In my last essay I covered Gaahl and King’s views. In this part, I will go over a couple other points I thought interesting, and hopefully complete the essay in the next part. Again, this is here to simply inform and clarify, not to push my belief. I recommend reading Part 1&2 before this.
When Glen, the singer from Deicide (death of God), an ordained Satanist talks about what Satanism means to him he echoes Gaahl and King. He says “What I believe in is using my mind and not stupidity and ignorance so it's anti God and anti-Christian1.” I need not expand on what I’ve said in the Part 1&2, but I think it’s noteworthy once again to see that the common goal of the ‘Satanist’ is to not live in ignorance. But Glen has somehow jumped to the unjustified conclusion that believing in God and ignorance are inseparable, as though everyone who does believe is somehow ignorant. Again, it’s clear that there are many people who believe in God who are not only intelligent, but hold many degrees in various specific fields.
He says later that “It's not about killing babies but against the mentality that says 'If you do that, you're gonna go to Hell1.'" Here is something that bothers me. From a Christian standpoint, we all are born into sin, therefor it’s not the ‘doing things against God’ which sends us to hell, but the fact is, we are all on our way there no matter what. It’s often misunderstood when people think that ‘God sends people to Hell’. The presupposition is that God sends us, where as in truth, we send ourselves. So, that's where Jesus comes in. Sin, as it is, separates us from God. Hell is literally complete separation from God, and without Jesus, we are cut off from God. Jesus’s death takes that sin away, essentially, and thus when we die, God sees clean sinless souls. There's a quote like this: “In the end we say to God 'thy Will be done', or God says to us 'thy Will be done'”. We sin, we love sin, that's human nature, and if we choose it over Jesus, when we die we get exactly what we want. Love God or love sin, it's simple as that.
{The Church}
He goes on to talk about Church saying, “They need new members to keep their bank accounts full and they need people to believe their lie, but I do as I wilt1.” As I covered the issue of money briefly in the last paper, I will simply add that the main intent of the Church is to offer help to people. The true Church does not draw forth people because they want something from them, but because of what they offer to them; the message of hope and love. It’s obvious people look for answers in many things, like various religions, booze and sex, or even the occult and witchcraft, and Church is another source of answers for these people. Though it should be noted that the Christian Church does consider themselves to have the only correct answer to the question of why and how we got here. Glen then goes on to talk about how he disapproves of the adolescent attitude of many ‘Satanists’ and is against them “getting drunk and burning up a church or spraying Deicide lyrics on the side of a school or killing the neighbour’s dog1.” He recognizes the futility of such actions, respectfully, and I can admire this.
He says elsewhere “We're into exposing the negative realities of Christianity but in an intellectual way1.” And yet I fail to see his ‘intellectual way’. He’s not out burning Churches down or killing dogs, which is good, but his lyrics are by no means an intellectual alternative to Christianity, and speak mostly of blasphemy, death, evil and hate. It’s evident in Glenn’s lyrics he’s mad a God (see the song ‘Mad at God’) and even more evident that his anger, while being perhaps justified, isn’t warranted. Christians get mad at God all the time, but they have the sense to try to understand God’s nature, instead of writing Him off as dead or useless. There is another song called ‘Blame it on God’, to which Glen echoes the actions of Adam and Eve in the garden. Their first sin (besides eating the fruit) was to blame someone else for their wrong doings. I must say, from the Christian standpoint, these men claiming their ‘search for wisdom’ don’t seem to have a lot of it, and it’s as if I’m hearing children speak when I read Deicide’s lyrics. I’d like to see them explain why, exactly, they think their beliefs more logically valuable to society, and why exactly they’re superior to the Christian worldview. If we compare Jesus teaching to Glen’s, which does the reader think is a better way to live? In a hate filled manner serving only yourself, or a loving manner serving others. Even Einstein said “Only a life lived for others is worth living” and that’s exactly what the Christian life entails; serving others.
