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A review by leganto
The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey
dark
mysterious
0.25
I've been wanting to read this for a while because, as a devout Christian, I believe it is important to understand the views of the opposition.
The Satanic Bible is divided into four sections based on what LaVey calls the four Princes of Hell; incidentally, they also align with the classical Greek elements. The sections run as follows.
(Fire) The Book of Satan: This section is a brief, r/atheism rant written in a parody of biblical chapter-and-verse format in which LaVey roleplays as Satan yelling at God (and religious man) for the role to which he has been relegated: that of the eternal "bad guy." This section is even complete with an inverted Sermon on the Mount in the fifth chapter (a clear reference to Matthew 5).
(Air) The Book of Lucifer (parenthetically, for some reason, LaVey seems to think Satan and Lucifer are different entities; not sure how he got confused on that one, but whatever): This section is a collection of short essays by LaVey in which he calls out supposed religious people for their hypocrisy. He accomplishes this by the creation and destruction of an entire army of strawmen and the making of wild truth claims without a single citation. Wikipedia gains credibility when compared to this part of the book. This section is called "Lucifer" because, as the "bringer of light," Lucifer is meant to enlighten people by sharing knowledge. The most "enlightenment" I got here was that LaVey observed a handful of Roman Catholics and emotion-driven evangelicals and based his whole view of Christianity on them and their behavior. His clear lack of understanding of the actual Gospel message--salvation by grace through faith as opposed to "earning" God's favor by being a "good boy" (Ephesians 2:8-9)--is overt here. There has to be some church hurt in his personal history based on the tone of this section.
(Earth) The Book of Belial: This section is a sort of introduction to Satanic magic. It must be pointed out that LaVey makes it clear here that Satanic magic (as practiced by this particular movement) is little more than the modern practice of manifesting (theistic Satanists need not apply). In LaVey's iteration of Satanism, one must simply focus on his/her goals and believe to achieve. LaVey acknowledges that these rituals are purely to add pomp and circumstance which effectively serve as motivations to the practitioners to accomplish their own goals. This section concludes with a simple how-to guide on the procedures, invocations, etc. of a ritual, complete with a description of the dress code for a ritual, how to use a woman as an altar, and the various artifacts and their uses!
(Water) The Book of Leviathan: This section was by far the strangest, and that is saying something! It contains a list of infernal names for invocation (alphabetized for the user's convenience) and nineteen Enochian keys--collections of esoteric-sounding gibberish conveniently translated into a parodic King James English which are basically rambling petitions for Satan's aid. These keys are prefaced by the theme/purpose of the given passage: some are for lust spells, others for destruction, and so on.
Thus abruptly concludes the Satanic Bible, whose last words are not "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen," but "Open the mysteries of your creation, and make us partakers of the UNDEFILED WISDOM." The irony is palpable.
Final thoughts: As a student of God's Word, I have come to expect a certain level of quality and organization from a religious text; the Bible tends to spoil us Christians that way. Because of this inevitably high standard, I must say that LaVey's work falls flat, embarrassingly so. I am not entirely sure what I was expecting this book to be, but what I read felt like a combination of an edgy teenage atheist's diary, a fan-annotated Dungeon Master's Guide from the 1980s, and the infernal version of Bacon's Essays (and that final comparison does an unfortunate injustice to Sir Bacon, but it is the best that I can muster right now).
So the question is this: do I regret reading this? The answer: no. I'm glad that I now have firsthand knowledge of this text because I can comment on it critically, but from a place of experience rather than semi-ignorant hearsay. Now when these folks demand the freedom to build a statue of Satan in front of some government building or whatever other kind of poppycock they do to score an appearance on the news, I'll have better insight into what exactly is driving this kind of behavior.
Another question emerges: is this book a valuable read for a Christian? I would say that probably not all Christians need to read it, but I think a few do. In war (spiritual or otherwise), it is important to keep tabs on the enemy, but not every soldier in the Kingdom needs to be involved in recon.
