You can’t. What bothers me here, and I am just asking not judging how can she attend mass, receive the Eucharist and woship false gods all at the same time.
Which altar of Zeus are we talking about? He had many cult centers (including an oracle at Dodona). As for what we know about Greek practices, I’d recommend a text like Burkert’s Greek religion and the writings of the Greeks themselves. Be aware that practices also change over time.
Lost Sheep is what Jesus called them
Yeah, but witchcraft is explicitly forbidden in the Bible, and let’s not forget about the Loa, voudon spirits (angels or demons, depending on how you look at it) whom men must serve (so the Loa, Baron Samedi for instance, are gods in all but name) and the extreme superstition that is the norm among voudon practitioners (e.g. a lot of Haitians were terrified of Papa Doc for many years after his death, and apparently they believed him when he led them to think to he was actually Baron Samedi and was the “chosen one” of Jesus).
Hi,
Good job Fred!!
It is funny (and really pathetic) when white supremacists are pagans just because they because they do not want to worship “a Jewish god.” And it is even funnier when they are Christians (sometimes belonging to a a “Christian Identity” church) yet insist that Jesus is a blue-eyed blond or that Europeans are the true descendants of the House of Judah!
That’s pretty harsh to say my friend. Our rituals and rites were not immoral until we were told that by the church. Many of our traditions have become yours as well (ex: All Saints Day (coincides with Halloween (not costumes, but reverence for the dead), Easter (originally Ostara with fertility rites that included eggs and bunnies as symbols), Christmas (Yule originally complete with the Yule Tree and the birth of the God), St. Brigid (Originally the Goddess Brigid in Ireland whose eternal flame was kept lit by her priestesses and now the nuns who reside there), Candlemas (originally a pagan holiday complete with candles being blessed), The title Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) was originally a title given to Yemaya and Isis in Africa, the list goes on and on and on.
Every religion I can think of is monotheist. There is just different aspects of god. Pagan is a church term denoting anyone else. The goddess aspect is carried over into mariology. I believe in the catholic church and hinduism and buddhism. Mixing religions is not for everyone. One must follow his calling. But it does broaden the mind. Also the ancient Jews believed in many gods too. Elohim doesn’t mean “god”. Eloha is singlular Elohim is plural. The best way to translate genesis would be “Bereshit baro atoh Elohim” Or the gods created.
so essentially you make it up as you go along, picking and choosing what you wish to believe and truth isn’t important.
Please define “Powers That Be”. Is this something that creates and controls, people and gods? How do you know there are “Powers That Be”?
Is this like a self-fulfilling prophecy? So the person has control over what the god or demon is? Sounds to me like once again you are saying the pagan creates the god in their own image.
is that because truth doesn’t matter? Lilith is and is not a goddess. What can be true about Lilith? It is true that she is part of early Jewish story telling and it is also true that she isn’t part of the Jewish sacred scripture. So is she anymore real than Cinderella?
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘doing okay’. But from my understanding God takes care of all His children even those who don’t know Him.I would say so. He doesn’t personally call to me, but my Hellenic friends seem to be doing okay.
Perhaps, from your perspective, but orthopraxic faiths really don’t make sense to orthodoxic traditions. Speaking for myself, “getting it right” isn’t that important to me, nor is trying to convince others that my way is the only way.
Powers That Be is just a more neutral term for gods, spirits, what have you. As for how I know, short answer: I don’t.
To some extent, yes. Again, I can only relate what I’ve heard from others, but it does happen that sometimes a god (or goddess) shows up in someone’s life, uninvited, and says: “HELLO! I AM SO-AND-SO! I WANT YOU TO WORSHIP ME!” (The standard reaction to this sort of encounter is: “Wait. what?”)
Some would say Cinderella is “the Goddess” in a different form (which I doubt). In any case, Cinderella, to my knowledge, never had an organized cult dedicated to her, and I don’t recall hearing about any modern-day “Cinderellites”, whereas there are modern Pagans who are dedicated to Lilith. Pagans who see deities as archetypal forces tend to be less concerned with historical accuracy.
