For Christians or anyone else Interested in Paganism...

The thing that turns a lot of people away from Paganism, is because they believe that you MUST practice a form of witchcraft, or worship other gods/goddesses. This isnt the case, you can believe waht you want to believe, without restriction. If you want to believe in just one God or one Goddess, or believe that there is just one creator in the form of both God and Goddess, then you can. If you dont want to believe in an afterlife, then dont, but if you love the idea of a beautiful green forest and pure Nirvana waiting on you after you die, then by all means, believe it. If you want to believe in reincarnation, in its many forms then do it.

There is no established dogma really, except harm none. That is the awesome-ness, of paganism, believe what you think is true, just dont harm anyone. It really is a spirituality of love.

I was raised christian, but in a different way than most other christians. My dad told me that if I wanted to go to church I could, but that its not going to be all saints like they claim. I have read most of the Bible, and I know that the way modern Christianity is today is NOT the way it was meant to be. MOST(key word most not all) churches are full of greed, envy, and backstabbing for one's personal gain. I am not attacking christianity directly, just stating the facts that some christians will agree on. I am sure Jesus would rather us be barefoot under a grove of oaks talking about how beautiful life is, than dressing up in fake clothes that dont represent who we are, going to somewhere to let someone else tell us how to believe, then tiptoe around all the people making sure you dont speak the way you did last night, around the "christian" folks.

What brought me to paganism is the great respect it puts on nature. I am not just one type of pagan, I have aspects of many different religions including: shamanism, druid, gaian paganism, and some of my own beliefs I have came about with.

The whole purpose of this thread is to explain what Paganism really is. It is not worshipping Satan, most pagans dont even believe in him. Its not about doing magic tricks or anything like that. It is mainly a deep respect and love towards mother Earth and nature, and everything that dwells in it.

If you are Christian and you are interested in Paganism, then I dont see anything that is holding you back, if you want to believe in the bible then there is still a way to incorporate both beliefs, because like I said earlier, you dont have to practice magick, or anything you think is wrong, but you can still hold that deep respect for the earth that I'm sure Jesus would want you to have anyways.

There is so much negativity towards this beautiful spiritual path. It is just people forgetting who they are and where they came from... Eden.

All coments are welcome!

 

This is a beautiful interpretation of paganism. Well done!

 

Thanks, I know there is a FAQ, but I wanted to go a little further with it for everyone, mainly people who have been mislead and know nothing about it.

 

I am a reconstructionist but the truth is the eclectic mix you describe is closer to what our ancesters followed than is sometimes realized. Read, for example, God Against the Gods.'Harm none' isn't even dogma and is not part of my beliefs. 'Harm in moderation' would be closer to the mark for me. If someone threatens my family, I have no problem inflicting harm to protect them and vegetarian or not, I harm to sustain my very life on this planet.

 

"harm none" is not a part of all pagan paths. Not all Pagan sects are nature-based. I'm really not sure "believe whatever you want without restriction" doesn't sound like a good description of Paganism too me. Just my thoughts.

 

I agree "believe what you want without restriction" is a better way of describing Chaos magick than paganism but it is extremely applicable to paganism.

And indeed it works to a far greater extent in many other belief systems than I think we appriciate.

Blessings

Sebbi

 

Well I agree there is a point where you're probably not Pagan, I think we mangle the meanings of words like 'want' and especially 'believe' in our culture, partly because the more narrow minded versions of Christianity insist that belief is a matter of choice.

I don't believe that. I believe that we believe whatever our logic tells us is most, well, logical, that IMHO is what we all want and that is the freedom Paganism, as a fuzzy umbrella term, gives us. If you give people the freedom to believe whatever they want, I'll bet most of them aren't going to become convinced that little green men on Mars are beaming messages into their skulls and run for their aluminum foil hats. I expect most folks will consider a wide range of beliefs and settle on those that resonant with their thinking.

So I have the restrictions I want, IE those which are most intellegible to me personally. I am not eclectic but rather I am Hellenic Pagan. It makes sense to me on a personal note that by studying one articulation of Paganism (in my case, that being Hellenismos), I will get a better understanding than if I grab and snatch helter skelter from all the Ancient Religions I can find.

I compare it to studying one language instead of snatching a few verbs from the Latin, adding a dash of Egyptian hieroglyphics, a few Celtic nouns and some Greek declensions and ending up with a strange hybrid language that no one understands but (hopefully) myself... However, conlangs are popular so it remains a personal choice.

What Paganism does give however is the freedom to think these things out and arrive at our own conclusions. There is no hellfire waiting for the heretic and that ultimately is why I agree with the original post.

