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PandoraYoungArt — Mephistopheles
#devil #halo #pearl #goldleaf #lucifer #nosering #oilpainting #painting #satan #septumpiercing #septumring
Published: 2015-01-09 15:48:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 2867; Favourites: 99; Downloads: 50
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As an atheist, I have become fascinated with the Christian institution of Satan. The Devil, Lucifer, the Morning Star, Mephistopheles. Just imagining it. A singularity of all ostentation and lust and pleasure. Moreso, I think about the crimes attributed this personage; temptation to consider socially forbidden ideas and practices, the doubting of dogma, the brokering of the rejection of established custom for something new, and maybe better. I think about all that is welcomed by them, free love, free thought, questioning, innovation, creativity, diversity, alternatives, and apostasy, music, dancing, food, fucking, orgies, and unincriminated enjoyment of the body, the mind, the fruits of life, and the Earthly world. And finally, I think of all those sent to them, and who are accepted in their domain, lesbians, gays, trangendereds, scientists, inventors, animals, literally anyone from any religion outside the Abrahamic traditions, potentially anyone from within them, and the Rolling Stones.
Truly, there is evil in this world. But it comes from a lack of empathy, which I hold to be a verb. I say all this, again, as an atheist. But my reading has been that Satan is tolerant, accepting, open minded, free thinking, and undiscriminating. Pondering at the case as objectively as I can, I wonder if Satan might not be a highly representative and venerable exemplar of the values we in the modern day hold the very dearest.
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Comments: 16
She mesmerises me. I cant stop looking at her... extremely well done!
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Thank you! I'm really pleased you like it!
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Oh that very, very naughty Mephistopheles, here so vibrantly depicted as the Mistress of our deepest desires. How readily she appears willing to become the incarnation of all those internalized indiscretions that we crave finding plausible deniability demoness to ask us out on the town to go on a runner with. Was she born for the roll, or do we custom build her to fit our own specification when looking for a proxy of our personal perversions so we can look into the mirror at purity.
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Is it just me or does the devil look a little like Megan Fox?
Anyway, it is a cool piece and it's made even cooler by your ponderings about the nature of Satan.
I allways appreciate, being presented with a point of view, that i have not considered myself before.
Especially when it's such an intriguing one.
Since you have such an interest in reading about Christianity, i have a book recomandation that may or may not interest you: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
I am an atheist myself and while i am somewhat interested in religion in general, i am more antagonistic towards it.
Anyway. I enjoyed the book and maybe you will too. Or not.
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Oh absolutely! Dawkins is classic!! I read a lot about it actually, being raised completely outside religion I have to admit it kind of fascinates me! I read a lot about atheism, too. I'm a person who puts a lot of weight on reason and logic, so I like hearing Dawkins' salient thoughts. He can be a little bitchy, but he makes good points!! If you ever think of any other titles be sure to let me know, a painting might come of it!
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... and the Rolling stones. 
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I think you may have got it a TEENSY bit wrong, uh... Don't mistake me for a crazy Bible-basher, but actually the point is that everyone goes to heaven except for those who've "sinned." Technically, sinning is a purposeful wrongdoing, so there's no way animals are doomed to hell. They just aren't. And the Bible never says this anywhere, man. With this, we can also disregard LGBT people (I mean, seriously, wouldn't God have made them like that anyway? How thick would he be to hate them?) scientists, (There's nothing wrong with science, if we assume God is real for a sec, surely there's nothing to be feared about science disproving Christianity) and the Rolling Stones (I get that that was intended for humour, but, seriously, where in the Bible does it say that loud music is bad?).
It isn't Christianity that puts these values in place, it's the Christians. (oh, and I'm sure you know this, but since Satan was an Old Testament thing, that makes the concept a Jewish thing, not specifically Christian.) The type of people who wish to enter into the religion (any religion) and become so high in the ranks that they get to make the rules is probably going to be the type of person who wishes to impose rules upon others.
Aw crap, I just wrote a wall of text on religion! Tons of people are gonna argue with me now...
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Hey I'm glad an image can start a conversation.
I'm gonna have to differ with you on one point though and that's on the original of Satan. In fact Satan is predominantly a New Testament thing, and the character really came into sharper focus after Christ, not before. It was an excellent device to have, a foil against which to contract and therefor amplify Christs' message, literally 'anti-Christ.' As the figure a more popular part of the culture contemporaries began to attribute antagonistic passages from the Old Testament to them. The word 'satan' in Herbrew simply means 'enemy,' and first appears in Numbers 22:21 with a man chastises his donkey. He is really an interpretational amalgam of many different elements. We can't peg Satan to the Jews.
I base this on readings such as 'Lost Christianities: The Battles of Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew' and 'The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon' by Bart Ehrman and 'The Origin of Satan' by Elaine Pagels, among others.
I'm not too much of a stickler for the dogma as Christians can't even agree upon the principals themselves, and that doesn't even take into account the myriad extinct branches, like the Gnostics, and dozens of books of apocrypha, Infancy Gospel of James, Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Third Letter to Corinthians, whatever. What I'm more interested in is the relationship; what those various interpretations are, what policies and outlooks they inform and especially those we've come to disagree with, and how they've precipitated into people's lives.
I'm really glad you're the kind of person to accept and embrace all those mentioned above, but I simply cannot agree for all the stuff written there in black and white that the god appearing in the Bible feels the same. In fact the Gnostic tradition was inspired in large part by the dissonance between the god they read about, who brought such horrible violence and suffering, and the one they believed in, the one Jesus talked about, who loved. And I do think Christianity, and not just Christians, place those values. Leviticus 20:13, "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them." Have a hundred more. www.openbible.info/topics/sodo…
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Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I'm not mad or anything, I just don't want to start a long conversation. I don't really like talking about religion anyway. *shrugs*
Oh, and Leviticus isn't technically Christianity.
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Incredible work by the way. Forgot to mention that.
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In your postulations about Satan, you should watch (if you haven't already seen it) Devil's Advocate (1997) in which the devil played by Al Pacino states, "I'm a humanist!" youtu.be/RGR4SFOimlk
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Oh my god that sounds right up my alley! I don't know how I haven't seen it before! Thank you for the recommendation!!
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You're very welcome.
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Oh my gosh, Pan, this is amazing! You are so truly talented that I can't even begin to tell you what I love about this. I aspire to be at your level of artistry, always have and always will! I look forward to seeing so much more <3
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