Quote Originally Posted by NotSmall
OK but in previous posts when you refer to lucifer you say "he" and "him" and say he is the bearer of light etc - kinda sounds like a person...

If he is not a person however, but just a metaphor then where did your "religion" and it's rules/principles come from? - Did someone just sit down and write down the basic principles of being self centred?

Do satanists believe in anything other than the flesh? i.e. is there any "afterlife" and if so what qualifies one for it?

You say above that you do not like the bible saying that sin lives within the flesh - look around the world at all the terrible things people do to one another - if sin is not within the flesh then where is it? - or are all these terrible things not sins to you and are acceptable because they are just people being their true selves?

And if the satanist's answer to someone wronging them is to spite them back then where does it all end? - with us all descending into a spiral of revenge and retribution? Showing kindness to someone who wrongs you is not a sign of weakness or cowardice - it is a sign of strength and courage and breaks the cycle of revenge and retribution and if more people were of this mindset then the world would improve whereas your mindset can only make things worse and send the world downhill.

What is the aim/goal of satanism, what hope does it offer?
The first part... like I said, metaphor...

You ask if he's just a metaphor were did he come from??? Well like I said, man has always created gods, and man has also purged his gods. Ie; take for example the old pagan gods of the day, then another man comes along and makes up new gods, and to get rid of the OLD ones they cast them down saying they're "devils" or such. Do a search on wikipedia and see how many different names come up, that's how all devils get created, just like Lucifer and satan. That's why satan traces back to the dawn of man. He has had many names but all in all are the same!

As for the afterlife, it is stated in the satanic bible chapter 10: "life after death through fulfillment of the ego" No techniqally we don't know if there is life after death. But we don't believe in wasting your whole life to please a god for the unknown afterlife. Also take for instance in impoverished countries it's easy to see how they have teachings of denial of the ego to get people to accept were they're at. Then that's were reincarnation comes in, they are able to accept were they're at because there able to think that in their next life they will be higher up or better. That's how they get their ego fulfillment however us Satanist don't need to play the self-deceitful games.

As for sin and the flesh... I agree, it is true there are things that are wrong, immoral and such. However I'm not going to say being myself is a sin, I'm not going to say my flesh is the ultimate sin, if you wana lable it that way, then I chose sin. However to us satanist if you want us to use the term sin well then there are things that are immoral and such, and we are able to recognize this.

As for that last big chunk of your statement. If you choose to be kind to someone who wrongs you, hey, nothing wrong with that if that's how you are... However I for one could never live like that. (ie; if someone screws me over and I ever get the chance to return the favor... they deserve it, I'm not going to leave it to "god" when I can do something myself)

You ask what hope does Satanism have to offer??? Satanist don't "hope" we don't "hope" for anything, we perform. I believe hoping for something is weak, why hope for something, why not go out there and DO SOMETHING! Satanism offers joy through doing what you love, doing for yourself, self fulfillment, pride, the ego, etc. For are you truely happy when you live for someone else, even if that someone else is god??? I know I'm not, and I won't be a hypocrit either... That's why I choose Satanism