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PaperclipPerfector  24d ago (text post)   34278 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 28, 2024

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Satanism's been around longer than that, it's just that it's a bit hard to maintain a continuous tradition when that tradition gets you set on fire if discovered in the only regions where people actually believe in the object of that tradition.

Pagan religions are not Satanic, though. At least, not unless you're a Christian or Muslim and are looking for a supernatural but non-heretical explanation of their existence (they're too different to be corruptions of the true faith, angels would mention that they're only servants, and rival gods aren't supposed to exist, so by process of elimination...).

The Christian scriptures literally refer to pagan religions as basically being satanism.

Well, yes, this pattern goes back over a millennium, though I wasn't aware it had gone back quite far enough to wind up in the Bible (I've read some of the Bible, but not all of it).

The psalms(psalm 95/96 depending on whether you use protestant or Catholic numbering) refer to the gods of gentiles as being demons and St Paul repeats this condemnation in his epistles. This pattern at least as far as Christianity goes is based off of the bible's descriptions of other religions.

The psalms(psalm 95/96 depending on whether you use protestant or Catholic numbering)

Are you talking about this one? Because with the exception of the Wycliffe Bible that doesn't sound very demonic, just impotent.

St Paul repeats this condemnation in his epistles.

I found this, which kinda fits (though note the translation differences); are there others?

1 Corinthians 10:14-22, which Paul is writing to Christians in Corinth:

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

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