Thursday, December 14, 2006

inner dork: Satan, The Devil, Beelzebub, Lucifer

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, sinister isn't it?
Have you ever wondered what the difference between, Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, and Lucifer are? No? Well, dammit I have and now I have the answer.
So, did you know....

Satan is the name of God's archenemy in Judaism and Christianity. In Jewish tradition, God did not create this evil being; in Christian tradition, God did. The word frequently means "accuser."
The Old Testament doesn't mention his fall from heaven. In the New Testament, post-fall and proper name now instated, he tried to tempt Jesus into worshipping him and cements his reputation as the personification of evil. (Ta dah!)

The Devil: The one title that comes with a "the" (sounds so important, doesn't it?) is regarded in the Judeo-Christian scheme as a fallen angel. According to Christianity, the Devil tries to lead humans astray from the path toward redemption. The Devil has several meanings including, "adversary" and "slanderer."

Beelzebub: This one first appears in the Old Testament as a Phillistine god in the city of Ekron, southwest of Jerusalem. In Hebrew, the word means "lord of the flies" (yep, just like the book.) By the New Testament, he has in effect merged with the concept of Satan and evolved into the aforementioned Prince of Devils or Prince of Demons.

Lucifer: Lucifer is Latin for "light bearer" or "morning star" (not very sinister sounding, is it? More like hippy children if you ask me.) When the Bible was being translated into Latin, early Christians interpreted a passage from babylonian cuneiform mentioning "Lucifer" as the story of Satan, an angel in high standing who rebelled against God and was tossed from heaven to hell, where he became leader of the demons (cue scary music.)

Class dismissed. Now, go pray.

5 comments:

Jay Adkins said...

Outer Dork: Satanism and Lucifarianism

Did you know that Satanists do not worship the deity Satan? Satanism is a relatively new religion which was founded in 1966 by one Anton LaVey. When describing Satan's influence upon him, "Satan is just a symbol, nothing more," LaVey says. "Satan signifies our love of the worldly and our rejection of the pallid, ineffectual image of Christ on the cross."

Satanism is often mistaken as being a religion that encourages cruelty and irresponsible behaviour, but LaVey's brand is very different. Central is the idea inherited from Nietzsche that an individual must enforce his own meaning on life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. The Satanist is seen as equivalent to Nietzsche's Übermensch, or "super-man"; LaVey claimed "Satanists are born, not made" and that "[Satanists] have a disease called independence that needs to be recognised just like alcoholism." There is a libertarian element here; diversity is encouraged, everyone is expected to discover their own sexuality, chart their own personality, and decide their own ambitions in life. Belief in any such externalized deities is generally considered grounds for excluding someone as a Satanist, and devil worship in particular is considered nothing more than a misguided inversion of Christianity.

Traditional Lucifarianism is the worship of the deity Satan.

Modern Lucifarianism takes many of the ideals of LaVey Satanism, (while mocking it endlessly,) and takes it a step further. Satanists worship themselves. Modern Lucifarians worship themselves as gods.

HST said...

Jay is my hero.



When i'm done praying can I sleep with the priest?

Just Askin'

AeroAangel said...

thanks for the info PG and as for Jay...another strand of lucifarianism believes that lucifer being the "bringer of light" will eventually do just that in man's darkest hour. if his name means bringer of light and there is no evidence to support the idea that he has ever done that...then logically he will eventually have to bring the light in order to deserve the name bringer of light...thus, some worship lucifer b/c in man's darkest hour, lucifer is supposed to bring the light.

futhermore, satanism and lucifarianism or any offshoot thereof cannot technically be called a religion because a "religion" is something that relates to God or a god, and the "anti-god" is neither of those things and is thus not actually a religion as much a structure of beliefs.

Anonymous said...

to be a satanist you must invoke satan to understand the ideas and thoughts of his infernal majesty so do a lesser banishing the light a black candle but be careful-make sure your circle is complete with no spots for your energy to go out from the it should be self explanatory what to do okay

Anonymous said...

Acually what your saying is your dumbass childish opinnion. Lucifer satan beelzebub and the devil are all the same thing. and HAIL SATAN!