I have been thinking of writing about Satanists since my talk with Devil’s Mind about it a few months ago. Like many other issues that I was ignorant in, it came to my surprise that Satanists are not what I used to percieve them. In fact, my perception of them – which I am sure is shared among many other Jordanians – is far from the truth.
The linking of Satan with Evil is well rooted in our culture. Being a religious nation and having Genesis as our primary introductory story to religion where Satan is highlighted as an evil person who have costed us Heavens in his evil plan to take revenge against God, it left us with a very little choice of thinking about Satan otherwise, and thus we expanded our vision of him and his followers to be the dark side of our universe.
While in the Quran the describtion of the tree Adam and Eve ate from is purely materialistic (I am not sure if they explicitly say that is was an apple tree or not), but in the bible, it is closer to a myth story like the ones you can find in every nation at that era of time. The tree described in Genesis is the knowledge tree. Satan told Eve, if you eat from this tree, you would know the difference between good and evil, and thus you would gain a feature of God.
So here is the trick which Devil’s Mind explained to me. Satan to Satanists is a symbol of wisdom. They associate it with knowledge rather than evil which other religious people associate him with.
My second surprise was knowing that his version of Satanism is the one where they don’t really worship Satan. Satan is just a symbol for them, rather than a God to worship. A symbol of their seeking of knowledge like any other atheist person.
While I do share with them their value of knowledge, I wouldn’t call myself a Satanic, although in their definition of being a Satanic, I might be one! It is just that my association of Satan with evil is still strong in my subconsious where I find it hard to just see him as a symbol of wisdom.
The whole conversation reminded me of my previous ignorance of other things. Like when I realized that Alcoholism is a disease after having a heated discussion with some other people over the net, or when I realized Women sexuality and their attraction to men’s bodies the same way men are attracted to theirs, or when I realized that homosexuality is not a choice, or when I looked closer to the lifes of prostitutes or beggars.
It is always the same. Us stereotyping a set of people to be evil for being different. It is just a matter of growth where we look closers to the issues, uncover the truth, and learn that no matter how much our differences are severe, we all have the human sense of being good. Even Satanists!
Fadi Zaghmout فادي زغموت 
what u r saying is true … but the new movements of Satanism is different … Church of the Devil and other institutes show their support to Satan by doing thing that would God would not approve … aka sinsand the things they do in their meetings are disgusting to me … the Gang rapes and orgies and Blood rituals do not belong to this century … the people you are refering to may include the Illuminates … among other groups who believed in the power of knowledge over the power of Church … check them out …
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While sex orgies are supported by many Satanic organizations, Gang rapes are not. No-one is ever forced to participate in sexual activity against their will!Satanism advocates sexual freedom. Freedom by definition is doing what you <>WANT<> to do. If sexual orgies don’t appeal to your sexual appetite, you are free not to join in! Sexual freedom is tolerant to all sexual orientations, starting from Asexuality (refraining from sex altogether), going through monosexuality (ie. hetro and homosexuality), upto omnisexuality.
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Isam, yes, I read about Illuminates in Dan Browns’s Angels and Demons. I think that modern Satanists are not fa in their beliefs from those. The church of Devil wouldn’t be legalised in the US if it does things against the law, right?What Blood rituals they do? Maybe DM can give us more insight about that?DV, sounds fair to me. Gang rapes is different than orgies! Do Satanists have any blood rituals as Isam says?
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I totally agree with all the points raised in your post.From my humble opinion, I believe that we have 2 types of Satanism. The religious movement part which I think Isam is talking about and what was my initial perception of Satanism..and the 2nd type of it being a social movement, which is the one you are talking about, where they empower themselves with knowledge, see Satan as a symbol rather than an entity to be worshipped etc.Personally, I wouldn’t mind with teh 2nd one. In fact, I won’t feel offended if I could be called sometimes a Satanist for my abnormal beliefs and values.
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Salam Fadi,I think you will be further interested in reading this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Bible
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what is the advantage of taking one deity over the other ? Am a Pastafarian and it sure sounds like ur describing it in your post, are you sure u didn’t confuse the two ? that aside i find the story of lilith and the kabbalah and reverse kabbalah really damn interesting. anyone know how much of that is integrated into their “bible”?
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First, Satanism contain no “official” rituals, so all rituals can be either traditional, or something that a group of satanists agree upon.Additionally, many satanists have a twisted sense of humor, and they like to make fun of ignorant people. Most satanic rituals are meant to be a mockery to rituals in other religions. So picking on the point of rituals is honestly very ridiculous, because to the satanists its simply an elaborate joke on the ignorant minds!!Anyways, I guess some rituals include drinking a female’s menstrual blood (blood that comes out during a female’s menstrual cycle) as a mockery to the ritual of “drinking Jesus’s blood” in Christian rituals.
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I wouldn’t trust Dan Brown that much … he “deviates” from facts sometimes … i admit that he introduced me to that group and other important historical facts … but he twists the facts sometimes … as for the satanists … i only stated my personal opinion … after all i dont care what anyone does to himself with his/her own free will… if s/he doesnt hurt others am fine with it … and i respect any movement over the years that tried to stand against people who used religion to control the masses … you see thats where groups such as these came from in the first place … but they dont all end up the same i guess …and as far as i am concerned … i should take God’s side and fight agianst those who use his name for earthly purposes … if someone’s followers made a mistake … i would rather go to him and fix it with him … not join their enemies …
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When ever you discuss the powers of darkness with people you will see that most humans are very ignorant on many categories of the spirutal world. Keep in mind that once you acknowledge a higher power entity,deity aka.GOD you have to acknowledge everything in existence as a whole;meaning there is an opposition of beings that are not more powerful than the Creator they were created by that same source but chose to discontinue their assigned duty. Lucifer which is the angel of light, a cherubim made of fire and smoke was Satan or the Devil meaning “adversary or Opposer” decided that he wanted to exalt his self and challenge God to get as many human souls he could. People read “Mystery of the Ages” its an excellent book. A lot of people who are aware of being in the dark side are usually the ones who run government and study theology.That means analyzing all aspects of religion,sciences any thing in life to compare for world power. Any form of knowledge can be used for positve or negative reasons. Many people who are not in powerful positions underestimate evil since they lack insight on the Source and like I was taught”you play with fire you’ll get burned”
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