What would you tell a christian friend?

Let's say you have a christian friend (or muslim or jew etc.) and you are a satanist and have been for quite some time but just now wanted to tell you're friend your true religion. What if that friend didn't agree with your choice and started criticising it. What would you say or do?

You try and explain your choices and how you came to them, if they can't respect that, their not worth bothering with.

I had the same problem being Pagan. My philosophy is, if the person cant set asaid the diference, maybe there aren't good friends to begin with.

I would say "I'm a satanist".

If they critizised it...oh well, they're entitled to that opinion.

Peace,
I had the same problem with my parents. I just came out and told them i was a muslim, they got pissed. I recommended they learn about what Islam really is rather than believing the garbage the media feeds them. They said they do not want to and they would not do it. So i left. They called and apologized a couple days later. i now live on the west coast by the ocean instead of the midwest surrounded by corn fields . My parents still choose to remain ignorant, but perhaps your friend will try to understand your beliefs.
Good luck.

Remember to give them some time. It takes people a bit to realise your serious, get over the shock and accept it. It was weeks before my Dad realised I was VERY serious about my atheism, even though I was calling myself atheist for years before that (it just never came up before that I wasn't 'in the closet')

Satanists don't really worship the devil. Just tell her that. Unless you mean luciferism, which is the literal worship of satan.

I'd say:

"Boogety boogety boo, I'm here to steal your soul."

Though can you really expect a friend, who is worried about your well being(spiritually as well) to not try to do their best to save you?

The first thing to do would be to tell your friend you are a Satanist. Try something like this:

Your Friend: Hi how are you!
You: Not bad, Did you know I'm a Satanist?
YF: Oh... ... ... ... (in case you were wondering this is akward silence)
YF: Why? (or possibly) You're not worried about going to hell?

Now, the first thing to remember is patience. Your friend most likely knows nothing about this religion other than they think you worship the most evil entity in their religion. Obvioiusly this might rub things the wrong way. You will possibly get into a fight about this and initially at least your friend will not want to try to understand. Do not assume they are not a good friend! They may be uneducated, confused, or just plain hurt. After all you just joined a religion taht they see as the extreme opposite of their's.

Your friend will most likely try to explain to why your religion is wrong (see:converting). Do not take offense to this! Remember, your friend is honestly looking out for you at this point. This may be a misguided attempt, but they are just showing they care. They don't what you going to hell. Just remember this is a religion they have probably been following even before they met you it defines who they are and their personality.

Once all this has passed try to stay good friends with them and above all do not trash on their religion! This will only be rubbing salt in already gaping wounds and the best way to lead is by example. Show that you don't mind their religious quirks and don't take offense if they say they will pray for you/your soul. They mean the best, really, they do. This is something that if you stick with long enough you will be able to keep the friendship and possibly bring it to a whole new level. Just remember patience is key.

When I lived in Edmonton (about a 10 day drive from where I now live) my best friends there (who turned out to be my 2nd cousins) where fundamental Christians. It boiled down to

"Wanna go to church with us Sunday."
"Nope."
"Alright, let's play some board games."

At supper they prayed, I kept my mouth shut and waited for them to finish. They didn't ask me to join in and say a prayer with them. (On a side note my mother did that once when I was 16 and pre-atheist at a Christmas dinner and it went, Dear lord, thank you for the food and cool hair Amen, I think my Aunt just about went into shock.)

They did what they felt the must do by trying to spread the word to me a little, and then we went about our lives. Not once did we actually talk religion. It's possible to do, but it takes a little acceptance on each person to realise they are not going to be a part of that part of your life.

I would probably try to bring up the subject of Satanism first. I'd want to make sure they knew what Satanism was all about before I told them I was a Satanist. Hopefully, this way I could at least avoid them jumping to conclusions.

Most of my good friends actually know a good deal about Satanism though. I had a boyfriend a few years ago who was a Satanist, so I started studying what I could about it. I found it all fascinating and constantly annoyed my friends talking about it.

