Pagans on Catholic answers

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Timi_Celcer

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I saw some pagans on this forum, and i would like to ask. Why are you pagans? How do you reason your faith in multiple gods?
 
There seems to be an inexhaustible amount of myth. After all that reading how did you conclude the God of Abraham isn’t the only God communicating to us?

Do you think its possible Gods word is written in your heart?
 
Timi_Celcer said:
I saw some pagans on this forum, and i would like to ask. Why are you pagans? How do you reason your faith in multiple gods?
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As a “Sagan pagan” perhaps I’m not the best to answer as I don’t believe in any gods, magic or the like…

I love the stories and the lessons about life and being human during worship and study. There is a connectedness to worship that is very important to me. The ancients spent much more time in community doing things together and I feel connected to them and to humanity by being part of those practices.

Were I to actually believed in god as part of a mainline religion I would probably get the same feelings from going to church or mass.
 
Timi_Celcer said:
I saw some pagans on this forum, and i would like to ask. Why are you pagans? How do you reason your faith in multiple gods?
Click to expand...
Greetings, I am indeed a pagan, a follower of the old gods of the north in particular, the Aesir and the Vanir, also known as the Germanic pantheon. My particular devotions are to the Gods Ullr, Skadi, and Tyr/Tywaz.

To answer your question takes a but of explaining.

I was born into a “Creaster” catholic family in a rural and extreamly catholic area of the upper Midwest. I went to catholic school from pre-k all the way through senior year. I remember as early as 5th grade having agnostic and diestic leanings. I have been a history lover my whole life and am studying for a degree in teaching it, and as I studied I became increasingly unsettled by historical error or atleast lack of verification in the bible, as well as contradiction within itself. So I eventually became agnostic. This is the basis of my disagreement with Christianity, the bible.

Mine was not a choice of paganism over Christianity but of paganism over agnosticism. I was agnostic through highschool until I took a world religions course my senior year from my excellent theology teacher (I’m sure he is on this forum somewhere) and became re-interested in religion from a belief perspective rather than simply as a facet of culture. I spent time exploring both Islam and Shinto-Budhism and while appreciating both I did not adopt them. Eventually I did a class report on Norse paganism which along with another presentation on Wicca peeked my interest.

The reason I chose paganism (specifically Wicca at the time) over agnosticism was its intricate connection to the real and visible universe, most notably ecology. Panethiesm seems far more realistic and evidenced in the world than pure theism. I was a Wiccan for a period of several months, and did entertain the basic study of magic and astral travel. Several experiences durring those days were very important to my developement and have served to confirm my belief. The final one served bring me from Wicca, which is Soft Duothiesm, to Soft Polythiesm.

I dedicated myself to the gods of my ancestors, the Germanic people’s. I do not believe their myths as literal or that they are the only gods in existence, but they are my gods whom I follow as best I can.

So, to explain my position, I am a Soft Polythiestic Neo-Platonist. I believe all life and energy are part of the “is all”, the impersonal “creator god” and that many gods exist, as personal faces of the impersonal reality, and that these dietys may form relationships with people’s, nations, cultures, or places.
 
Skadi said:
Greetings, I am indeed a pagan, a follower of the old gods of the north in particular, the Aesir and the Vanir, also known as the Germanic pantheon. My particular devotions are to the Gods Ullr, Skadi, and Tyr/Tywaz.

To answer your question takes a but of explaining.

I was born into a “Creaster” catholic family in a rural and extreamly catholic area of the upper Midwest. I went to catholic school from pre-k all the way through senior year. I remember as early as 5th grade having agnostic and diestic leanings. I have been a history lover my whole life and am studying for a degree in teaching it, and as I studied I became increasingly unsettled by historical error or atleast lack of verification in the bible, as well as contradiction within itself. So I eventually became agnostic. This is the basis of my disagreement with Christianity, the bible.

Mine was not a choice of paganism over Christianity but of paganism over agnosticism. I was agnostic through highschool until I took a world religions course my senior year from my excellent theology teacher (I’m sure he is on this forum somewhere) and became re-interested in religion from a belief perspective rather than simply as a facet of culture. I spent time exploring both Islam and Shinto-Budhism and while appreciating both I did not adopt them. Eventually I did a class report on Norse paganism which along with another presentation on Wicca peeked my interest.

The reason I chose paganism (specifically Wicca at the time) over agnosticism was its intricate connection to the real and visible universe, most notably ecology. Panethiesm seems far more realistic and evidenced in the world than pure theism. I was a Wiccan for a period of several months, and did entertain the basic study of magic and astral travel. Several experiences durring those days were very important to my developement and have served to confirm my belief. The final one served bring me from Wicca, which is Soft Duothiesm, to Soft Polythiesm.

I dedicated myself to the gods of my ancestors, the Germanic people’s. I do not believe their myths as literal or that they are the only gods in existence, but they are my gods whom I follow as best I can.

