Take it as You Will..
As my slightly masochistic tendencies in the realm of religion have led me, I've come across a lot of articles that attack Paganism of all stripes both outright and passive aggressively. But one caught my eye the most, it is titled A Challenge to Pagans and those into Wicca, Polytheism and Nature Worship Religions by Michael, that was the only name available. I had clicked the link not really sure what to expect, these things aren't always as they seem.
What I found was a Christian attempting to interpret and explain Pagan beliefs in a bid for converting Pagans of all kinds to Christianity with their own brand of logic. And I've decided to make an attempt at a rebuttal by writing the essay from the point of view of a Pagan trying to get Christians to just relax on the whole converting thing. It was actually a little fun.
A Challenge for Christians when it Comes to Understanding Pagans
I understand that Christianity has a long history and appears to have a strong hold over the way the world works today. There are many sects Catholics, Pentecostal, Lutheran, and Methodist are only a few. You all seem to think your efforts of conversion are saving so many souls from a foreseen destruction that has not yet arrived despite the many, many times people have claimed it has been upon us. You may distrust Paganism of all stripes for many reasons, you're taught that anything outside Christianity is influenced by a being called Satan, or the Devil or that Pagans perform terrible animal or human sacrifices at every ritual.
Christians are monotheist(a belief in one and only one god figure). As a Christian you probably believe that the Divine is only above you, or that he touches you but does not necessarily dwell within you all the time.
Some Assumptions
1. Points we may have in common.
a. We believe in a spiritual reality as well as a physical one. These two may not necessarily be parallel, but they exist on different planes. Many people in this world are finding themselves spiritually lacking and are searching for some way to find or be otherwise presented with a Path to spiritual wholeness. But more and more people are going through the human re-discovery of how to connect with the Divine on a personal level without needing someone to mediate for them. A personal experience with the Divine is greater than any speech given by any man or woman at a pulpit.
b. We believe it is our responsibility to care for the environment. As a Pagan I believe that the Goddess and God guide us through the natural world and offer up it's fruits as well as warn us of it's dangers. In my views it's terrible to waste what can be saved or subdue what should remain wild. A Navajo prophecy warns the modern world that only after the last of our resources are used up will we realize that money cannot be eaten.
The very fact that Nature is so easily disrupted speaks of the importance in keeping it whole. Nature is older and wiser than any human, because we are young on this planet. The environment holds mysteries and keys to our survival in so many ways, from the practical of medical and agricultural resources to the spiritual knowledge of how much cycles and rhythms impact our lives.
The basic error is to assume that only one view of the world is correct. There are so many different ways to view a ray of light, from the color spectrum our human eyes pick up to the ultra violet perceptions of bees. Neither view is incorrect, light will remain light no matter what eyes see it, but the differences in perception impact the reality of the viewer.
The Gods have been answering prayers for as long as Humans have been looking towards them for answers. Whether you like it or not we have a cultural history that predates your religion. Human history reaches back so many thousands of years that for us to even attempt to understand those first few assumptions of how the world worked are futile and removed. I only hope that on the day that we all die we are finally shown the Truth of our lives, and if we are not, then I hope we each are instead given the chance to search further into the depths to discover that Truth.
c. Spiritual leaders should not seek political influence. In the past a leaders spiritual guides have been important, but mixing the two too closely together have more often led to disaster after enjoying a short moment of success. Your historical churches have gone through the heart breaking cycle of abusing political and spiritual power over and over without really learning their lesson. They have used both a sword of steel as well as a sword of words and intent to do damage, both are deadly and should be wielded with caution by an experienced hand that can tell the difference between a just cause and a wild agenda.
Truly a good Pagan does not randomly throw themselves into the fray to defend their faith for the sake of a little argument. A lot of misconceptions have erupted between Christians and Pagans, and we like to think our mission is to spread knowledge and understanding, not enforce a personal or petty judgment. Many people in the past were tortured and killed by religious fanaticism. What some will refer to as the 'Burning Times' has been well looked at revealing that not only Witches but heretics, enemies of the state or church and people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and more were burned or killed by those responsible during the Inquisition.
Many Pagans come from a Christian background and while they could have turned their back on the Divine for many reasons, they have instead decided to search for a different Path towards spiritual awareness. To many, like me, the Christian tenets have failed to fulfill what our souls thirst for, and while they may be fine for you as a Christian, we need a different kind of connection. Depending on the Pagan you speak with, your god is but one way to see the Divine. Others will say that your god is but one individual among many or that he does not exist at all. As a Christian you expect there to be only one god and for the world to eventually come to an end where you, the righteous, will be saved. Pagans see the world as a vast array of cycles, there will be no strict end to the world, but the finishing of a cycle that will give rise to another, but the time involved is too vast for us to fully understand. So as physical creatures we content ourselves with the smaller cycles inside the larger.
