Thread: should we respect christianity?

We should respect Christianity because Jesus Christ is real and the only way to salvation!

Originally Posted by slayer

I've had a big debate on this for awhile with myself. part of me says yes, jesus died on the cross so we should have respect.

1st off there is no more proof that Christ exist beyound the Holy Bible, the Koran, The Book of Mormon, or the Gnostic texts. These texes where written by followers of those faiths. There is nothing, to my knowledge, outside of these Abrhimic groups. Nothing from sources written from outsiders looking inwards.

2nd I have friends who are christian and thay know that I'm a Satanist. Thay don't get preachy nor do I. You just have to study their manerisms. LaVey's "The Satanic Witch" thats is a good start on character analyse. In the actual book, he has an extinsive bibliography, though I'm not sure about the .pdf version. I had a .pdf version a long time ago that didn't have the bibliography in it.

Josh McDowell is a minester and by proxy has a biased to prove the existance of Christ. The people he sites lived after the crucifixion/resurrection of Christ. Allow me to brack it down:
Jesus Christ/Nazareth (c.5 BC/BCE ? c.30 AD/CE) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus
Pliny the Younger (61 AD ? ca. 112 AD) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Younger
Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (AD 56 ? AD 117)
Suetonius http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus
Thallus (c. 50-75ad) http://www.christianthinktank.com/jrthal.html
Phlegon "Phlegon of Tralles was a Greek writer and freedman of the emperor Hadrian, who lived in the 2nd century AD." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegon_of_Tralles
Mara Bar-Serapion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_Bar-Serapion
http://www.tektonics.org/jesusexist/serapion.html
Lucian (c. A.D. 125 ? after A.D. 180) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (ca. 160 ? ca. 220 A.D.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertullian
The fact that most if not all of these guys where born in Greece after Christs time seems to makes a misstep in the logic that if you use there writings as proof that Christ is not a myth. So I ask where are the documents written between c.5 BC ? c.30 AD by someone liveing in or around Jerusalum and Nazareth?

What are the Jewish texts? I'd like to skim over these texts for myself.

Originally Posted by Kain

Why not respecting Christians? You LaVeyans are actually atheists so you are not stronger than we Christians are... So why not respecting us since we respect you? (We dont respect your beliefs because you have no beliefs since you are actually atheists but we respect you - At least I do...)

The Christian church has done many bad things but you dont have to judge all Christians just by the mistakes of some... I mean these people have chosen to be God's priests, did God choose them to be His priests? Did we Christians choose them to be God's priests? No! So why not respect us? We actually want the same thing: Peace in the world. And don't tell me LaVeyans (atheists) don't want peace but war because this will be a lie.

Besides LaVey himself was a Theistic Satanist not an atheist, it's just that Church of Satan changed their main objective after his death just to separate themselves from the satanic murders involving his name.

Well first of all, you imply that all of you christians respect us...Which is false. I myself have seen it countless times. It seems christians (not all of them, but nevertheless a lotof them) see it as their duty to spot the pentagram around my neck and lecture me on the error of my ways. In the Metro, the train, in the coffee shop...So in my experience, most christians do not respect satanists.

If god is so powerfull, than he should be the one "chosing" his priests. And the evil propagated through the centuries by christians are not actions of a few, but of the majority and the Christian Intitution itself. Now if you say you are against the actions that are championned by your institution (of whom you are the diciple) than technically you are a heretic. Because, the church and its leaders are supposed to "appointed" by god.

You say we have no beliefs, but you christians mix and confound two different concepts: belief and values. Let me explain. The christian values are incorporated into the faith, as means to make these values the only ones that are acceptable because they are transmited to you by god. The world belief does not only have religious connotations. It means an oppinion, a conviction, a firm confidence, trust. All the belief you put into your god and HIS values, i put into myself. My own PERSONNAL values, (which, incedently, may be very different from another satanist) it put into myself. I am a god. To me my life is sacred. I trust in myself, in my powers (not in a supernatural way). I believe i can accomplish almost anything were i to chose to do so, if i put every single fibre of my being into it. So you see, i do have beliefs. Just not in the way you consider we should believe.

Now you say that we do not want peace inthe world. That is false. I myself live my life in Peace as much as is humanly possible. Yet i do not shy away from violence and conflict when agressed or when it is the only solution that bring less consequence to myself (or more benefits).
I think that violence and conflict is in the human nature, and are therefore natural and unevitable. A world without violence would be a world without humans, animals etc. Basically a world without life. We embrace violence and war as a principle of nature, on the same level as peace and love. Contrairy to the christians who deny it and chose to close their eyes to that reality. If violence was a disease, and christianity the cure, it wouldnt exist on earth any more, after two milennias of their faith in this world. And personally i have met countless of violent christians.

And what you stae on Lavey is false tales spread by people who had to gain by dirtying his name. And even where it true, LaVeys life and his doings are of no importance to me, his legacy (his books, philosophy and religion) is what matters to me. And even if LaVey had never even existed or wrote the Satanic Bible, i would still be, act and think exactly as i am, exept that i would probably not label myself as a Satanist.

I hope i have helped broaden your understanding of what satanism is about.

Mr.Atheist

I'm not sure that "respect" is really the appropriate word here. And I assume we're not talking about Christianity in its original form as it was intended to be. I agree with some other posts here in that we should respect the rights of others to believe and live in a way of their own choosing, so long as those beliefs and lifestyles don't infringe upon the rights and lives of others. A good friend of mine is a Stregone and Grimas in La Vecchia, and he tells me that his grandmother used to say that if one were to liken spiritual and religious matters to a pearl necklace, most people see their respective pearl as the "right" way, but the true religion is actually the string that holds the pearls together.

That being said, neither he, myself, or any other pagan friends, be they Satanist, Wiccan, Buddhist or whatnot have much time for Christianity as it is commonly viewed and practiced. The argument could be made that any and all belief systems have their inherent "flaws", and while this is true, I think the issue regarding this is a matter of degree. No Luciferian, for example, has ever invaded someone's homeland to kill, rape and pillage in the name of "spreading the Light", so to speak, nor is it part of their ideology to let a child die in an emergency room unnecessarily because Jehovah wills it. I have no problem with the notion that Christ was an avatar (and Moses a wizard, to take it a step further), respecting that premise and leaving it at that. I do, however, have a problem with the idea some Christians have regarding the monopolization of religion and faith, as if they have stumbled upon something new here. One can be on a slippery slope when claiming that someone's belief system is unequivocally bad, regardless of their standpoint. So, I don't feel I can tell Christians that they are all "wrong", but I can most certainly disagree with the ways they often display their righteousness.

I'm not familiar with that book, but wasn't he part of the Theosophical Society? I'll have to check it out. Thanks!

I think we SHOULD respect ALL religions. Just because we don't agree with something doesn't mean we should not respect it.

I agree Aradia. I respect it in theory, but the actual practice sometimes makes me wonder.

Yes, I agree in theory.
However, if a religion causes harm, emotional damage, fear/ terror, brainwashes to control, etc.. In other words is abusive, to it's followers...then how can one say, it's fine.
Ones sprituality (what a person beleives in), is a different matter. It is very personal and I can respect that.



‎"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything."

Einstein