Firstly, tell him there's a proper way to attempt to convert you and other pagans, and he's going about it all wrong.
Print out the following article, give it to him, and tell him that
this is the proper way to share the gospel with pagans:
How to Share the Gospel with Pagans hehe
Here are some other articles/websites on this site that address
Religious Tolerance.
Of course, you could also just give him a hug and tell him how happy you are that you guys are already on the same page because most of Christianity as it's practiced today generally constitutes a pagan religion,
especially Catholicism. Dude. Catholicism alone stands as one of the most seamless, effective and ultimately impressive (to me, at least) examples of "
syncretism" in the history of humans. It once served as the PR/marketing arm of European governments before they took over a country: first send in Catholic missionaries to "befriend" the natives and let them know that if they didn't denounce their beliefs, language, dress, and entire way of life, that they would
burn eternally in hell ....
then send in the troops! It worked every time (like in Mars Attacks, where the Martians repeatedly said, "Don't run.
We come in peace. We won't shoot you," and then vaporize every human in sight). It became the blueprint for all of subsequent Christian-esque offshoots it would later beget.
The secret to its success was giving Christian names and explanations to existing pagan practices. So next time he says your pagan practices are a sin, hehehe, suggest that he look in the mirror if he'd like to see yet another "sinning pagan." (lol!!) He may say something to the tune of, "that book-learnin' there is how the devil misleads you," when you present him your research, but try to share the facts with him anyway. Let's take a few examples:
Christmas =
ancient fertility celebration (taken from Christmas' Pagan Origins by Kelly Wittmann):
No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.
Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,†the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.
The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.
In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.
Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.â€
The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.
or
Easter = Goddess worship
(taken from The True Origin of Easter by David Pack . This well-researched, but rather lengthy article was written by a "shocked" Christian who researched the true origins of all "Christian" holidays, and upon stumbling on the truth, wrote it in hopes of "urging" his colleagues not to celebrate them ...he probably gave up later and fully embraced his pagan-hood, hahahaha ...that, or had a nervous breakdown, or both):
Does the following sound familiar?—Spring is in the air! Flowers and bunnies decorate the home. Father helps the children paint beautiful designs on eggs dyed in various colors. These eggs, which will later be hidden and searched for, are placed into lovely, seasonal baskets. The wonderful aroma of the hot cross buns mother is baking in the oven waft through the house. Forty days of abstaining from special foods will finally end the next day. The whole family picks out their Sunday best to wear to the next morning’s sunrise worship service to celebrate the savior’s resurrection and the renewal of life. Everyone looks forward to a succulent ham with all the trimmings. It will be a thrilling day. After all, it is one of the most important religious holidays of the year.
Easter, right? No! This is a description of an ancient Babylonian family—2,000 years before Christ—honoring the resurrection of their god, Tammuz, who was brought back from the underworld by his mother/wife, Ishtar (after whom the festival was named). As Ishtar was actually pronounced “Easter†in most Semitic dialects, it could be said that the event portrayed here is, in a sense, Easter. Of course, the occasion could easily have been a Phrygian family honoring Attis and Cybele, or perhaps a Phoenician family worshipping Adonis and Astarte. Also fitting the description well would be a heretic Israelite family honoring the Canaanite Baal and Ashtoreth. Or this depiction could just as easily represent any number of other immoral, pagan fertility celebrations of death and resurrection—including the modern Easter celebration as it has come to us through the Anglo-Saxon fertility rites of the goddess Eostre or Ostara. These are all the same festivals, separated only by time and culture.
If Easter is not found in the Bible, then where did it come from? The vast majority of ecclesiastical and secular historians agree that the name of Easter and the traditions surrounding it are deeply rooted in pagan religion.
Now notice the following powerful quotes that demonstrate more about the true origin of how the modern Easter celebration got its name:
“Since Bede the Venerable (De ratione temporum 1:5) the origin of the term for the feast of Christ’s Resurrection has been popularly considered to be from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre, a goddess of spring…the Old High German plural for dawn, eostarun; whence has come the German Ostern, and our English Easter†(The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. 5, p. 6).
“The fact that vernal festivals were general among pagan peoples no doubt had much to do with the form assumed by the Eastern festival in the Christian churches. The English term Easter is of pagan origin†(Albert Henry Newman, D.D., LL.D., A Manual of Church History, p. 299).
“On this greatest of Christian festivals, several survivals occur of ancient heathen ceremonies. To begin with, the name itself is not Christian but pagan. Ostara was the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring†(Ethel L. Urlin, Festival, Holy Days, and Saints Days, p. 73).
“Easter—the name Easter comes to us from Ostera or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, for whom a spring festival was held annually, as it is from this pagan festival that some of our Easter customs have come†(Hazeltine, p. 53).
“In Babylonia…the goddess of spring was called Ishtar. She was identified with the planet Venus, which, because…[it] rises before the Sun…or sets after it…appears to love the light [this means Venus loves the sun-god]…In Phoenecia, she became Astarte; in Greece, Eostre [related to the Greek word Eos: “dawnâ€], and in Germany, Ostara [this comes from the German word Ost: “east,†which is the direction of dawn]†(Englehart, p. 4).
and there's
Halloween= Samhain, or Sowen, celebrating the dead
(taken from The Real Story of Halloween)
...you get the picture.
Hopefully you guys could come to a happy understanding. But you have to keep the possibility in the back of your mind that this may not get resolved. Like witch13 said, if he can't accept you as you are, then it was never that strong as you have it in your mind as being. It's not your fault; it's hard to find that kind of connection with
anyone, about anything.
Change is the default setting of life. Everyone changes, along with their spiritual beliefs. You're evolving and further defining your spirituality ...what serves you, what no longer does, etc. The reality is that folks around you, even those that love you, may not evolve down the same path upon which you're evolving (and vice versa). Hopefully you don't make the "if I'm submissive and repress my true desires and beliefs he'll love and accept me" mistake. Women do this quite a bit, but what happens later down the line is that the shadow self, the inner you, the inner Kali-ma that all women have,
will retaliate against that self-imposed repression ...and it won't be pretty. Best to be yourself now, and surround yourself with a support system of people who respect that self, regardless what spiritual path you happen to embrace.
About
Kali:
Kali's dwelling place, the cremation ground denotes a place where the five elements (Sanskrit: pancha mahabhuta) are dissolved. Kali dwells where dissolution takes place. In terms of devotion and worship, this denotes the dissolving of attachments, anger, lust, and other binding emotions, feelings, and ideas. The heart of the devotee is where this burning takes place, and it is in the heart that Kali dwells. The devotee makes her image in his heart and under her influence burns away all limitations and ignorance in the cremation fires. This inner cremation fire in the heart is the fire of knowledge, (Sanskrit: gyanagni), which Kali bestows.
.
He might be in for a shock, as I was, but he'll be determined to prove me wrong and jump on Google as soon as he can.
