Rules and Satanism

Someone asked me something interesting about Satanism today. There was this wiccan girl who saw a contradiction between the Satanist's disdain of rules and the 11 rules of the Earth. I explained it to her, but I liked my answer so much I decided to share it here.

So, yeah. Satanists have rules. There are the 11 rules of the Earth, which I will list:

1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
3. When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there.
4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
9. Do not harm little children.
10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.

So, does a Satanist completely adhere to these rules? Yes and no. See it like this: You are supposed to stop for a red traffic light. That's a rule. But, the world is not going to end if you run the light. If you do run that light, you are totally responsible and should not complain if you get busted and get cited, or when someone t-bones you. On the other hand, you can also stop for the light. But you can also run the light if the streets are really quiet and when there are no cops around.

I know, it's a silly metaphor,  but it makes a point.