How can someone be a Christian Witch?

[Y0m]

i am every religion.

one love,
namaste

[Lily Cantodea]

I misunderstood you then. I apologize.

That's a little outrageous for the church to say that the paranormal doesn't exist, when Christ himself is proof of the existence of it. All the miracles he worked? Those certainly aren't normal occurrences (well, maybe for the practitioners of magick, it is, but outside of that, it certainly isn't). Christ's resurrection is supernatural (I'm not talking about reincarnation, I'm talking about being raised from the dead). To be a Christian it's almost mandatory to believe in the supernatural/spiritual realm, since one of Christianity's basic doctrines is the belief that Jesus died for our sins and rose again - that's supernatural/paranormal. Dead people leaving their tombs isn't something I'd call natural.

If by paranormal, though, you mean things like ghosts/spirits, then I could see their perspective on it. My own denomination believes that there are no such thing as ghosts, only evil spirits or demons pretending to be the deceased person. They acknowledge that the spiritual realm does exist, but they just don't believe in the existence of ghosts per se.

[Lily Cantodea]

I really don't believe their philosophy, just saying. I believe that ghosts and demons are two separate entities. Ghosts are generally harmless entities, the souls of the deceased who are in limbo for some reason (there are as many reasons as there are ghosts), and demons are dark entities who attempt to hurt the living. Now, I also believe that there are angry/malevolent ghosts who, if they can gain enough strength, try to hurt the living as well; it's these beings who are generally the ones that scratch people. Then there are what we call "shadow people," dark figures that aren't necessarily souls of the deceased/ghosts. In fact, I'm not really sure what these beings are, but they're usually associated with evil/demonic energies.

And then there's the poltergeist, but that's simply a manifestation of someone's negative energy (usually kids who are going through puberty and/or people who have gone through some sort of tragedy or trauma manage to somehow allow their energy to manifest into an entity). Those who are sensitive/psychic/whatever you want to call it, or those who display psychokinesis, are generally more prone to developing a poltergeist. Sometimes poltergeist activity is attributed to demonic possession; though not to say that demonic activity and poltergeist activity don't mix, they're two separate entities.

But that's just what I believe. I don't claim to know everything there is to know about the spiritual realm. But everything that I've stated beforehand, my denomination discounts it all as being demonic.

[Lily Cantodea]

It's not interesting if you're a sensitive and all your relatives are telling you that you're seeing demons - even if said relatives are sensitives themselves.

[Lily Cantodea]

I prefer not to reveal that information on the internet. Sorry.

[Lily Cantodea]

It's fine. It's nothing against you - it's for personal reasons.

[Abida-Sahara]

I don't think one could be a Christian witch, since Christianity as a religion implies that you follow the various gospels and commands in the Christians New Testament. The issue is that Christianity asserts to be both absolute and universal, so to does it's sister faith Islam. I don't think either belief can be meshed with Wiccan practices IMO.

However one could follow the Abrahamic God, within a Wiccan framework. In that you would have to turn to the oldest of the Abrahamic religions, that being Judaism. Judaism does not assert that it is a universal religion. Jews don't wish to make everyone Jewish. In fact for any "Gentile" (Non-Jew) essentially there are only seven basic rules you'd have to follow called Noachide laws. The Noachide laws are mostly laws found in the first book of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis) or derived from elsewhere in the first five books via Talmudic commentary.

Noahide Laws:
Prohibition of Idolatry or not having idols before the Abrahamic God.
This is a vague law, in one sense you could adhere to the idea that other divinities are avatars of the same "Maker" deity or the God of Abraham.
Prohibition of Murder.
Self explanatory.
Prohibition of Theft.
Self explanatory.
Prohibition of Sexual crimes.
Sort of open ended, but it would entail prohibitions against pedophilia, rampant "lust", rape, incest... ect...
Prohibition of Blasphemy.
In Judaism this means refraining from saying the actual name of the Abrahamic God just to be safe.
Do not eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive.
Fairly self explanatory.
Requirement to have just Laws/act in a Just manner.
On the personal level this could just be akin to saying be just on a personal level, but as a group be just or have just laws.

Under these fairly basic laws you could build from that a practice that suites you. I have in the past toyed with it and still sometimes consider it as an option. Though it wouldn't say be the Christianity/Islam of your parents it would be something that bridges the gap I suppose.

[sylphaxiom]

Also, as a side fact, Jews believe that saying the true name of God (which is never actually said or allegedly even known) would undo all of existence.

And much of the modern Craft, is actually taken from the Cabala. Aleister Crowley (his early work before he started turning rather dark and overly narcissistic) Has several books about bridging the gap with the Cabala and the Craft. When he was with The Order of the Golden Dawn, much of his focus was on Cabalistic writings and using the Cabala as a basis for his craft.

If I'm wrong please correct me, but Crowley was an interesting step for me onto this path and some of his early works (although a bit wordy excessive) were very informative. Especially an interesting work called "777" which is about numerology and the Cabala. I even tried to obtain a copy of the Cabala, but the only Jew I knew was my aunt's partner and traditionally, women aren't allowed to study the Cabala so she didn't have one.

