Ask an Asatru

[freeRadical]

In your post above about the afterlife you mentioned people who live an “honorable” or “good” life. What are the sources of morality for your religion? How do you determine the ethics of a particular action? For instance, how does your religion think about abortion? Or smoking? Or something like social justice? Does your religion address issues like these?

Also, if your family has Icelandic roots, do you eat ‘slatur’? I have been watching Andrew Zimmern of late.

Why throw smoking in there?

 

[CHRISTINE77]

I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here but I bet if you went outside and told God to strike you down with lightning, nothing would happen. Does that mean God is powerless?

I already made clear that I was being slightly facetious when I told this story. Lighten up people!!

However the story I quoted is very similar to when Elijah encounters the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel, (1 Kings 18) and has the same message: pagan gods are not as powerful as God the Father Almighty.

 

[Lokadottir]

I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here but I bet if you went outside and told God to strike you down with lightning, nothing would happen. Does that mean God is powerless?

Thank you!
I know we disagree (on most things I think) but the logic of it drives me nuts because destroying the sacred sites of others makes me nauseous.

 

[freeRadical]

Thank you!
I know we disagree (on most things I think) but the logic of it drives me nuts because destroying the sacred sites of others makes me nauseous.

I have to point out logical fallacies when I see them, I have a condition. But seriously, when I see some of the arguments people use to defend the faith, it nauseates me.

 

[Lokadottir]

I have to point out logical fallacies when I see them, I have a condition. But seriously, when I see some of the arguments people use to defend the faith, it nauseates me.

This is why I love interfaith discussion!

 

[cheese_sdc]

I’m curious. How do modern Asatru interpret the need to die in battle in order to gain admittance to Valhalla?

 

[Lokadottir]

I’m curious. How do modern Asatru interpret the need to die in battle in order to gain admittance to Valhalla?

Well I’ll say you may get different answers from others.
Personally? I think that warriors are taken to Valhalla to prepare for Ragnarok. Helheim is not a bad place like Hell. And there is always the possibility of being chosen by a God to go to their all. So a devotee of Thor may go to Thrunheim.

 

[Skadi]

I’m curious. How do modern Asatru interpret the need to die in battle in order to gain admittance to Valhalla?

Just like it sounds. It dosn’t happen much anymore, but folks still occasionally get killed in a bar room brawl, and honestly id much prefer that to a hospital bed.

There are however, other traditional ways to enter Valhalla. Dieing in childbirth and being a man of great honor and accomplishment who is buried/burned with weapons for instance.

 

[cmodrmac]

How is Asatru different from animism as practiced in Africa?-I gather there are no religious treatises and theological writings extant on Asatru-does not ancestor worship represent the most primitive of our religions (not critical just descriptive)

 

[Cider]

Have you ever heard of St.Boniface?

He lived in the 7th Century and wanted everyone to have the opportunity to know about and love Jesus and his Church. He became a missionary to the western part of Germany. Pope St. Gregory XI blessed him and sent him on this mission. Boniface preached with great success. He was gentle and kind. He was also a man of great courage. Once, to prove that the pagan gods were false, he did a bold thing. There was a certain huge oak tree called the “oak of Thor.” The pagans believed it was sacred to their gods. In front of a large crowd, Boniface struck the tree a few times with an axe. The big tree crashed. The pagans realized that their gods were false when nothing happened to Boniface.

He proved way back then that the pagan gods are powerless!

So when Lindisfarne was sacked by the Vikings that proved the Christian God was false? What about when the Muslims seized Jerusalem and the Hagia Sofia in Turkey? What about the times Rome was sacked by the Goths? See you can’t have it both ways.

This post is so old but I just can’t!
If I burned down a church it would not disprove Jesus so don’t apply that logic to my Gods. Also Boniface was later killed so not everyone thought what he did proved anything.

I couldn’t resist either.

 

[Cider]

I have to point out logical fallacies when I see them, I have a condition. But seriously, when I see some of the arguments people use to defend the faith, it nauseates me.

Add me to the list.

 

[Skadi]

How is Asatru different from animism as practiced in Africa?-I gather there are no religious treatises and theological writings extant on Asatru-does not ancestor worship represent the most primitive of our religions (not critical just descriptive)

Its not necessarily ancestor worship as much as veneration. But Polytheism developed after animism and as such is very similar. there is plenty of mysticism.

 

[Cider]

I’m curious. How do modern Asatru interpret the need to die in battle in order to gain admittance to Valhalla?

Valhalla is not the equivalent of the Christian heaven, it’s Odin’s hall. It’s not even the only place warriors may go when they die. It’s just one possibility.

 

[Lokadottir]

How is Asatru different from animism as practiced in Africa?-I gather there are no religious treatises and theological writings extant on Asatru-does not ancestor worship represent the most primitive of our religions (not critical just descriptive)

Honoring your ancestors is faintly like praying to saints or Mary. You respect them and ask for their help. Not quite the same as you’re related and ancestors help directly but still.

 

[freeRadical]

Add me to the list.

To what list?