As for what is known as witchcraft and other magical arts, the caster is repaid for each deed by the forces they use. A 'rule of three' is found among many Pagans, especially among Wiccans. What you send out comes back times three, curses and negative works included as well as beneficial and positive ones. I only hope that those who choose to perform negative acts and magics are prepared for the consequences of their actions.
WHAT ARE SOME PAGAN BELIEFS?
Pagans seek a Path towards the Divine that is fitted in a way that benefits their lives and souls. Some still do look towards the Christian bible for direction and count the Christian god among their pantheons or as one of their spiritual guides. But most do not. We do not believe in Satan or the Devil, many do not even give a face to negative forces. There are names of many gods and other spiritual beings in many forms of Paganism that embody some negative traits but they often embody many different things, not simply 'good' or 'evil'. Though to be fair, some Pagans do believe in truly 'evil' and/or truly 'good' forces, Christians are not alone in this way of thinking. To speak more personally on the topic I have The Goddess and The God, both of which encompass the whole range from dark to light, the peaceful and the tormented, just as there are fair days, so too are there stormy.
What one must keep in mind though is that just like there are many different sects of Christianity, especially in the USA, there are many different forms of Paganism. To assume any one thing of a group can lead to folly, so each person, no matter what side of the fence they are on, has the responsibility of discerning with a careful eye what should be counted as a generalization and what should be counted as part of a specific tradition.
Many Christians find Pagans and their pursuits evil and devil worshipers by their very nature. That they are only interested in corrupting the world and corrupting a good Christians faith. Others simply state that these gods don't exist, so we Pagans are only speaking to the air and not any Divine force.
To them I say that the Truth is an integrated part of your personal perception. The Truth can appear in different ways to different people and as such it should be approached with all due caution. Like I pointed out earlier, just because there are many ways to view something doesn't mean that any one of them is the real way to do it. The abolishment of most forms of magical crafts in your religion were probably mostly political in order to separate the ancient culture you've built on from it's neighbors. Only a god of arrogance would ever give it's creation free will then punish it for using the very tool it was gifted with.
For many Christians the belief in a single god has led them to try and inspire others to believe as they do. Cutting down the perception of the Divine into a singularity imposes a view that there is only one way to live. Which is difficult to understand seeing as how Christianity is split up into many pieces rather than the single, uniform Path it tries to imply. How can any Christian expect to be believed that their Path is the One True Way if they are on one of many roads that claim the same god?
All people have reasons for their beliefs. Christians view their religion as the first religion. But there are historical findings that tell of older cultures with different forms of religion that pre-date Christianity as a whole and even go as far as to be older than the Hebrew foundations they stand on.
ARE THERE PROBLEMS WITH PAGAN BELIEFS?
Christians ask how a Pagan can be sure the gods they speak with are telling the Truth.
I ask, how are they so certain their god has spoken the Truth?
Each spiritual connection must be different from person to person. To assume that one persons experience is somehow less or evil compared to another is purely ridiculous. Personally I don't just feel my connection to The God or Goddess during or directly after ritual, but it persists during the day when I'm out in the open or even when I have a calm moment after a hectic time at work. The things a Pagan asks of their god/s varies as much as what any Christian asks of their one god. Asking only for material things by a Pagan or a Christian can lead towards a sensation that lacks spirituality after a time. But those who ask for things that are spiritual, like the strength to face a coming challenge or who use ritual to connect with creative or intuitive forces in their own mind, find more and more spiritual power to be had.
Does a prayer to the Christian god necessarily mean it will come true? Does faith in him mean all your life has been easy or fruitful? Have all of your prayers as a Christian come true? No? Well then, I'd have to mention that you are not alone. Not all prayers from Pagans come true, like you we can tend to think the gods have their own plans and they don't always coincide with our mortal wants and whims. Just because a prayer to a god does not come true does not mean the god prayed to was a false one, or that it was not there at all, if that was the case, then you should be questioning your god more than anything.
We all are equally faced with the possibility of being mislead. But Christianity has the added effect of there being a terrible consequence to being wrong. A Pagan who sees all gods as part of the same Divine does not have that hanging over their head and sees the world after death as a place we all go, or perhaps multiple places that we go by virtue of our own Paths. There isn't a 'hell' to be afraid of, but the possibility of needing to be born again to better learn the lessons life is there to teach us.
