Originally posted by RJHinds
That is right. You are either with Christ or against him and you can't serve two masters. Worshipping oneself is worshipping the creature rather than Christ the Creator. That is no different than worshipping Satan, who is a creation of God. For in God's first commandment, He forbid having another god to worship, serve, and bow down to. And if we love God, we will keep His commandments.
Firstly, when did Christ become the Creator? Sounds like you don't even understand your own religion RJ.
Secondly, rather than speculating what a Satanist is these days why not just look to Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible to understand their creed. They have what they call "Nine Satanic Statements". They are:
1. Satan represents indulgence, instead of abstinence!
2. Satan represents vital existence, instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom, instead of hypocritical self-deceit!
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates!
5. Satan represents vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek!
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires!
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his "divine spiritual and intellectual development," has become the most vicious animal of all!
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
9. Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years
Now, while some of these statements are just telling it like it is, overall I find the philosophy of Satanism foolish and selfish. There is too much emphasis on the individual and his/her own selfish needs and desires and less on the overall well being of community. Even though human beings have a tendency to be warlike, selfish, and our own worst enemies I don't think we need to embrace that as a philosophy. I'd much rather personally adopt a religion/spirituality/philosophy that at least tries to aspire to better virtues of honesty, compassion, importance of family, hard work, generosity, optimism, concern for well being of the communities we live in, etc. Satanism, as one can see from their own written creed, seems to work in the opposite direction.
Thirdly, in my 10 years as a practicing heathen (i.e. old norse and germanic religion) and being around many other heathens and other types of pagans I've never seen anyone actually worshipping a rock, tree, or river. Although I do think there tends to be a much greater appreciation of nature and a sense of these things being sacred amongst heathens and pagans than you find in monotheistic religions. But still I've never seen anyone worshipping a rock and I tend to agree with Robbie in that I see no value in doing so. I see the act of worship as reciprocal between humans and gods and that when one worships higher beings they expect something in return. One cannot possibly expect something in return from worshipping a rock. I doubt anyone has ever sacrificed a pig to a rock although they most likely performed such a sacrifice to a god/goddess in what they consider a sacred grove and/or stone altar.
BTW, Robbie the Pentagram you saw was most likely Wiccan than Satanic as there are far more Wiccans in the world today than Satanists but who knows. Personally I think people are making far too big a deal on this thread about Robbie "desecrating" it. I doubt those that used it even cared that much. They were probably more amused than anything.