem.

Somethings can't be just moved from "traditional" to "modern", needs more change. It's just like you can't pick traditional Nazism (bad thing) and simple turn it into modern Nazism to make it a good or more bearable thing, do you?

About the "freak" thing, why to be hypocritical?! I don't know on which group you fit in, but those outside such groups call them that way. You think they aren't aware of that? Eyes staring at them, turning away ashamed when they face back...

**Skepticologist** · 09-06-2007, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirArthur

Then the word is the problem.

Somethings can't be just moved from "traditional" to "modern", needs more change. It's just like you can't pick traditional Nazism (bad thing) and simple turn it into modern Nazism to make it a good or more bearable thing, do you?

Based on what I read, it's taken several years for modern satanism to evolve from the traditional, or theistic, form.

So how long would you say it takes for such a transition to be considered legitimate?

SirArthur · 09-06-2007, 08:07 PM

It will never be. The word is simply wrong and misleading, Satanism can't evolve to anything that turns out in fact not related to its essence; the worship of Devil and Evil, just like Christianity will never be able to move away from worship of Christ or Islam from Muhammad.

It's not the ideology I contest, but the word given to it.

**Skepticologist** · 09-06-2007, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirArthur

It will never be. The word is simply wrong and misleading, Satanism can't evolve to anything that turns out in fact not related to its essence; the worship of Devil and Evil, just like Christianity will never be able to move away from worship of Christ or Islam from Muhammad.

It's not the ideology I contest, but the word given to it.

Keep in mind that the word is not satanism, but modern satanism, and that, as such, it makes a distinction between other forms of satanism that preceded it.

Nonetheless, the word(s) is applied to a modern phenomenon that strongly rejects devil worship and which, in fact, disavows the existence of any kind of diety whatsoever. The word may be misleading, but it's not wrong because it denotes, at least to its adherents, their particular set of beliefs.

You may choose to ignore the adjective modern as well as the evidence that what it denotes contradicts the poplular misconceptions of satanism as comprising devil worship and the elevation of evil. But then you'd be perpetuating misconceptions.

SirArthur · 09-06-2007, 08:47 PM

Modern or not makes no difference. Protestantism is also a modern form of Christianity (compared to the old institutions such as Catholics and Orthodox) but they aren't atheists due to such. "Modern" and "Neo" are used to describe a different approach on the same subject. They can't be used to change the whole subject.

**Skepticologist** · 09-06-2007, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirArthur

Modern or not makes no difference. Protestantism is also a modern form of Christianity (compared to the old institutions such as Catholics and Orthodox) but they aren't atheists due to such. "Modern" and "Neo" are used to describe a different approach on the same subject. They can't be used to change the whole subject.

Words can mean anything their users want them to mean. They may not be widely understood to mean something other than what they conjure up in most hearers' frames of reference, but they can still convey something altogether different and equally valid if that's the meaning they're given by their users.

SirArthur · 09-06-2007, 09:08 PM

Well, at the beginning of times words were pretty much made at random. But we evolved so much since then that words can no longer mean what their users intent to. Words are made out like a family, making it to be understandable by syntax and this is extremely needed since nobody can decorate the whole words existent on one language. Deceiving words aren't welcome and all they can do is to spread misleading and misunderstanding.
Each mother word, suffix and prefix has a specific meaning and can not be used otherwise under the danger of communication lost.

LadyLuck · 09-06-2007, 09:41 PM

Are you implying modern satanism should adopt a new name simply because it is misleading? That is absurd. Obviously the term leads to an initial misconception, but after viewing the ideals, the misconception should cease to exist.

SirArthur · 09-06-2007, 09:48 PM

Communication: Happens when 2 or more people are able to understand clearly what one wants to expose.

Language: Vehicle/Method of communication.

Noise: Misleadings or disturbances on communication.

Satanism applied to such ideologies is noise. Unless you want to create a new language where Satan and -ism got a totally different meaning, absurd is then to use "Satanism" to define it.