And because you know I had to do it, let me end my review thus:
Hail Jesus! Christ is LORD! ✝
The Satanic Bible is divided into four sections based on what LaVey calls the four Princes of Hell; incidentally, they also align with the classical Greek elements. The sections run as follows.
(Fire) The Book of Satan: This section is a brief, r/atheism rant written in a parody of biblical chapter-and-verse format in which LaVey roleplays as Satan yelling at God (and religious man) for the role to which he has been relegated: that of the eternal "bad guy." This section is even complete with an inverted Sermon on the Mount in the fifth chapter (a clear reference to Matthew 5).
(Air) The Book of Lucifer (parenthetically, for some reason, LaVey seems to think Satan and Lucifer are different entities; not sure how he got confused on that one, but whatever): This section is a collection of short essays by LaVey in which he calls out supposed religious people for their hypocrisy. He accomplishes this by the creation and destruction of an entire army of strawmen and the making of wild truth claims without a single citation. Wikipedia gains credibility when compared to this part of the book. This section is called "Lucifer" because, as the "bringer of light," Lucifer is meant to enlighten people by sharing knowledge. The most "enlightenment" I got here was that LaVey observed a handful of Roman Catholics and emotion-driven evangelicals and based his whole view of Christianity on them and their behavior. His clear lack of understanding of the actual Gospel message--salvation by grace through faith as opposed to "earning" God's favor by being a "good boy" (Ephesians 2:8-9)--is overt here. There has to be some church hurt in his personal history based on the tone of this section.
(Earth) The Book of Belial: This section is a sort of introduction to Satanic magic. It must be pointed out that LaVey makes it clear here that Satanic magic (as practiced by this particular movement) is little more than the modern practice of manifesting (theistic Satanists need not apply). In LaVey's iteration of Satanism, one must simply focus on his/her goals and believe to achieve. LaVey acknowledges that these rituals are purely to add pomp and circumstance which effectively serve as motivations to the practitioners to accomplish their own goals. This section concludes with a simple how-to guide on the procedures, invocations, etc. of a ritual, complete with a description of the dress code for a ritual, how to use a woman as an altar, and the various artifacts and their uses!
(Water) The Book of Leviathan: This section was by far the strangest, and that is saying something! It contains a list of infernal names for invocation (alphabetized for the user's convenience) and nineteen Enochian keys--collections of esoteric-sounding gibberish conveniently translated into a parodic King James English which are basically rambling petitions for Satan's aid. These keys are prefaced by the theme/purpose of the given passage: some are for lust spells, others for destruction, and so on.
Thus abruptly concludes the Satanic Bible, whose last words are not "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen," but "Open the mysteries of your creation, and make us partakers of the UNDEFILED WISDOM." The irony is palpable.
Final thoughts: As a student of God's Word, I have come to expect a certain level of quality and organization from a religious text; the Bible tends to spoil us Christians that way. Because of this inevitably high standard, I must say that LaVey's work falls flat, embarrassingly so. I am not entirely sure what I was expecting this book to be, but what I read felt like a combination of an edgy teenage atheist's diary, a fan-annotated Dungeon Master's Guide from the 1980s, and the infernal version of Bacon's Essays (and that final comparison does an unfortunate injustice to Sir Bacon, but it is the best that I can muster right now).
So the question is this: do I regret reading this? The answer: no. I'm glad that I now have firsthand knowledge of this text because I can comment on it critically, but from a place of experience rather than semi-ignorant hearsay. Now when these folks demand the freedom to build a statue of Satan in front of some government building or whatever other kind of poppycock they do to score an appearance on the news, I'll have better insight into what exactly is driving this kind of behavior.
Another question emerges: is this book a valuable read for a Christian? I would say that probably not all Christians need to read it, but I think a few do. In war (spiritual or otherwise), it is important to keep tabs on the enemy, but not every soldier in the Kingdom needs to be involved in recon.
And because you know I had to do it, let me end my review thus:
Hail Jesus! Christ is LORD! ✝