Biblical Prohibition: The Satanic Perspective

    When I examine the biblical prohibitions, I do not see a moral compass. I see a handbook for the herd, a set of anti-life doctrines designed by psychic vampires to suppress human vitality and breed slavish obedience. As a Satanist following the philosophy codified by Anton Szandor LaVey in The Satanic Bible, I view Satan not as a literal deity but as a symbol of the carnal, earthbound nature of man. We stand for indulgence instead of abstinence, vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams, and undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit. We recognize man as just another animal, sometimes better but more often worse than those that walk on all fours, because his "divine spiritual and intellectual development" has made him the most vicious animal of all. Let us thoroughly dissect how this ancient text attempts to neuter the human animal and how the Satanist and the Church of Satan respond to it. 

    The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are paraded by the mainstream as the ultimate moral code, yet to the Satanist, they are a mix of basic survival logic co-opted by a tyrannical imaginary father figure. We avoid murder and theft not because a god commanded it, but out of pragmatic self-preservation and a strict adherence to the Lex Talionis, the law of retaliation. We protect our own property and our own lives, and we recognize that initiating unprovoked violence invites justified destruction upon ourselves. The rest of the list is sheer megalomania. Demanding we have no other gods or idols, and forbidding us from coveting what our neighbor possesses, is a direct attack on human ambition. Coveting is the very fuel of progress and material success. Without the desire to acquire, conquer, and elevate one's status, mankind stagnates. Furthermore, the Satanist is their own ultimate godhead. We practice autotheism. To bow before an external deity is to commit the Satanic sin of self-deceit, willfully blinding ourselves to our own agency and power. 

    Beyond those ten rules, the Old Testament books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy pile on strict laws meant to micromanage daily life and strip away individuality. The ancient Israelites were terrified of the surrounding cultures. The texts explicitly forbid divination, sorcery, witchcraft, and consulting mediums. The hypocrisy is laughable considering their own religion is steeped in magical thinking, burning bushes, and blood sacrifices. As Satanists, we utilize Greater and Lesser Magic. Lesser magic is the wile and charm used in everyday situations to bend others to our will. Greater magic is the ritual of the psychodrama, a dedicated intellectual and emotional decompression chamber used to focus our desires and purge our frustrations. We embrace the dark aesthetics and occult practices they fear because they are potent symbols of our carnal liberation. We do completely agree with their prohibition on sacrificing children. The Church of Satan views children, along with non-human animals, as natural magicians and the ultimate expressions of the life force. They are completely free from the guilt-ridden filth of adult religions, and our Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth strictly forbid harming them. 

    This oppressive framework extends into their sexual morality, where Leviticus 18 stands as a testament to the life-hating nature of the Abrahamic faiths. It attempts to build strict cages around human sexuality, pathologizing natural bodily functions like menstruation and forbidding same-sex relations. Satanism condones any type of sexual activity which properly satisfies your individual desires, whether it be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or polyamorous, provided it is between consenting adults. We reject their arbitrary shame and celebrate sexual indulgence as a vital, powerful force. Repression creates neurotic, easily manipulated slaves, while indulgence creates masters of their own domain. Furthermore, their dietary and agricultural laws focus on identifying "unclean" animals, draining blood, and separating fabrics, which is nothing more than primitive, obsessive-compulsive tribalism. It forbids the eating of pigs and shellfish, and prohibits the planting of two different seeds in the same field. It is a system of petty control over the most mundane aspects of daily life. The Satanist operates in the real world, relying on objective reality, scientific hygiene, and the gratification of the senses. We do not deprive our palates to please a phantom in the sky. 

    

    When the biblical texts occasionally throw a bone to the weak by forbidding the oppression of widows and orphans or demanding honest weights and measures, they touch on social justice and fair dealing. While we believe in fair exchange in our dealings and abhor deceit among our peers, we do not subscribe to unconditional egalitarianism. LaVeyan Satanism recognizes the natural law of stratification. We do not believe all men are created equal. We give kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates. The biblical demand to unconditionally protect the vulnerable often serves to artificially prop up the weak and the lazy at the expense of the strong and the driven. Satanism represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires who drain the energy and resources of the productive. 

    The New Testament is where the true sickness of the "slave morality" takes root. It shifts from behavioral control to full-blown psychological castration, demanding that you police your own thoughts and surrender your ego entirely. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Nazarene weaponizes basic human psychology. Anger is equated with literal murder, and a lustful thought is treated as the act of adultery. He demands you turn the other cheek, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. This is a suicide pact for the human ego. Satanism teaches that if a man smites you on one cheek, you should smash him on the other. You must destroy your enemies, or they will destroy you. Anger, lust, and pride are not sins. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification. They are the most natural and necessary human emotions, essential for our survival, mental health, and ultimate triumph. 

    This demand for submission is solidified in the Apostolic Decree, where Acts 15 lays out rules for new converts to maintain unity, ordering them to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, blood, strangled animals, and sexual immorality. It is the ultimate demand for herd conformity. Herd conformity is one of the Nine Satanic Sins. It is acceptable to conform to a person's wishes if it ultimately benefits you, but it is an absolute sin to submit blindly to the dictates of a mass entity just to be accepted. Writers like Paul in Galatians 5 and Ephesians 4 further condemn human nature itself. They forbid discord, jealousy, ambition, and pride, demanding that no unwholesome talk ever leaves their followers' mouths. They demonize the very traits that lead to worldly success, personal power, and individual distinction. By labeling ambition and indulgence as "vices," they ensure their flock remains docile, poor in spirit, and easily fleeced by their masters. Stupidity is the cardinal Satanic Sin, and these epistles are masterclasses in demanding intellectual stupor. The squabbling of modern Christians and Jews over which of these ancient laws still apply is entirely irrelevant to us. The entire biblical framework is a monument to weakness and self-deceit. We vehemently reject their archaic prohibitions. We are our own godheads, carving our own paths. We choose vital existence, fierce individualism, unapologetic pride, and the fulfilling gratification of our carnal desires over the suffocating, life-denying restrictions of a slave religion.