One does not have to believe in something for it to be true, but a Christians belief in a single god is subject to the same questions of reality. The Judeo Christian god is just as likely to be a false god as any other god. But to believe in only the Devine, in whatever way it or they chose to manifest themselves is the only option left to us humans who have no true way to telling what is what in matters of the metaphysical. We must listen to our own hearts, not the wills and laws of people who are no longer alive and who's cultures are so removed from our own, and instead hold true to what we feel is a Path that leads us the best in the modern world.
Many Christians believe that you must have faith in the life of a man named Jesus and that he is the son of god who sacrificed himself to cleanse humanity of sin. Jesus's own remarks that he is the way and that only through him shall heaven be obtained. If that is so, then why not let Jesus be the one who judges who has the greatest of hearts that are worthy of heaven? Why do some Christians feel that it is their place to hand down the judgment they claim is the rightful decision of Jesus? That is not showing humility at all, which is supposed to be a tenant of the Christian religion.
To many Pagans, Jesus is an admirable figure. I myself see him as a wonderful example of how far humans can go when their heart leads in the direction of doing the most good and the least harm. The nature of his character was gentle when it needed to be. Not many Pagans I've met will claim that Jesus was a son of any god, but more a mortal speaking out against a corrupt system, a man who had an open heart and a sense of good judgment. Unfortunately I also feel that the part he played back in his time has been warped and changed over the years and now millennia. The ultimate message of his life has been lost and contorted beyond reason, making him less a symbol of what a normal man can attain to be a good soul and more a tool for oppressing and dehumanizing others.
If Jesus sacrificed himself so that we may be without sin, then living our lives in a way that is true to our heart would surely please him. What good is a sacrifice if those you made it for carry out activities that bring them not joy and no closer to god? What good is it if they let themselves carry on a Path that leads them no where spiritually and even goes so far as to stunt their happiness, their joys and their lives?
Who is a Christian to judge that my heart is not one that Jesus would approve of? I follow the guidance given by the threefold law, that all things I do come back to my times three. My ill actions an my good alike, and even with that notion over my head I do not perform good acts in order to reap the rewards from them. I do them because they are part of what my heart tells me to do, to do the least harm to others.
Perhaps it is not to late for some Christians to take a moment and consider that their god is supposed to be the supreme judge, not them. And if he is truly the one and only god then will surly be wise enough to discern who is the most worthy to attain heaven.
I wish peace and understanding to any who read this and hope for the seeds of both to be planted in those that dismiss me regardless.
What I found was a Christian attempting to interpret and explain Pagan beliefs in a bid for converting Pagans of all kinds to Christianity with their own brand of logic. And I've decided to make an attempt at a rebuttal by writing the essay from the point of view of a Pagan trying to get Christians to just relax on the whole converting thing. It was actually a little fun.
A Challenge for Christians when it Comes to Understanding Pagans
I understand that Christianity has a long history and appears to have a strong hold over the way the world works today. There are many sects Catholics, Pentecostal, Lutheran, and Methodist are only a few. You all seem to think your efforts of conversion are saving so many souls from a foreseen destruction that has not yet arrived despite the many, many times people have claimed it has been upon us. You may distrust Paganism of all stripes for many reasons, you're taught that anything outside Christianity is influenced by a being called Satan, or the Devil or that Pagans perform terrible animal or human sacrifices at every ritual.
Christians are monotheist(a belief in one and only one god figure). As a Christian you probably believe that the Divine is only above you, or that he touches you but does not necessarily dwell within you all the time.
Some Assumptions
1. Points we may have in common.
a. We believe in a spiritual reality as well as a physical one. These two may not necessarily be parallel, but they exist on different planes. Many people in this world are finding themselves spiritually lacking and are searching for some way to find or be otherwise presented with a Path to spiritual wholeness. But more and more people are going through the human re-discovery of how to connect with the Divine on a personal level without needing someone to mediate for them. A personal experience with the Divine is greater than any speech given by any man or woman at a pulpit.
b. We believe it is our responsibility to care for the environment. As a Pagan I believe that the Goddess and God guide us through the natural world and offer up it's fruits as well as warn us of it's dangers. In my views it's terrible to waste what can be saved or subdue what should remain wild. A Navajo prophecy warns the modern world that only after the last of our resources are used up will we realize that money cannot be eaten.
The very fact that Nature is so easily disrupted speaks of the importance in keeping it whole. Nature is older and wiser than any human, because we are young on this planet. The environment holds mysteries and keys to our survival in so many ways, from the practical of medical and agricultural resources to the spiritual knowledge of how much cycles and rhythms impact our lives.