So, to explain my position, I am a Soft Polythiestic Neo-Platonist. I believe all life and energy are part of the “is all”, the impersonal “creator god” and that many gods exist, as personal faces of the impersonal reality, and that these dietys may form relationships with people’s, nations, cultures, or places.
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Skadi, with so many gods, and non of them almighty, who did create the universe according to your religion?
 
Timi_Celcer said:
Skadi, with so many gods, and non of them almighty, who did create the universe according to your religion?
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My personal belief is that the universe was created by the impersonal “is all”, the impersonal creator god. Whether this creation was intentional or not is beyond me.

My religions own creation story states that the universe was created from the primal void (Ganungagap) by the collision of fire and ice, so i would lean towards the universe simply coming into existance on its own, as a result of a divine spark, in this case represented by fire and ice. In Germanic tradition the gods came into being after the formation of the universe.
 
GaryTaylor said:
There seems to be an inexhaustible amount of myth. After all that reading how did you conclude the God of Abraham isn’t the only God communicating to us?

Do you think its possible Gods word is written in your heart?
Click to expand...
Well, to be fair, the God of Abraham is Yahweh and he was part of a pantheon of gods until the Israelites made him their national god. But he wasn’t the only god they worshiped until he commanded them not to worship any other gods. Also, the Israelites were monolatrists, not monotheists. There is a difference.
 
freeRadical said:
Well, to be fair, the God of Abraham is Yahweh and he was part of a pantheon of gods until the Israelites made him their national god. But he wasn’t the only god they worshiped until he commanded them not to worship any other gods. Also, the Israelites were monolatrists, not monotheists. There is a difference.
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I agree, which Is why I neither afirm nor deny YHWH’s existence. He is hod of the Jews, but not in my oppinion the god of everything.
 
Skadi said:
I agree, which Is why I neither afirm nor deny YHWH’s existence. He is hod of the Jews, but not in my oppinion the god of everything.
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The Israelis weren’t the only people to worship Yahweh.
 
Skadi- Just curious, what happened while you were experimenting with the Wiccan practices that made you feel like they were truthful or “worked”?
 
Skadi;11740511] Greetings, I am indeed a pagan, a follower of the old gods of the north in particular, the Aesir and the Vanir, also known as the Germanic pantheon. My particular devotions are to the Gods Ullr, Skadi, and Tyr/Tywaz.
Click to expand...
To answer your question takes a but of explaining.
Click to expand...
I was born into a “Creaster” catholic family in a rural and extremely catholic area of the upper Midwest. I went to catholic school from pre-k all the way through senior year. I remember as early as 5th grade having agnostic and deistic leanings. I have been a history lover my whole life and am studying for a degree in teaching it, and as I studied I became increasingly unsettled by historical error or at least lack of verification in the bible, as well as contradiction within itself. So I eventually became agnostic. This is the basis of my disagreement with Christianity, the bible.
Click to expand...
Mine was not a choice of paganism over Christianity but of paganism over agnosticism. I was agnostic through high school until I took a world religions course my senior year from my excellent theology teacher (I’m sure he is on this forum somewhere) and became re-interested in religion from a belief perspective rather than simply as a facet of culture. I spent time exploring both Islam and Shinto-Buddhism and while appreciating both I did not adopt them. Eventually I did a class report on Norse paganism which along with another presentation on Wicca peeked my interest.
Click to expand...
The reason I chose paganism (specifically Wicca at the time) over agnosticism was its intricate connection to the real and visible universe, most notably ecology. Pantheism seems far more realistic and evidenced in the world than pure theism. I was a Wiccan for a period of several months, and did entertain the basic study of magic and astral travel. Several experiences during those days were very important to my development and have served to confirm my belief. The final one served bring me from Wicca, which is Soft Duo-theism, to Soft Poly-theism.
Click to expand...
I dedicated myself to the gods of my ancestors, the Germanic people’s. I do not believe their myths as literal or that they are the only gods in existence, but they are my gods whom I follow as best I can.
Click to expand...
So, to explain my position, I am a Soft polytheistic Neo-Platonist. I believe all life and energy are part of the “is all”, the impersonal “creator god” and that many gods exist, as personal faces of the impersonal reality, and that these deities may form relationships with peoples, nations, cultures, or places.
Click to expand...
So then, one might say, from a purely practical point of view, you would enjoy a greater sense of security as a result of your polytheistic views than the monotheists (Jews, Christians, Muslims etc.). However, your burden of responsibility would most probably be greater in regard to the many and varied rituals and ceremonies that you would have to engage in, in order to be a faithful follower of those various deities, is that not so?

Now, from a religious point of view it could be argued that the God of the Bible offers His true followers in this life not only blessings in this world, but also eternal blessings in the world to come. What do you have to look forward to when you are at the point of death Skadi?

By what moral code do you live - did it come originally from your Catholic days in ***“the upper Midwest”? ***Do any of your gods promise you forgiveness of sins. Do they respond to your prayers? Do they comfort you with their spirit when you are in distress? How would you describe the benefits of being a polytheist Skadi?