 

my take on paganism isn't so much "believe what you want" as it is "believe in what you do/are". my spiritual language is based more on poetic truth rather than literal interpretation of scripture, doctrine, or tradition. what that means is not that i "make it up as i go along", but that i do not separate my spirituality from my creative symbolic journey as an artist. it's a very personal process for me.

but i believe that religion must have some kind of grounding in practical, physical reality - its rituals form a sort of bridge. some ground their religious life in ancestral tradition, ceremony and ritual, or scriptural doctrine. for me, that groundedness is in deep ecology. there's an earthy, practical side that goes along with the airy-fairy artiness, and that is a deep commitment to truly "green" living, moving towards self-sufficiency in harmony with the larger whole that is the "great community" of earth- not just reducing the damage we cause to Gaia, but truly harmonizing with Her.

this of course is also a process. for me, religion & spirituality are about a gradual but steady and uncompromisingly honest development towards wholeness, more than honoring a tradition or deity. to me a "god" or "goddess" is certainly more than just a symbol or psychological archetype, and yet, as i understand them, they are fluid, ever changing, growing and evolving as humanity grows and evolves, in a process of mutual co-creation. and this process too is a part of a still larger whole.

my current boyfriend is christian, btw. anabaptist. even though our religions are different, in a lot of ways our spirituality is something we have in common.

 

oh, and btw, scrap rat...the little green men are not from mars, they're from zork. duh.

 

And our differences appear to be fugitive and more a matter of semantics than anything meaningful. Dang, just when you thought a good debate was starting

 

I'll be a pagan to, as long as it doesn't contradict with the Bible.

 

jesusdiedforu,
i haven't read any of your posts lately, but from what i remember, obviously you believe that what works best for you is christian faith based on literal scriptural interpretation. while a lot of people in this forum may disagree with you on many points both spiritual and religious, it's nonetheless clear that that's what you're comfortable and happy with, so there's no need for you to "be a pagan", unless your heart is drawn in that direction. and if it was, you'd know. we don't seek converts, and in fact, we acknowledge that how we view the world in only one way of doing so and doesn't work for everyone. we're a very "live and let live" kind of people. so you just keep being you, be the best christian you can, in the way you feel is the way you should.

i think what the original poster was trying to point out was that the two paths (christian and pagan) are not necessarily in conflict, that we can peacefully coexist and learn from each other, and that those who are drawn to both paths, or who have been raised one way and are curious about another need not be afraid to combine paths, or at least explore and learn. i suppose the same would be true for people raised pagan who are drawn towards christianity or another faith.

really, i see most religions as not being in conflict, but as languages to help us communicate with and understand the Greater Whole. (although i think it's a bit of an over-simplistic leap to say that "all religions are one", which is why i'm not unitarian-universalist.)

 

well, we can debate about the little green men if you want.

i've stated my understanding of the truth about the "invasion" from zork in another thread in the personal forums. we of zork are really neither aliens, nor invaders. we are the true earthlings, here to liberate our world before its dumbass "leaders" can fuck it up any more. we are taking our planet back now. we will not be assimilated. resilience is fertile.

 

I understand that you want ALL religions to be right (it is the politically correct) but it just does not work that way most religions conflict and contradict each other. Ultimately there is only one way or no way. Jesus claims he was the only way. So saying that there is another way condradicts to what he says. You see?

 

I for one don't think all religions are right; I think all people should be free to believe as they see fit and I think the Sacred involves itself in our lives regardless of how we frame it, but that, as you point out, is not exactly the same thing. I also entertain the notion that no one religion is right about everything or wrong about everything. And even the Christians can't agree with exactly what Jesus did or didnot supposedly say or there wouldn't a plethora of Christain denominations about. Look at the writings of Origen, Arionism, Marcionism and Catharism for some radical views of Christianity.

 

I like the points you all have made.

I can see Christ and paganismism coexist.

If I am asked what religion or spiritual path I am on, I will say Paganism, I pray to Christ, but I have pagan rituals that I perform.

Ever heard of that old sect of christianity that is very pagan, I forget the name of it... anyone know?

I found out today my Great-Great Grandpa was a Cherokee Medicine man.

 

Have you ever been born again?

 

Born again? as where I go up to the alter and ask the pastor to make a prayer with me, and all that jazz? No... I dont go to church.

I dont know 100% exactly what it means in there to be born again, maybe its talking about reincarnation... I dont know...

 

jesusdiedforu,
we welcome you to these forums if you are going to respectfully contribute to debate, but please remember this is the pagan forum and proseletyzing is not welcome here. we respecct you the way you are, and have no intent to change you. please show us the same respect in our own forum.

 

Ultimately, it is up to a person to make the decision of what they believe. The post is about Christianity. My goal here is to clear up the misconceptions if a bi-product of that is that someone wants to look into the faith of Christ more deeply so be it. Again it is up to that person to make that choice. I believe both sides can learn each others worldview and broaden their own worldview by debating.