Church Question

[GoldenEarring]

Good morning everybody! Just a quick question.

My name is Kim and I love your forum. I've been an avid reader the past few weeks. Not until now has an important question come upon me to ask though. I have a son in the teens and we share a computer at home with the rest of the family. One day I noticed my computer history had the official Church of Satan website on it.:eek: I don't know why my computer didn't block that site and I didn't say anything. It had to have been my son based on the time and after a few days I noticed he returned several times to view some of the documents. I brought up the topic and says there is freedom of religion in this country and it's only $200 and a series of questions to join. I'm just wondering in general how other LDS members view the Church of Satan? :confused: It's at www.churchofsatan.com Thank you very much for any opinions! :)

[Queen_Celeste]

Well, I understand your concern. If my daughter was looking at those sites I would probably question her on it. Its normal for people to be curious. I imagine he ran across someone at school with some affiliation with Satan worship and looked into it. Or he might have even run across Anton LaVey's name and found his connection to the group. (LaVey is the founder).

I would suggest you pray about it and bring it up to your son. If you are still concerned or scared, talk with your bishop. He will likely give you great insight and counsel (thats what bishops do and thats why we love them).

[HiJolly]

Good morning everybody! Just a quick question.

My name is Kim and I love your forum. I've been an avid reader the past few weeks. Not until now has an important question come upon me to ask though. I have a son in the teens and we share a computer at home with the rest of the family. One day I noticed my computer history had the official Church of Satan website on it.:eek: I don't know why my computer didn't block that site and I didn't say anything. It had to have been my son based on the time and after a few days I noticed he returned several times to view some of the documents. I brought up the topic and says there is freedom of religion in this country and it's only $200 and a series of questions to join. I'm just wondering in general how other LDS members view the Church of Satan? :confused: It's at www.churchofsatan.com Thank you very much for any opinions! :)

I remember visiting that site probably over 5 years ago. My take on it was, these are people who want to shake up and shock other people. That's the site where LeVey is the original founder, right? Anyway, they do have some truths there about human nature (the natural man) but I found it too self-centered and manipulative to be a place I would visit more than once or twice.

Being immersed in the Church as we are, sometimes its nice to be able to contrast our teachings and view with something else. This site left me glad I'm LDS.

HiJolly

[the_jason]

I sometimes check out sites of other churches, as well as anti-mormon sites. I have no intention of joining, but rather to more fully appreciate the gospel and the blessings I've received. I don't believe it's wrong to investigate other religions. It allows us to be more open minded and to better relate to those who investigate our church. Sometimes we get too focused on our own little LDS box that we forget there are people outside the box.

That being said, there's no way I'm allowing my kids to pay $200 to join any kind of website. It's a ridiculous waste of time and money.

[a-train]

Let them worship how, where, or what they may. I have little fear of the event my child runs into something like this. If they reject the light and truth of God's message for the darkness of this world, it will not be because they stumbled on this foolish website, it will be the pride in their own heart that will cause such a fall. Our children can be just as likely to be tempted to fall away by the victoria's secret website, but you won't find me wasting time trying to get rid of it.

-a-train

[NeuroTypical]

I'm just wondering in general how other LDS members view the Church of Satan?

I've never bothered forming an opinion about them. If I should ever happen to meet a member, I'd enjoy taking the opportunity to see what makes them tick.

I've heard that satanists are more along the lines of the "Make sure you get paid and don't be a dupe" stripe then the sacrifice goats and drink blood stripe, but again, I've never met one, so I can't say.

LM

[Evandr]

I would be concerned about any child with a history of visiting such a website but my response would not be hysterical, that would only drive a child away. My response would be to respect the child's intelligence, get down and communicate with them on their level discussing the website and then listening to them. One of the greatest failings that parents have is to believe that a young person has nothing important to say and that is just not true.

It is important that you be the guardian of the child and set standards by which they are compelled to live while under your care but before a child can accept your guidelines it will be important that they have a personal relationship with you centered around mutual love and respect and that they understand why you have set standards. If you are successful your child will want to listen to you and follow your example. The old "Yours is not to reason why" attitude is extremely counter productive.

