Quote:
Originally Posted by mistergrinch
Poker ...Satanic..., rewarding ...lying, deceiving, stealing, swindling and intimidating.
As a Satanist poker player, i'd like to evaluate these vis a vis Satanicness:
Intentionally stating falsities (lying) is not specifically rewarded in poker. People react negatively to it all the time and it does not always or consistently net a profitable result in poker games.
Deceiving (bluffing) is evaluated by anti-satanists as specific to the Christian bogey (because it is accused of using this against human beings on a regular basis). Even though it is called "Father of Lies," this is a propaganda without demonstration; one might in fact demonstrate to the contrary in relation to Bible stories with the God lying to its zoo animals. Deception is rewarded in poker fairly consistently.
Stealing (apprehension of capital or goods controlled by others) is not part of poker at all. Players release control by contract and never have it stolen except as part of dramatic presentation. It is not specific to Satanism, but probably moreso to Communism or despotic Totalitarianism (see below this aspect of Christian culture).
Swindling is more commonly associated with fraud than with poker, and is again a misrepresentation of what goes on based on the commonality of the game rules.
Intimidating is not particular to Satanism but is rewarded in poker routinely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistergrinch
In poker, as in life, the most evil and diabolical win, and the weak, the good and the honest are crushed.
Evil isn't appropriate in evaluation of Satanism except insofar as it is juvenilely inverted. Diabolical people are insightful and crafty, so this is rewarded in poker routinely and while it is the aspiration of Satanists to convey brilliant or inspired thought and strategies, it is not reliably demonstrated among those who are Satanists.
The weak are crushed in poker, and in tournament play this takes on a relation to time (entropic crushingness). Satanists are like others in their typical denial of the reality of time, but they never convincingly argue this point to a rational conclusion.
The good and honest are not distanced from Satanism except by anti-Satanists (Christians, Muslims). Poker does not penalize the qualities of benefic and altruistic action at all, but can actually support them within poker contexts. Ultimately, honesty is required by competitive betting, since any player may require a disclosure of hole cards at cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistergrinch
In effect, the pantheon of poker gods consists of all the pre-Christian dark gods, whether they be named Set, Lucifer, Ahriman, Kali, Tezcatlipoca or what have you..
False on its face, because none of these deities are specifically stated to be 'in charge of' gambling and luck. Far better to appeal to Hermes/Mercurcy/Thoth or Lakshmi or Jupiter, or even Fortuna, after whom 'fortune' is named.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistergrinch
...the Black Flame of Satanic genius burns in the minds of the great poker players ... pure Luciferian sorcerers. Poker players like to pretend that they are good guys, that poker is just another game, a harmless activity, but this is a transparent deception played upon the mundanes.
Helpful elitism, even if it is ornamented with Satanist ideological fluff (black flames, sorcerers).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistergrinch
...to the non-Christians, I challenge you to openly declare your allegiance to the Adversary, make offerings to the poker gods and celebrate the sinister genius which they make manifest in you upon the green felt.
I openly declare my alliance with Satan, the Devil, and am doing so in public in PokerVR (as SatanistGMS). I'm routinely sloughing the avatar skin as part of this endeavour and i have only found 1 other player using their 'random avatar' feature, adding deceptive and alarming spice to the game.
In PokerStarsVR (now Vegas Infinite) i have often placed chips before pagan altar props in the game, and sometimes this was taken seriously by the fearful Christian players. The arbiters of the Terms of Service see fit to allow such Satanic spleandour without censure and only true evils (actually cheating, colluding, conducting illegal business there, verbally abusing others, etc.) draw negative consequences.
One might also mention the socioeconomic aspects of (at least some) Christian communards and the finite quality (a la Carse) of some poker play (in tournaments typically one individual is left standing; ultimately promoting a celebration of the ego and individual which is discouraged in much Christian community -- in part this is with what Christians find fault in Satan and Faust as (fictive) characters.