The basic error is to assume that only one view of the world is correct. There are so many different ways to view a ray of light, from the color spectrum our human eyes pick up to the ultra violet perceptions of bees. Neither view is incorrect, light will remain light no matter what eyes see it, but the differences in perception impact the reality of the viewer.
The Gods have been answering prayers for as long as Humans have been looking towards them for answers. Whether you like it or not we have a cultural history that predates your religion. Human history reaches back so many thousands of years that for us to even attempt to understand those first few assumptions of how the world worked are futile and removed. I only hope that on the day that we all die we are finally shown the Truth of our lives, and if we are not, then I hope we each are instead given the chance to search further into the depths to discover that Truth.
c. Spiritual leaders should not seek political influence. In the past a leaders spiritual guides have been important, but mixing the two too closely together have more often led to disaster after enjoying a short moment of success. Your historical churches have gone through the heart breaking cycle of abusing political and spiritual power over and over without really learning their lesson. They have used both a sword of steel as well as a sword of words and intent to do damage, both are deadly and should be wielded with caution by an experienced hand that can tell the difference between a just cause and a wild agenda.
Truly a good Pagan does not randomly throw themselves into the fray to defend their faith for the sake of a little argument. A lot of misconceptions have erupted between Christians and Pagans, and we like to think our mission is to spread knowledge and understanding, not enforce a personal or petty judgment. Many people in the past were tortured and killed by religious fanaticism. What some will refer to as the 'Burning Times' has been well looked at revealing that not only Witches but heretics, enemies of the state or church and people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and more were burned or killed by those responsible during the Inquisition.
Many Pagans come from a Christian background and while they could have turned their back on the Divine for many reasons, they have instead decided to search for a different Path towards spiritual awareness. To many, like me, the Christian tenets have failed to fulfill what our souls thirst for, and while they may be fine for you as a Christian, we need a different kind of connection. Depending on the Pagan you speak with, your god is but one way to see the Divine. Others will say that your god is but one individual among many or that he does not exist at all. As a Christian you expect there to be only one god and for the world to eventually come to an end where you, the righteous, will be saved. Pagans see the world as a vast array of cycles, there will be no strict end to the world, but the finishing of a cycle that will give rise to another, but the time involved is too vast for us to fully understand. So as physical creatures we content ourselves with the smaller cycles inside the larger.
As for what is known as witchcraft and other magical arts, the caster is repaid for each deed by the forces they use. A 'rule of three' is found among many Pagans, especially among Wiccans. What you send out comes back times three, curses and negative works included as well as beneficial and positive ones. I only hope that those who choose to perform negative acts and magics are prepared for the consequences of their actions.
WHAT ARE SOME PAGAN BELIEFS?
Pagans seek a Path towards the Divine that is fitted in a way that benefits their lives and souls. Some still do look towards the Christian bible for direction and count the Christian god among their pantheons or as one of their spiritual guides. But most do not. We do not believe in Satan or the Devil, many do not even give a face to negative forces. There are names of many gods and other spiritual beings in many forms of Paganism that embody some negative traits but they often embody many different things, not simply 'good' or 'evil'. Though to be fair, some Pagans do believe in truly 'evil' and/or truly 'good' forces, Christians are not alone in this way of thinking. To speak more personally on the topic I have The Goddess and The God, both of which encompass the whole range from dark to light, the peaceful and the tormented, just as there are fair days, so too are there stormy.
What one must keep in mind though is that just like there are many different sects of Christianity, especially in the USA, there are many different forms of Paganism. To assume any one thing of a group can lead to folly, so each person, no matter what side of the fence they are on, has the responsibility of discerning with a careful eye what should be counted as a generalization and what should be counted as part of a specific tradition.
Many Christians find Pagans and their pursuits evil and devil worshipers by their very nature. That they are only interested in corrupting the world and corrupting a good Christians faith. Others simply state that these gods don't exist, so we Pagans are only speaking to the air and not any Divine force.
To them I say that the Truth is an integrated part of your personal perception. The Truth can appear in different ways to different people and as such it should be approached with all due caution. Like I pointed out earlier, just because there are many ways to view something doesn't mean that any one of them is the real way to do it. The abolishment of most forms of magical crafts in your religion were probably mostly political in order to separate the ancient culture you've built on from it's neighbors. Only a god of arrogance would ever give it's creation free will then punish it for using the very tool it was gifted with.