Before you can establish a credible set of standards you must live them yourself. Never ask a child to do what you are not willing to do yourself. Make sure that you have a personal relationship with both the child and our Heavenly Father and sue for His help through constant scripture study and personal prayer; you can have no better partner in you goals concerning the character development of your children.

Please realize that as your child grows the tethers of control gradually become tethers of influence and the process starts early on and therefore so should you. You must keep that reality in mind when interacting with a child; you must establish mutual respect with them in order for your influence to be maintained on a long-term basis.

[pam]

Extremely wise words Evandr. :)

[Evandr]

Pam

I appreciate your kind words of compliment. During my youth I was somewhat of an outcast, I had few social skills and therefore was very sensitive to what it was I was missing (in many cases it turned out that I only thought I was missing something), both from my peers as well as at home. I was the second of ten children and both of my parents had to work. We were not very well off. I had lots of time to contemplate the meaning of life while my older brother and I did most of the raising of our siblings.

It's funny though, through these trials the Lord has made me stronger than I might have been and I will always be eternally grateful to him for that. I am happily married (23 years now) to Yolanda. I have two grown sons in whom I am extremely proud. One is on a mission in the Macon, Georgia Mission and I am a good friend with the other who is married to a wonderful girl and comes to his dad when he needs guidance or advice. That's the way it should be.

Anyhow, writing is a passion for me, especially about the gospel and social issues, I believe writing is one of the gifts my Heavenly Father has given me. I have the privilege of writing a guest column on LDS gospel subjects in the local newspaper every so often. I tend to get long winded sometimes but I do occasionally have some insight that helps others so I keep on tapping away at this old keyboard. If you would like to see some of my work or perhaps visit my forum you may do so at Faith and Evidence

Thanks again

Evan Rowell

[Guest JLHyde]

I sometimes check out sites of other churches, as well as anti-mormon sites. I have no intention of joining, but rather to more fully appreciate the gospel and the blessings I've received. I don't believe it's wrong to investigate other religions. It allows us to be more open minded and to better relate to those who investigate our church. Sometimes we get too focused on our own little LDS box that we forget there are people outside the box.

That being said, there's no way I'm allowing my kids to pay $200 to join any kind of website. It's a ridiculous waste of time and money.

________________

Yeah. And, what a boring world it would be if everybody outside the box were pushed...er, "guided" to get into the "little box". Wait! That is the mission of the Church!

[Guest JLHyde]

Extremely wise words Evandr. :)

____________________

I especially liked Bob Hope's 1930s and '40s movies!

He had a hard time dying, he was so full of life!

(He will continue to be sorely missed)

Bob Hope was a source of "hope" to those in uniform, through the USO, in Europe, during the Second World War. God bless his memory.

P.S: Bob Hope was Jewish (and a better man cannot be found...unless you like Boyd K. Packer a lot, I mean:lol:)

[Evandr]

____________________

I especially liked Bob Hope's 1930s and '40s movies!

He had a hard time dying, he was so full of life!

(He will continue to be sorely missed)

Bob Hope was a source of "hope" to those in uniform, through the USO, in Europe, during the Second World War. God bless his memory.

P.S: Bob Hope was Jewish (and a better man cannot be found...unless you like Boyd K. Packer a lot, I mean:lol:)

I too loved to watch Bob Hope with others like Bing Crosby, Fred Astair, Danny Kay and others, I could always count on them for a good laugh. The media always portrayed Bob Hope as a man with high moral standards but, unfortunately, it was not so.

Mr. Hope was a guest the "Stadium of Fire" 4th of July celebration at Lavel Edwards stadium on BYU's campus in Provo, Utah many years ago. The programs are put together by the Osmond Family (of Donny and Marie fame). Reports have it that prior to the show Mr. Hope had to be cautioned about the fact that there would be a large contingent of Mormons in the audience after which Mr. Hope got indignant and proclaimed "I know how to put on a show".

My wife’s aunt lives next to the stadium and wondered what all the Booing’ was about. She informed me that Mr. Hope went on to display a monolog that was filled with foul language and immoral insinuation after which the Osmond family felt compelled to issue a formal apology to the people in Provo and the surrounding area. To the best of my knowledge, it was the last time Mr. Hope was ever invited to any such function in Utah.

I was dumbfounded, I always considered Hope to be part of the legendary group of Hollywood entertainers that held high standards. It seems I was wrong.