Should I buy this? (P1: The Satanic Bible)

EDIT: Damn it, this should have been placed in Collector's Corner. Could a mod or admin relocate it for me, please? Thank you so very much. I apologize for the screw up. ^^;


'ello, ones.

So I'm delving through Amazon for things I might wanna buy. Adding things to my Wish List for later and I've got a pretty big list so far of things I'm definitely interested in purchasing later down the line. So I guess why I'm doing this is because I would like other people's opinions on the things I could potentially buy.

Item #1:
http://www.amazon.com/Satanic-Bible-Anton-Szandor-Lavey/dp/0380015390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404163842&sr=8-1&keywords=Anton+LaVey


I've been extremely curious about this book for a couple of years. A friend of mine and I had a talk about this guy while having a dinner in Golden Corral and I became curious about Anton LaVey and his religion he called "Satanism."

But on the other hand, my mother is a Christian, my grandma is a Seven Day Advent and I love them both so dearly. It would really rile them both up if they saw a copy of this in my hands. So what should I do? Should I buy it or pass it up?

It's great bathroom fodder. A quite humorous read. Go for it.

Could be an interesting read,I suppose. It's not something I'd get though.

corplhicks wrote:

It's great bathroom fodder. A quite humorous read. Go for it.

Much like the Bible when people take IT seriously. .w.

Icy Grave wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

It's great bathroom fodder. A quite humorous read. Go for it.

Much like people when they take the Bible seriously. .w.

Fixed that for you.   

This thread could get ugly.

007 wrote:

This thread could get ugly.

Oh, there will be blood...  

Lots and lots of blood. Buckets of it everywhere! Don't slip on any if there's a spill. It'll be cleaned up promptly. x3

http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Wii-Mario-Luigi-Deluxe-U/dp/B00G0OYHCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404224754&sr=8-1&keywords=Wii+U



So what about it?

I'm unsure about this purchase and have been for a while. I wasn't impressed with the Wii U when I first saw it and I wasn't impressed when I finally got my hands on it to play the Sonic Lost World demo. Overall, I really have made up my mind about whether or not I want to even invest the money and time into this, but the new Smash Bros. is coming out this year, so that may very well change my mind. BUT it's also gonna be on the 3DS. However, I never saw Smash Bros. as a game you'd play on the go. I just never saw that. But that's me personally bitching about little preferences I have with compatibility and whatnot.

I got one for my kids when it was released - there are some fun games on it. The Super Mario Bro Wii U is great, Mario Galaxy is OK (my kids LOVE it). My personal favorite game on Wii U is Mario Kart 8 - fantastic game, even better than Mario Kart Wii. If you like the Mario Kart series, the Wii U is worth it just for that game.

What a shift in gears...

I read that Satanic Bible back when I was in college. From what I remember, it wasn't as evil and dark as one would expect. It wasn't a instruction manual on performing ritual sacrifices or anything like that. And it never burnt my hands or caused the walls of my apartment to bleed.

Basically, and I'm paraphrasing here, if the Christian Bible says live your life on earth so you will be rewarded in heaven, the Satanic Bible says live life on earth as you want because this is all there is. At least that's what I took from it. Some people obviously take different things from it, just like the regular bible.

Heck, some folks could read into 'The Cat In The Hat' and see conspiracies and all that crap. I just read it as a story about a feline with a snazzy chapeau.

thejokeriv wrote:

I got one for my kids when it was released - there are some fun games on it. The Super Mario Bro Wii U is great, Mario Galaxy is OK (my kids LOVE it). My personal favorite game on Wii U is Mario Kart 8 - fantastic game, even better than Mario Kart Wii. If you like the Mario Kart series, the Wii U is worth it just for that game.

I do love Mario Kart. Mario Kart is so amazing. I should probably play as Luigi since everyone won't shut up about Luigi in the game.   

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Heck, some folks could read into 'The Cat In The Hat' and see conspiracies and all that crap. I just read it as a story about a feline with a snazzy chapeau.