Please don’t look upon this post as being a criticism of your beliefs Skadi - I firmly believe in free speech, and freedom of religion.

Finally I say, (intending no offence) - may my God richly bless you, and help you in your search for the truth.

Protector.
 
Protector said:
So then, one might say, from a purely practical point of view, you would enjoy a greater sense of security as a result of your polytheistic views than the monotheists (Jews, Christians, Muslims etc.). However, your burden of responsibility would most probably be greater in regard to the many and varied rituals and ceremonies that you would have to engage in, in order to be a faithful follower of those various deities, is that not so?

Now, from a religious point of view it could be argued that the God of the Bible offers His true followers in this life not only blessings in this world, but also eternal blessings in the world to come. What do you have to look forward to when you are at the point of death Skadi?

By what moral code do you live - did it come originally from your Catholic days in ***“the upper Midwest”? ***Do any of your gods promise you forgiveness of sins. Do they respond to your prayers? Do they comfort you with their spirit when you are in distress? How would you describe the benefits of being a polytheist Skadi?

Please don’t look upon this post as being a criticism of your beliefs Skadi - I firmly believe in free speech, and freedom of religion.

Finally I say, (intending no offence) - may my God richly bless you, and help you in your search for the truth.

Protector.
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To the first paragraph, I guess you could say yes, but paganism is much more of a “works” based religion, a near antithesis of Luther’s “Sola Fide”.

As for the afterlife, should I live and honorable life and be given the opertunity to die in combat, or be burried in the proper manner, I would hope to go to Valhalla, Odins Hall, where the greatest of the ancestors feast with the gods and prepair for the final battle against evil durring the apocolypse. Should that not pan out I would hope my personal devotion to the god Ullr may bring me a place in his own hall Ydalir, the Yew Grove. Should the gods not deam my deads in life enough for such honors, and my soul have no reason to linger as a ghost, then the destination would be Hel, the misty realm of the dead, the generic afterlife destination of my religion.

My morals have two sources, one being political in nature, the non Agression principal, “thou shot not initiate the use of force”. The other is religious, the 9 noble virtues, a distillation of Norse/Germanic ideals, they are:
Courage
Truth
Honor
Fidelity
Discipline
Hospitality
Industriousness
Self Reliance
Perseverance

There is no concept of “sin” persay but the gods most certainly judge someone based on their deads, as well as how they faced death.

I am not a particularly prayerful person, I believe routine prayer or praying to often dilutes it, and as such I save it for times of need. To live life upright as best I can is my daily prayer, to use the strength the gods have me at birth. But I do know the gods, I have had personal religious experience, personal revelation if you will, which i do not expect others to believe. and I can say that I would not be here today had my faith not helped rescue me from the darkest corners of my self pity. I was in a very dark and miserable place, and in that darkest moment just one nudge from them was all it took to snap me out, and pick myself up.

The benefits of Polythiesm? Well in some ways it is infact very similar to Catholicism. While the trinity is one and Catholics do not worship the saints it is very similar in practice. In adition one thing I have found interesting is that alot of athiest arguements against monothiesm are totaly useless logically against Polythiesm.

And lastly I thank you, I would never turn away well wishes, and likewise is hope your God will keep good watch over you. 😉
 
freeRadical said:
Does that mean you don’t believe in preemptive strikes? Are you secretly a Libertarian?
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I am beyond libertarian, I am an anarcho-capitalist.

So no, I do not believe in preemptive strikes, unless an attack is imminent. If Iran were to build a nuke i would not advocate attacking them, unless there was verifiable intelligence of an impending strike on the United States. And Iran isn’t capable of that unless they somehow smuggled it onto a cargo ship bound for the US or something like that.

Another example would be Pearl Harbor, we had no right to attack Japan untill their fleet set sail for Hawaii, at which point we would have been morally justified.
 
Skadi said:
My personal belief is that the universe was created by the impersonal “is all”, the impersonal creator god. Whether this creation was intentional or not is beyond me.

My religions own creation story states that the universe was created from the primal void (Ganungagap) by the collision of fire and ice, so i would lean towards the universe simply coming into existance on its own, as a result of a divine spark, in this case represented by fire and ice. In Germanic tradition the gods came into being after the formation of the universe.
Click to expand...
But then who created this void or Ganungagap as you call it?
 
Skadi said:
I am beyond libertarian, I am an anarcho-capitalist.

So no, I do not believe in preemptive strikes, unless an attack is imminent. If Iran were to build a nuke i would not advocate attacking them, unless there was verifiable intelligence of an impending strike on the United States. And Iran isn’t capable of that unless they somehow smuggled it onto a cargo ship bound for the US or something like that.

Another example would be Pearl Harbor, we had no right to attack Japan untill their fleet set sail for Hawaii, at which point we would have been morally justified.
Click to expand...
You said you live by the tenet “though shall not initiate the use of force”. Does that mean you are against taxation? Are you against welfare programs? Are you against the individual mandate in the ACA? Are you against compulsory education?
 
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