Tell me how you feel about Pagans

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I suspect a lot of pagans today don’t really know much about ancient paganism. I’m not saying all, just speculating. The ones that come from traditionally Christian cultures and backgrounds aren’t believers but don’t find atheism and materialism satisfying. They turn away from a transcendent God and religion with clear dogmas and duties to an immanent spirituality with loose dogma and duties. From an objective morality to a subjective morality. They can tailor their religion and spirituality to their lifestyles. It fits nicely with modern relativism. Of course all IMHO.
 
A lot of pagans aren’t trying to reconstruct ancient paganism. There are definitely reconstructionists, but in my experience they aren’t the majority. Just as most people of any faith don’t know the intimate history or ancient practice. They are living their faith in the now using the current customs and practices.

I think it’s a common misconception that pagans don’t actually take their faith seriously or that they are pagans because they want to do whatever/whenever/however or thumb their nose at organized religion. I find that just as in any faith or philosophy there are those who bounce along around the fringes and others who are very serious about the practice of their faith. Being pagan doesn’t make a person any more or less likely to be serious and intentional in their practice and ethical behavior.

I agree that most pagans to tailor their spirituality and religion to their lifestyles but I think that most Christians and others do as well. It’s a human thing, not a factor of the faith the person practices.
 
AlpineDruid said:
I’d rather be free than having a god telling me what i can and can’t do…
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And this is exactly what a loving God will give you when you die. After you stand in his glorious presence he will grant you the choice you have made and it will be your choice for all eternity. But you will have nothing but that. You will never again experience God’s presence nor all the glories of sharing your life for all eternity with a loving creator.

This freaks out a lot of people because they think it is so unfair of God to do this. But it is very fair and perfect justice. God wants us to freely choose between doing our will and doing his will. He could easily have left us in the same state as that of the animals. Animals have no choice but to do the will of God. But we were made for something more.

If you are happy being free then you have no complaints against God or what happens to you after death.
 
Could you also say, I’m a witch? Are Wiccan and witch synonyms? I know a bunch of people who call themselves witches.
 
Wiccans are typically witches but not all witches are Wiccan. If that makes sense.
 
AlpineDruid said:
Now, i ask you guys how you feel about pagans and what you think will happen to me once i die, afterlife and such
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I don’t feel anything about pagans. All people are God’s children made in his image and worthy of his love and mine.

As to what will happen to you after death, that is totally up to God. The only person who should worry about this is you.

God has given us a clear path that leads to salvation and life everlasting with him in paradise which is TRUE freedom. What you experience now as freedom is but a shadow of what is to come.

John 8:32 And you shall know the truth: and the truth shall make you free. (spoken by Jesus)

John/14:6 Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

There is no greater freedom in this life or the next than the freedom you experience when you know, love, and serve God.
 
How would a neo-pagan who claims to be druidic even know anything about their old gods? The druids never wrote anything down. It’s just imaginative reconstruction because the awesome authority of the Triune God (and more practically, the church, let’s face it) seems too oppressive. An angel would not masquerade as a pagan god, especially now after the revelation of Christ, so whatever remnants of druidic deities remain must be demonic. This is all highly speculative of course. If people start to abandon the gospel for a return to paganism (something that I think is highly likely in future centuries) it is going to be much darker than ancient paganism.
 
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This probably isn’t the most charitable impulse, but my first thought when I hear someone is a neo-pagan or a Wiccan is that they’re just trying to seem edgy or annoy a Christian parent they’re not getting along with.

Just always seems a bit contrived.
 
I like pagans. It seems to me that they’re peaceful people and they don’t try to push their religion down another person’s throat. They just want to live peacefully and that’s it. I respect that. I just finished reading the Havamal, which is a text that’s sacred to Norse pagans. It’s pretty good.
 
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Much of that is true. Many dabble in paganism just to rebel and to be cool or because they are confused. When they get older they come back to the one true faith. I always try to do my part in bringing them to the truth or back to the truth by heeding Jesus’ call and demand of Matthew 28:18-20
 
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According to the Druidjournal, Dec. 25, 2006:
Evergreen plants such as pine and mistletoe were prized by the Druids : they represent rebirth and eternal life, which was part of the Druidic teaching of reincarnation.
I read that the Germans were the ones who brought the Christmas tree to Europe, but nevertheless, is it not true that during the Saturnalia, The Romans and the Druids decorated their temples with evergreen boughs?
PetraG said:
What he wants to know is what Catholics feel about pagans.
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It appears that the Christmas tree is of pagan origin as I don’t find any mention in the New Testament of Jesus recommending that we buy and decorate an evergreen tree at Christmas time or any other time of the year. But there is evidence of Romans and Druids celebrating the solstice by decorating their temples with evergreen boughs. And yet even though the love of decorating an evergreen tree during the winter solstice appears to be of pagan origin, nevertheless, at Christmas time, Roman Catholics bring evergreen trees into their churches and put them near the altar to stand near the statues and icons of the saints and the Mother of God.
 
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Don’t other Christians (Protestants and Orthodox) also have Christmas trees in their home? Are you opposed to this custom?
 
meltzerboy2 said:
Don’t other Christians (Protestants and Orthodox) also have Christmas trees in their home? Are you opposed to this custom?
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I personally am not opposed to it, but the local Jewish rabbi certainly is. There is a shared chapel at the local university here where Catholics have their Masses at certain time, and Jews and Protestants and others each have their services at a different time. Well, of course, the Catholics put up a Christmas tree during the Christmas season. However, this was not to the liking of the rabbi who demanded that the area where the tree was be completely covered and closed off after the Mass and especially at the times scheduled for the Jewish services. The rabbi made it clear and demanded that he wanted the tree to be completely out of sight for his services.
Could it be possible that he viewed it as a pagan symbol of some sort ?
A pagan symbol ? unacceptable to Judaism but loved by Catholics.
 
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I cannot speak for the rabbi but I tend to think he might have been opposed to the Christmas tree because he associated it with Christmas rather than a pagan symbol (or maybe both).
 
meltzerboy2 said:
Don’t other Christians (Protestants and Orthodox) also have Christmas trees in their home?
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Most do. But Jehovah’s Witnesses consider themselves to be Christian, although I don’t think that all other Christians agree. Anyway, the Jehovah’s Witnesses tell me that they are Christians. And as they regard the Christmas tree as a pagan symbol, they will not have one in their house.
 
AlpineDruid said:
how you feel about pagans
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My friend, I just had to come back to this after reading the April 26 edition of The Catholic Register (Canadian edition). The piece by Bishop Robert Barron contained this insightful comment; “I have deep respect for pagan religion. In fact, my mentor, Msgr. Robert Sokolowsky, once told me, "If you stop being a Christian, I’d recommend becoming a pagan. Paganism is a noble religion, for it has to do with honoring the great natural necessities.”

All blessings to you, brother. 🙂
 
Just be careful not to open a door for evil gods and goddesses to enter.
 
How I feel about pagans: To each his own. Go for it, I’d that’s what you want.
 
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