"Why, thank you."

Yeah, the Satanic Bible is, from what I've heard, is essentially a guide for living an individual life on Earth. It's--dare I say it? It's like YOLO before YOLO ever came into existence.

*thinks about that* Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooo...

When I was in high school/college, several of my friends owned the "Satanic Bible"... though to be honest, I'm not sure if any of them ever bothered to read it. I think they just liked carrying it around in plain sight to freak out the "normals." Hey, it was the '80s. Sh*t like that was funny back then. I never read it myself, though I came across a copy at a library book sale a couple of years ago and almost picked it up just for gits & shiggles.

Can't offer any advice about the Wii thingy because I'm WAY behind when it comes to video game tech. The most "current" system I own is a Sega Genesis.

By the way, I moved this thread to Collector's Corner as per your request. You're welcome.

Fat Freddy wrote:

When I was in high school/college, several of my friends owned the "Satanic Bible"... though to be honest, I'm not sure if any of them ever bothered to read it. I think they just liked carrying it around in plain sight to freak out the "normals."

The reason I have a copy is my friend bought it and his mom did exactly that. She freaked out when she saw it, so he gave it to me for safe keeping.  

He's also the same friend that a few years later, gave me his 3 water bongs and various smoking implements when him & his girlfriend broke up and he had to move back home. I'm not sure what the big deal was, as they were for *novelty purposes only*, right?   

LaVey is kind of a weird duck.

On the one hand, I was exposed to the book at a time where I was horribly keyed up, uncomfortable with myself, repressed, etc. etc. etc. It was a breath of fresh air that kind of opened the door and allowed me to think in terms of "If this is who you are, it's time to just own it and be you." Granted, a lot of people who were into this crap basically took it in the direction of, "This is me and you should love me because I'm awesome even though I've done nothing to deserve it.

LaVey's entire idea is one of selfish indulgence, but without any real responsibility - even to yourself. Want laid? Go get laid. Feel like cheating on your girlfriend because she isn't putting out enough? Her fault for not putting out enough.

Funny corrollary is that most of the guys who lived like that would manipulate and abuse only to end up heartbroken when people finally got tired of dealing with their s@#$ and left them to their own devices...

It's interesting from a philosophical standpoint if you can take it with a grain of salt, maybe pick a piece or two out that you can use in your own life(the whole thing was basically lifted from other books and philosophies and cobbled together anyway), and shrug the rest off. LaVey was basically a conman who was BAD at it. When you attract that much attention and notoriety and end up dying broke... Eh, you did something wrong.

Personally, I'm partial to Ayn Rand and her philosophy because her view also endorses selfishness, but it's rational selfishness. It's "I intend to have a family and children, therefore I must work in such a way that I can materially support this aim," not "Meh, I'll just knock someone up and see where it goes because that seems like fun right now."

Oh, and she was very big (VERY big) on the notion that, you can be as selfish as you want, but you're on your own if you want to make things happen for yourself. Nobody owes you a damn thing and you have no right to demand, manipulate to be given, or steal things you did not make yourself. You're free to take that which is freely given, but otherwise, you can get bent. Not terribly comforting, but it's workable.

So, yeah, read LaVey if you REALLY want (might want to take the dust jacket off of something else before bringing it into the house so you don't offend the folks), but then read "The Virtue of Selfishness" by Rand to get a more... rational treatment of the same idea. You might think both are crap, but at least it's a more well-rounded way to go about it.

Forget the Satanic Bible and just buy Anton's album Satan Takes A Holiday.  

I find LaVey and Satanism confusing. I've not read The Satanic Bible but from what I understand it's a pretty secular book that most atheists would agree with, and that's fine but there is also the less discussed ritual magik side of Satanism (reportedly practiced by LaVey himself, definitely by his daughter Zena) that these people don't really want to discuss in any depth.

It kind of seems to me that The Satanic Bible is the acceptable face of Satanism but by no means the full story.