At any rate, I wouldn't just blurt it out. I tried this when I decided to become a Wiccan. While most of my friends didn't even care, (You're a Wiccan now? Wicked...) I had three friends who were very devoted Christians. I knew telling them would be hard, but I'd gone and told everyone else, so at that point I had to, or they'd find out some other way. When I told them they didn't even give me time to explain. For a week they just avoided me, but after that they started doing things. They spray-painted "Devil worshipper" on my door. They spread rumours about me putting curses on other students. They even told my maths teacher I'd cheated on a test by reading their minds. :biglaugh: It was all very funny looking back, but I was really hurt at the time. Eventually, the school called my father, and I had to go home for two weeks because I was "disturbing the learning environment." When I came back, two of the girls apologized and agreed to let me explain my beliefs. Eventually the third girl apologized also. We're all pretty good friends now. I think a lot could have been avoided if they'd just listened to me in the first place though.

Just a question for lady crimson, do you think you could try out an explination on me, it would give you some practice and im curius

I used to be highly regarded in the theatre department where I used to go to school. Then I very openly admited to being Wicca, and suddenly I was ignored. People who valued my advice no longer sought it. Instead of being high on the ladder, and getting along with everyone, that one night put me at the bottom of the ladder, and the only other person that even looked at was the other Wiccan. There was one guy who is christian, basically said he believes what he believes, and I believe what I believe, and thats cool. So there was two people that would still talk to me. One misinformed girl asked me if I went to a gothic church.

I would simply tell them who you are first, and then let your actions speak for themselves. Just lay off burning churches and eating dead babies for a week, and they'll see how benevolent Satanism really is; they might even convert with you when they see how groundless the lies were that they had been fed by their religion.:biglaugh:
JK, but my point remains the same.:jam:

You- "Did you know that I worship Satan, eat live chickens, and strangle kittens?"
Friend- "WHHHAAAAATTTTTTTTTT? Really?"
You- "No, not really. I'm a Satanist and we don't do things like that."

You see, if you hit them HARD below the belt first, then they will be soooooo greatful that you DON'T do those things that merely being a Satanist won't seem so bad.

john313 said:

I had the same problem with my parents. I just came out and told them i was a muslim, they got pissed. I recommended they learn about what Islam really is rather than believing the garbage the media feeds them.

Click to expand...

I think it's the same with all religions. If I were to want to know the truth about Islam, I'd ask a Muslim, not a Jew. If I wanted accurate information on Catholicism, I wouldn't expect my best source to be a Lutheran. That's why I always suggest that people wanting to know what Mormons really believe to ask a Mormon and not get their information from anti-Mormon websites. It isn't necessarily that people intentionally misrepresent what other religions teach (though obviously, some do). It's mostly just a matter of their not being able to see things from the perspective of someone who is part of the faith. I would certainly take my questions on Islam to someone on this forum who could tell me, from a Muslim perspective, what Muslims believe and teach. I hope that eventually your parents will realize that this is the best way to gain accurate knowledge about the path you've chosen and come to respect your choice.

NetDoc said:

You- "Did you know that I worship Satan, eat live chickens, and strangle kittens?"
Friend- "WHHHAAAAATTTTTTTTTT? Really?"
You- "No, not really. I'm a Satanist and we don't do things like that."

You see, if you hit them HARD below the belt first, then they will be soooooo greatful that you DON'T do those things that merely being a Satanist won't seem so bad.

Click to expand...

Oh, that's nothing. Don't you know that Mormons have horns? My dad actually had someone ask to see his horns back when he was a young man (in the 1920s).

My solution:
Invite your friend to visit RF

Ask your friend to join and start to argue with fun, and learn to be broad minded. Then drop the bombshell in any one of the ways suggested in the previous posting in this thread.
One of the ways is sure to work to help you to keep the friendship.

I would start a conversation about religion and bring up Satanism. Then somewhere in the conversation say that I liked what I learned about Satanism and decided to become a Satanist. If my friend didn't approve, I don't know what I would say, but I would hold my ground and hope in the end that they understood and were able to accept.