Well, I'm an electic Neo-Pagan. I collect things from various Pagan religions I identify with, make my own interpretations of them, and go with that. I feel very comfortable in doing this as I don't have to stick to any set rules. It feels like I actually believe in it.
I don't do ceremony very often. I mostly just believe in stuff, but I intend to start doing things again soon.
I believe I am a child of Lady Gaia. She is my matron Goddess. I can "communicate" with her through very archaic psychic impulses(since i'm not really much of a psychic) which my mind translates into rough equivillents of the english language. Because I can only translate concepts, it's very rare that I can be told something very direct and specific that I didn't already know on some level and just needed pointing to, though it does sometimes happen.
If you think I'm nuts, you're probably right. But I still think that's what I'm doing on some level. I've seen a lot of strange things and felt even stranger ones that have convinced me enough.
The other Gods, whom have statues on my altar are Aphrodite, Bast, Anubis, Odin and also Khali. I also have ties with Aíne, a celtic Goddess, as well as a few others, though most of my interest lies within Greek and Egyptian themes.
They all treat me differently. Anubis is quite and doesn't talk much. Aphrodite is flirty, bubbly and giggly. Bast is... kind of dark and strange and hard to describe, and very cat-like. Watches from a distance.
Odin is a little more hard graft, something which I don't normally like but recognise is necessary. He encourages me to learn and question myself instead of questioning him.
I've never communicated with Khali, she mainly ended up on my altar because I quite liked Indian mythology and she was the one I most recognised with..
Gaia is the one I'm closest to and have had direct visions of. She is very friendly and mothering, and worries a lot. She looks kind of like a green haired hippie chick you dug up at the bottom of the garden and spent a few days making shiny and clean.
I also have a kind of spirit guide/fairy shaped thing called Violet. Except I kind of created her. It's complicated. But basically I somehow managed to create an alternate personality that buzzes around my head without it harming my overall sanity, though I'm not telling my shrink about that.
Anyway, I've been wanting to tear this apart for a while:
Didymus wrote:
St. Paul wrote:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
That's why it was necessary.
Oh, and as for the murder of one man, the mentality is still the same. The high priest believed that by killing Jesus, he could completely eliminate all of his followers (cut off the head, the rest dies). It was an act if injustice designed to eliminate a whole religious movement.
And you've still missed the whole point: you cannot blame modern people for things that happened in history. If your grandfather committed murder, should you be forced to rot in jail for it?
Quote:
Tell me the difference between our God and the gods of paganism.
That one's pretty easy: the God of Scripture is real, and the gods of paganism aren't. Or how about this: the God of Scripture created ALL THINGS, not just this thing or that thing. Zeus is god of the sky only, but the God of Scripture created heaven AND earth. Thor was god of thunder only, but the God of Scripture is God of the wind, mountains, and sea. As Tolkien once argued, the pagan gods are nothing but pale reflections of the One True God. So why should we be content with worshipping shadows?
I know this is going waaay back, but some of you wonder why I'm a little bit "vengeful" around Didymus and this is one of the reasons why. I ran across this "gem" when I first joined and I've been meaning.
The question was asked in a neutral sense, yet he essentially stated his opinion as fact. My God is real, those ones aren't.
If we're going for realism here; the "old" Gods acted far more like real sentient beings who had strong ties with humans.
Let's look at it this way.
Who is cooler, Superman or the X-men?
Superman, at least before he "died", was almost unstoppable. He probably could have squashed most of the X-men's enemies. All he had was his Kryponite. A single weakness that was hardly a weakness. In reality, most villians would never get their hands on it. Kryponite is to Super-man as Satan is to God. But he doesn't have any *real* weaknesses, no human ones. Super-man is still very much an "all in one" Super Hero.
Which is more popular these days, and more relevant?
The X-men. Unlike Superman, they all have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Beast is strong and smart, but stands out like a sore thumb. Rouge can absorb powers, but can't kiss because of it. Wolverine is a great fighter, but can also be mean and nasty.
Jean Grey is a powerful psychic, but is married to Cyclops.
Just like Thor was a womaniser(his hammer gets bigger if you stroke it, you know) even though he was also a great and powerful God, Odin was knowledgable but had to loose his eye to gain that knowledge, Gaia was an all loving earth mother who engaged in incest and created some of the most bizarre monsters, and Zeus was strong and noble but also far too masculine and war-like.
If you read mythology, it's not very black and white. The Bible is. In my opinion, while Christianity is a nice religion in itself, I wish that people didn't take it as the absolute truth. I've never understood the "Because it says it is" argument.
Mythology is a lot like comic books actually, where you have "Not entirely evil" villians like the Green Goblin or Magneto, dubious characters like Punisher and the Venom, self proclaimed heroes, and the "real" heroes who make mistakes too.
That's HUMAN. And more than likely, any bizarre cosmic forces or psychic projections that take an interest in humans, are probably able to relate to them.
The world in many ways is returning to polytheistic ideals, and I think such seemingly trite that properties like the X-men being more popular than properties like Super-man shows this.
The X-men are shadows. Yet most people today, and pretty much since the 90s, have been content with worshipping them that teeny little bit more than Superman.
Worst comes to worse, the Pagan gods exist because people believed in them so much their souls literally created them. Personally, I think it's in between; they always existed in a sense, but we fine tuned their identities, gave them roles to step into. They are intelligent beings, like us, that influenced our world in a positive manner through the creative members of their societies.
Mythology is just that - myths. Just like if you wrote a story about some guy. But what if the characters were real, and just the stories were fake? What if it mythology was just one big promo for a psychic entity that thought it would be pretty cool to be a guy who can shoot thunderbolts? What if the Bible is no different?
You never know.
Log in
Wiki
FAQ
Search
.
.
