Son of Mourning II

Updated design, meant to become a tattoo at some point in time.

I have an odd give and take response to Satanism. On a realistic level I don't believe in any sort of invisible world and reject the idea of divinity but regarding the Christian mythos in terms of literature or symbolism, Lucifer strikes me as a tragic figure more than anything else. It's the example of the Old Testament's theme that the punishment for a crime needs to far outweigh the crime itself, and as a result Lucifer's nebulous crime turns him into a straw dog that is single-handedly responsible for all the horrible things that can happen to anyone. False attribution. The line between Lucifer and Satan is hazy enough as it is, nevermind when you factor that Satan itself is a Hebrew word that means "The Accuser" and the question of whether this accuser is supposed to be an actual being (with or against Yahweh), or a symbol for any who oppose or question the doctrine. At any rate, my mind's been made up about this since I was a teenager but the dialogue only really occupies my mind when I spend time around holy proselytizing folk. My childhood in New York was relatively free of any religious dialogue (aside of being accused of heresy in some crazy sunday school program), but my days spent in suburban New Jersey were rife with it. Total strangers became very concerned about my well being when I started wearing pendants and rings, worrying aloud that I must have joined a cult to get these things. After my father died and I started wearing predominantly black clothing, people thought they had to convert me. I was splashed with holy water on a few occasions. My mother took me to her pastor and he and I spoke for a while about death and the afterlife and I walked away with nothing but the "it's part of a cosmic plan" rhetoric. When even the "bad" kids in high school were giving me shit about my immortal soul, going so far as to get the faculty involved, that's when this Lucifer/Satan dialogue began, and the same people who couldn't give me any answers about death were unable to give me any answers about Satan's crime. That's when Christianity became completely useless to me. When I moved back to New York as an adult, I was suddenly no longer subject to any of this bizarre persecution and I was became very calm and neutral about religion. These last seven years spent in the south, however, have sparked that old ire once more.