[Lily Cantodea]

Many Christopagans worship the Virgin Mary as the female aspect. Look at just about any Christopagan site (there's some included in the Web sites and services thread) and read through their beliefs. Most of it actually makes sense.

[Xal]

Also, as a side fact, Jews believe that saying the true name of God (which is never actually said or allegedly even known) would undo all of existence.

Where did you hear this?

[Abida-Sahara]

I know in Judaism that saying the name of their God is kept tightly under wraps. Though most Jews do in fact know the actual name. Never heard that it could undo existence if verbalized because I believe the Jewish priests (Called Kohenim) gather at the Wailing Wall and give some special blessing using the actual name. Instead of say HaShem (The Name), they say the actual tetragrammaton (SP?).

[Lily Cantodea]

Also, as a side fact, Jews believe that saying the true name of God (which is never actually said or allegedly even known) would undo all of existence.

Where did you hear this?

Agreed. Jews don't believe, or at least I don't think they do, that saying His name will undo all of existence. The reason why they don't say it (they don't even write the whole name out on paper) is because they see it as something that is very, very holy. In fact, I've heard that if they write His whole name out on a piece of paper, they have to burn it.

[**LexxyKae**]

: [b]Excuse me, but i ahve a few questions. I believe in God and Jesus and even revlations but i do not believe in the bible specifically. I would very much enjoy practicing Universal Eclectic Wicca because i believe that would allow me to believe in God and Jesus and at the same time become wiccan. Am i mistaken? Please i would love any information of how I (as a believer in God, Jesus, and the Revalations) can become wiccan. I am 15 and I'm seeking an elder tutor in the practices. I thank you in advance for any knowledge you share with me. )O(
Thank you,
LexxyKae[/b]

[frisbee]

Has anyone heard of Episcopal Bishop Spong? He's questioned every orthodox Christian teaching you can think of, from the virgin birth to the resurrection. (And he's quite an awesome guy, from what little I know of him.) This guy is a BISHOP! And you say a Christian can't believe in the Goddess, or practice magic?

The Anglican/Episcopal branch of Christianity in general allows for a wide variety of beliefs. Then, there's the United Church of Christ. And the Quakers, who place personal divine revelations over scripture and tradition. Yes, there still are the fundamentalist fuddy-duds, and they are arguably the majority within Chrisitanity. But there is a liberal, progressive branch of the Church that says it's not about what exactly you believe, but about being a good, loving person--LIVING in a manner that would honor Christ.

[TheBlackDahlia]

Just my little particular venue of belief here..

As numerous people have already said, the bible has been butchered by translations and agendas by the men writing it. It's often even argued if Mary was a prostitute--she had her own Gospel, and a few other gospels mentioned her, even, with Peter asking Jesus why he told her things he didn't tell the rest of them.

But because it was a woman being close to Jesus, the Catholic church decided they'd burn her gospel (very, very little is left that is still understandable), and hang the word prostitute on her and remove any phrases that might suggest that she was closer to Christ than the disciples.

I am not a Catholic Witch. I think Catholicism is tyrannical, honestly, and while I know that many people believe in it, I think it's very, very oppressive.

There is a marked change between the God in the old testament, and the God that Jesus speaks about. The God in the old testament could be imagined as a father with a belt in his hand, (over simplifying, forgive me, ) where as the new testament is a much more caring father who doesn't care if you're rich, poor, blind, lame, doesn't care what you've done as long as you are genuinely remorseful for the wrongs you've done to others.

I was named after Christ, even; my mother named me Christy. Over the years I had a difficult time with this, as I fought with myself over my beliefs, I even completely gave up Christianity when I was 13 in favor of Wicca, but a few years later, I had an awakening of sorts. It didn't feel nice, for days all I could do was lay in bed because I just had no more energy.

After that, restored in my Christian beliefs (most of them--I've always been terribly liberal about things, dad was a hippie. ) I went so far as to consider going to college to be a minister, but I have always been at war within myself; there are certain things in this world and abilities within myself that cannot be explained simply by Christianity, or even simply by Witchcraft.

It's only been this year that I've finally erased the line. My mother took me to a Methodist church all my life, where the slogan for lack of a better word is 'open hearts, open minds, open doors'. They don't care if you're black, white, purple, gay, straight, transgender--if you want to worship, you're welcome and wanted.

Taking those core beliefs, I found it easy to mix my Christianity with a belief in witch craft. Witch craft, done responsibly, is not what the media depicts; I've never met one witch in my life with mal intent. I don't worship a Goddess, or a God really. I believe they're one entity. I also don't go around trying to 'convert' or 'save' cause--well honestly? That's just obnoxious.

So--I guess that got kind of long and preachy.. (told you, once upon a time I wanted to be a minister!) It's just how it worked out for me, I guess. Stepping off the soap box now!