Part 4: Emperor-Ihsahn
{Satanism}
Emperor is renown throughout the Black Metal scene not only for their music but for their involvement in Church burning and murder. Ihsahn, a social Darwinist and Satanist3 had this to say regarding Christian mission work, “You have Christian missions going into the jungle and forcing their religion upon tribes
that have been living on a very primitive basis for thousands of years. What do they need Christianity for?2" While I agree that forcing beliefs in a hateful manner on anyone is wrong, I do believe a rational discussion is good to have, and I know there were missionaries who did horrible things, but as I have said previously, the actions of the followers hold no barring on truth. Jesus did indeed say “go into all the world and preach the good news” (Mark 16:15) but He surely didn’t mean ‘kill people in my name’. He said ‘the good news’ which is ‘God’s love for man’. Nay, it is man who perpetuated the wrongful crimes, merely using God to exonerate themselves and to rid themselves of guilt; to justify what they’d done. But that is not real Christianity.
And as for Ihsahn wondering what we need Christianity for, it’s merely a matter of figuring out what they (Christians) propose, which is: man has sinned against God, and thus has revoked his ability to be in the same presence. God saw man, and through grace sent His son to die, so that man’s sins may be ‘washed away’ and thus redeeming the person to a stature of quality worthy of being near God. People need Christianity because, if it is true, then it is the only way to meet and know God personally not only in this life, but fully in the next.
{Theology}
In another interview he says "Christianity is practiced by people to weak to control their own lives. The religion represents illogical pity morals that stride against the laws of nature3.” From the view of the Christian this is laughable, and by implying Christians are to weak to control their lives he shows how gross his misconception of Christianity really is. It’s the classic secular mistake of thinking ‘we’ are in control of our own lives. That’s one of the things we must realize in coming to God; knowing that we are in control of nothing, I mean real control. The illusion of the world is that we are in control. Furthermore, Christian morals are built upon God’s law, and to say they are ‘against the laws of nature’ shows ever more of an ignorance on his part, and the ironic thing is he’s right, in a sense. Christianity goes against the world’s view of morals because it goes against selfishness, pride, hate, envy, greed, lust & sexual immorality, jealousy, malice and slander, among others. So it’s not that he’s wrong exactly, but his view on the matter is simply contradictory to the Christian view, and is understandable.
When asked if he believes in gods Ihsahn says “Yes, I believe in gods, as personified symbols of forces that are unrecognizable to the physical senses, and therefore must be associated through those channels the human mind is capable of using3.” His views of pantheism are evident, which I think comes from his cultural background. It seems many of these men who live in Norway have a huge connection with their heritage and history, which is good, but at the same time if is built upon a fallacy then it is of little worth. I don’t mean to degrade the Norwegian culture, in fact I find it fascinating and very interesting, but the fact is it is built upon paganism and false gods/pantheism. He goes on to say the he can accept a man named Jesus once lived and was affected by “a force that gave him this strange idea3.” Of course he doesn’t believe Jesus is the savior of all people, and regards Heaven and Hell as mere visual symbols on the forces in contrast.
With all the above being said it’s no surprise that Satanists claim what they do. Christianity is directly contrary to everything I’ve heard these people say. They are the complete opposite; one is about love, and the other hate. Ihsahn shows his lack of love when he says this about the strong over the weak, “It is the law of nature. The strong survive. That is basically the mentality behind my Satanism-the individual. Strong, intelligent, and powerful3.” In the Christian view, we are to love the weak, and help them. Near the end of an MTV interview he says “how can you have respect for something so weak4.” Acts 20:35 says “We must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’." It is pride which made the devil fall from grace, and it is the same thing that leads to the mentality of superiority, and self glorification. Proverbs 1:7 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” The Satanist movement is built upon building ones self up as though God, and following a flawed wisdom wrought by man. The prevalent theme they all talk about is utter selfishness in every sense of the word. And as I’ve said before, both sides are at am impasse, and the other thinks the other wrong, and neither will agree.
{Conclusion}
Once again I am bothered by that lack of intelligence towards Christianity, but it's more than that. The claim is being made against the world view, and yet these people don't seem to have a correct understanding of it. I cannot spend a life opposed to something to which I am ill informed; it would be silly. But people do. That's all for now. Part 5&6 will come soon I suppose, whenever I get around to it.
1)http://www.battlehelm.com/interviews/Deicide.htm
2)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jasen01/warsongs/emperorinterview.htm
3)http://www.esoterra.org/empor.htm
4)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k5P_X5aHps
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