It all depends, some gods are more demanding than others, and some gods will demand more from one devotee than they will another. As for whether it would affect me if I stopped believing in them, I don’t think my life would change that much. Now, for someone who is in a deeper relationship with them, asking them to stop believing in the gods would be like asking them to stop believing in their siblings. As for the afterlife, Pagan traditions are are more concerned with the here-and-now than what comes after. Tell you what, I’ll let you know after I die.
I suppose if my gods did not exist (in some way) I would be an atheist as well…on second thought, there aren’t enough holidays.
Pagans of all sorts love any excuse to party!I guess you are right there. Jesus said that this world is not a big party. Our big Party comes in the next world.Perhaps, from your perspective, but orthopraxic faiths really don’t make sense to orthodoxic traditions. Speaking for myself, “getting it right” isn’t that important to me, nor is trying to convince others that my way is the only way.
Powers That Be is just a more neutral term for gods, spirits, what have you. As for how I know, short answer: I don’t.
To some extent, yes. Again, I can only relate what I’ve heard from others, but it does happen that sometimes a god (or goddess) shows up in someone’s life, uninvited, and says: “HELLO! I AM SO-AND-SO! I WANT YOU TO WORSHIP ME!” (The standard reaction to this sort of encounter is: “Wait. what?”)
Some would say Cinderella is “the Goddess” in a different form (which I doubt). In any case, Cinderella, to my knowledge, never had an organized cult dedicated to her, and I don’t recall hearing about any modern-day “Cinderellites”, whereas there are modern Pagans who are dedicated to Lilith. Pagans who see deities as archetypal forces tend to be less concerned with historical accuracy.
It all depends, some gods are more demanding than others, and some gods will demand more from one devotee than they will another. As for whether it would affect me if I stopped believing in them, I don’t think my life would change that much. Now, for someone who is in a deeper relationship with them, asking them to stop believing in the gods would be like asking them to stop believing in their siblings. As for the afterlife, Pagan traditions are are more concerned with the here-and-now than what comes after. Tell you what, I’ll let you know after I die.
I suppose if my gods did not exist (in some way) I would be an atheist as well…on second thought, there aren’t enough holidays.
I don’t know, he did change water into wine at Cana. You would have to be quite the party pooper to change water into alcohol and not enjoy yourself!
so the church dictates what is moral and what is immoral. But if you don’t belong to the church then you can choose your own morality.
Yet that is a misinterpretation of All Saints Day. It is not a day of the dead celebration but a feast of all who are Holy, known and unknown, living and dead. The solemnity for the faithfully departed is All Souls Day which is the day after All Saints Day.
Ostara is a german word which was corrupted into English as ‘Easter’. But Easter under it’s more common name Pascha was celebrated by Christians from the beginning. Only the name of the season was adopted in English speaking countries. Just as Christians worship God on Sunday but we aren’t worshiping the sun. The early Christians knew exactly what they were celebrating and it had nothing to do with pagan spring festivals.
It is true that as people abandoned paganism and became Christian they still had cultural traditions they wanted to keep. Resymbolizing is not the same as adopting pagan beliefs. A yule tree may have been a pagan custom but in a Christian home it is the foreshadowing of the Cross yet to come. It is not the symbol that has meaning but the meaning as applied by those who believe. Symbols can have many different meanings and are not exclusive to one culture or religion. The swastika is a hated symbol in western culture but it means something completely different to a Navajo. When the Nazi’s adopted the symbol as their national flag it didn’t mean that they were now espousing Navajo beliefs.
Here’s what the Catholic Church says about St. Brigid who was not a goddess but was named after one.
This is the feast of the presentation of Christ in the temple. How can it be a pagan holiday? Yes, candles are blessed for the whole year at this Mass. Candlemas is easier to say than “Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.”
Why would an African and an Egyptian goddess have a Latin name? The Latin name obviously only refers to the Virgin Mary.
Which is why it is traditional to hang crucifix ornaments on Christmas trees.
Isn’t that what Jesus said at the Last Supper?
Hi Gatewood,