For many Christians the belief in a single god has led them to try and inspire others to believe as they do. Cutting down the perception of the Divine into a singularity imposes a view that there is only one way to live. Which is difficult to understand seeing as how Christianity is split up into many pieces rather than the single, uniform Path it tries to imply. How can any Christian expect to be believed that their Path is the One True Way if they are on one of many roads that claim the same god?
All people have reasons for their beliefs. Christians view their religion as the first religion. But there are historical findings that tell of older cultures with different forms of religion that pre-date Christianity as a whole and even go as far as to be older than the Hebrew foundations they stand on.
ARE THERE PROBLEMS WITH PAGAN BELIEFS?
Christians ask how a Pagan can be sure the gods they speak with are telling the Truth.
I ask, how are they so certain their god has spoken the Truth?
Each spiritual connection must be different from person to person. To assume that one persons experience is somehow less or evil compared to another is purely ridiculous. Personally I don't just feel my connection to The God or Goddess during or directly after ritual, but it persists during the day when I'm out in the open or even when I have a calm moment after a hectic time at work. The things a Pagan asks of their god/s varies as much as what any Christian asks of their one god. Asking only for material things by a Pagan or a Christian can lead towards a sensation that lacks spirituality after a time. But those who ask for things that are spiritual, like the strength to face a coming challenge or who use ritual to connect with creative or intuitive forces in their own mind, find more and more spiritual power to be had.
Does a prayer to the Christian god necessarily mean it will come true? Does faith in him mean all your life has been easy or fruitful? Have all of your prayers as a Christian come true? No? Well then, I'd have to mention that you are not alone. Not all prayers from Pagans come true, like you we can tend to think the gods have their own plans and they don't always coincide with our mortal wants and whims. Just because a prayer to a god does not come true does not mean the god prayed to was a false one, or that it was not there at all, if that was the case, then you should be questioning your god more than anything.
We all are equally faced with the possibility of being mislead. But Christianity has the added effect of there being a terrible consequence to being wrong. A Pagan who sees all gods as part of the same Divine does not have that hanging over their head and sees the world after death as a place we all go, or perhaps multiple places that we go by virtue of our own Paths. There isn't a 'hell' to be afraid of, but the possibility of needing to be born again to better learn the lessons life is there to teach us.
One does not have to believe in something for it to be true, but a Christians belief in a single god is subject to the same questions of reality. The Judeo Christian god is just as likely to be a false god as any other god. But to believe in only the Devine, in whatever way it or they chose to manifest themselves is the only option left to us humans who have no true way to telling what is what in matters of the metaphysical. We must listen to our own hearts, not the wills and laws of people who are no longer alive and who's cultures are so removed from our own, and instead hold true to what we feel is a Path that leads us the best in the modern world.
Many Christians believe that you must have faith in the life of a man named Jesus and that he is the son of god who sacrificed himself to cleanse humanity of sin. Jesus's own remarks that he is the way and that only through him shall heaven be obtained. If that is so, then why not let Jesus be the one who judges who has the greatest of hearts that are worthy of heaven? Why do some Christians feel that it is their place to hand down the judgment they claim is the rightful decision of Jesus? That is not showing humility at all, which is supposed to be a tenant of the Christian religion.
To many Pagans, Jesus is an admirable figure. I myself see him as a wonderful example of how far humans can go when their heart leads in the direction of doing the most good and the least harm. The nature of his character was gentle when it needed to be. Not many Pagans I've met will claim that Jesus was a son of any god, but more a mortal speaking out against a corrupt system, a man who had an open heart and a sense of good judgment. Unfortunately I also feel that the part he played back in his time has been warped and changed over the years and now millennia. The ultimate message of his life has been lost and contorted beyond reason, making him less a symbol of what a normal man can attain to be a good soul and more a tool for oppressing and dehumanizing others.
If Jesus sacrificed himself so that we may be without sin, then living our lives in a way that is true to our heart would surely please him. What good is a sacrifice if those you made it for carry out activities that bring them not joy and no closer to god? What good is it if they let themselves carry on a Path that leads them no where spiritually and even goes so far as to stunt their happiness, their joys and their lives?
Who is a Christian to judge that my heart is not one that Jesus would approve of? I follow the guidance given by the threefold law, that all things I do come back to my times three. My ill actions an my good alike, and even with that notion over my head I do not perform good acts in order to reap the rewards from them. I do them because they are part of what my heart tells me to do, to do the least harm to others.
Perhaps it is not to late for some Christians to take a moment and consider that their god is supposed to be the supreme judge, not them. And if he is truly the one and only god then will surly be wise enough to discern who is the most worthy to attain heaven.
I wish peace and understanding to any who read this and hope for the seeds of both to be planted in those that dismiss me regardless.