St. Mary's Letter

[morph4me]

That's one of two things I've never done the other one is lie

 

[JBrainard]

-Frequently wears black clothing. Check
-Wears band and/or rock t-shirts. Check
-Wears any odd, silver jewelry or symbols. Some of these include: reversed crosses, pentagrams, pentacles, ankhs or various other Satanic worshipping symbols. Check
-Shows an interest in piercings or tattoos. Check
-Listens to gothic or any other anti-social genres of music. (Marilyn Manson claims to be the anti-Christ, and publicly speaks against the Lord. Please discard any such albums IMMEDIATELY.) Check
-Associates with other people that dress, act or speak eccentrically. Check
-Shows a declining interest in wholesome activities, such as: the Bible, prayer, church or sports. Check
-Shows an increasing interest in death, vampires, magic, the occult, witchcraft or anything else that involves Satan. Check
-Drinks alcohol. Check
-Sleeps too excessively or too little. Check
-Watches cable television or any other corrupted media sources. (Ask your local church for proper programs that your child may watch.) Check
-Plays videos games that contains violence or are of a role-playing nature. Check
-Uses the internet excessively and frequently makes time for the computer. Check
-Makes Satanic symbols and/or violently shakes head to music. Check
-Expresses an interest in sex. Check
-Masturbates. Check

Guess I'm screwed

 

[Andy Moynihan]

*angry sigh*

Once again:

-
-Shows an increasing interest in death, vampires, magic, the occult, witchcraft or anything else that involves Satan.

If by "Witchcraft" they refer to Wicca, Wiccans do not worship "Satan", they do not even *believe* in "Satan", the entire concept of "Satan" as Christians know it exists solely within the Christian mythology.

I guess anything they happen not to like must be "Satan".


This phenomenon of "Christians" differentiating themselves from "Satanists" has always puzzled the hell (ha ha) out of me because "Satanists" , by very definition, must be Christian.

 

[Steel Tiger]

The entire 'letter' can be summed by saying we are born out of original sin. Therefore all children are evil and formerly had to have it beaten out of them. This church is much better than that, they just want teens institutionalised.

The saddest thing about a document like this is that the writer very likely did many of the non-Gothic specific things on the list when they were a teen. And if they didn't you have to ask why anyone let them out of the cupboard to bother the rest of the world.

 

[Ahriman]

Andy: while I enjoy discussing religions, I don't think the place is correct for that... My views tend to bring some... unease sometimes. :angel:
.
..
...
Aww, I can't help it. I swear I'll go into only the factual part, no personal opinions and such.
The most common meaning of Satan along with a few dozen others is "the accuser, the hostile one", so yes, anything which is against (or perceived as a hostile thing by) the Church is - Satan, or at least a part of him. Now it's another thing that Satanists are a part of the Judeo-Christian religious system, so they are not so surely Christian by default. (worshipping Kali is a part of the Hinduistic religious system just like worshipping say, Krishna, but I don't think that a worshipper of Kali is a Krishna-believer... uhh, it wasn't as clear as I wanted it to be.)

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Andy: while I enjoy discussing religions, I don't think the place is correct for that... My views tend to bring some... unease sometimes. :angel:

Not a problem, we can disagree and even people who disagree can do so civilly.

Aww, I can't help it. I swear I'll go into only the factual part, no personal opinions and such.

Not a problem.

The most common meaning of Satan along with a few dozen others is "the accuser, the hostile one", so yes, anything which is against (or perceived as a hostile thing by) the Church is - Satan, or at least a part of him.

That much I understand. It just really grinds my gears to hear the authors of this letter( for surely no single mind could have concieved such a very magnitude of stupidity) talk about other religions as if they knew anything about them, and most certainly when they attribute "Satanic" belief where none exists.

Now it's another thing that Satanists are a part of the Judeo-Christian religious system, so they are not so surely Christian by default.

So the precedent is there for them to exist both within Christianity and Judaism, okay. But the point I was making was that anyone calling anyone else *outside* those traditions "Satanic" is wrong, and anyone who, for whatever reason, refers to him/herself as "Satanic", must then necessarily subscribe to the traditions from which the concept of "Satan" sprung, since those traditions are the only place where that specific concept exists.

(worshipping Kali is a part of the Hinduistic religious system just like worshipping say, Krishna, but I don't think that a worshipper of Kali is a Krishna-believer... uhh, it wasn't as clear as I wanted it to be.)

If you're trying to say something along the lines of "Satan is part of the Judeo-Christian mythos, but not all Jews or Christians are Satanists", then yes, we agree.

 

[Ahriman]

But the point I was making was that anyone calling anyone else *outside* those traditions "Satanic" is wrong...

I understood what you said, but I just simply like elaborating religion-focused questions, and saying that they are by default Christians is not precise enough. If I add the last part of your post (which is far clearer than mine version was), it becomes totally precise.

Just as an interesting addition, the concept of Satan started from Persian dualism (Ahriman vs Mithras, both sons of Ahura-Mazda - now compare this with the gnostic idea of creation ), got adopted by the Hebrew tribes, survived into Christianity and still present at Islam.