What is a Pagan?

General chit chat and discussions here.
All are welcome!
Red

Post by Red »

Sercee wrote:We haven't wronged God, we've wronged ourselves, our family, our peers and our Earth. Though, I believe the Earth may be a God in Herself. Or at least a sentient being.
You are right, we wrong ourselves too. It seems you agree that we are at least accountable for our wrongs, the question is to who we are in debt.

How do we make up for the wrongs we have committed against ourselves, our family, our peers and our earth? I don't think we really can at all, what's done is done, whether people forgive us or not the hurts remain.

When we wrong each other it is like we are saying that that person is not worth living. Think about it. You can't quantify that and then "work it off," but when we act as though others do not deserve to exist then we lose our privilege to live. Good deeds and ceremonies, no matter what religion, can't make up for this.
Exilus
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Post by Exilus »

You are correct red, Which is why pagens strive to even when we had our power of empires, and the strengthof nations and were conquering people after people. One thing never onced changed, Walk thy path with the bravery of the gods and allow no harm, that time cannot heal come to pass.


This is not do not kill a man, this means when you do kill a man you have a good reason. Pagens have never went to war to prove our gods better than any other, When greece fought troy, it was over a women, when rome moved its borders out and took over nations it was food, land, women and strength, But the religions of the land was always left intact, when a country was beaten. There was no need to destroy the people beleifs. It was known that one day the people might rise up and strike the empire down and take back what we had conquered.

It was fought against, but never if it meant to destroy the beleifs of the people, because any wrong caused to them would be cured when they rose up behind the banners of their gods.

Pagen go out of their way to avoid causing harm to people, infact we don't even offer to teach our religion or discuss it unless someone comes to us, seeking it.

because we wish to avoid dmging a person who did not wish to learn, In pagen beleif if we do harm someone emotionally, then we are responsable to that person, not their gods because the gods do not involve them selves in petty human desputes, we were made in their immages we as a people are strong enough to handle the most basic of problems, that deal with our own emotions and short comings, instead the gods put us here to watch how we progress and to judge if we are worthy enough to take our places in their great halls, or do we need to be left here(yes this is a form of rencarnaton sercee) to try again to get it right.

and our deeds decide what place we take, me as a soldier who has never wavered, and never found fault in my beleifs, and who has stayed strong to my gods, will hopefully be brought to the hall of heros.

Wolf and the Odinics(I know there is more but I can't think of your names right now) know this place as valhalla, but all pagen religions or most of them anyway teach of something similar.

Where a normal person who passes on will go to the land of the dead to their family and friends who have been deemed worthy, to assume that place.

So our actions, every day we guard to be sure we at least trying not to cause someone harm, and most of us don't fear our gods we respect them, and beleive in our hearts what we are taught to be true so we hold tighter to our beleifs.

Further more when a pagen talks, i am roman pagen, I am odinic pagen, I am eygptian pagen, I am wiccan neo pagen. and many many more, we are all pagen, we accept each other as such, and treat each other as such.

Can christians say the same.

Deirdre my wife is Greek pagen, the jewish of our beleif she follows the ways of the seas, and has teachings that me as roman Steal and stone, do not follow anymore but we do not say your beleif is not valid any longer, because our gods commandments to her still stand as a greek follower, and as long as she follows her laws and beleifs, she will still find her home in the land of the dead.

The dictates of those same gods to me may be slightly different, but they are my dictates, I am the catholic of our faith and religion, stone and steal, land and gold, sex and love in the blink of an eye, but that doesnt mean to her my ideals are any less important. becaus the gods said this to my people not to hers, it changes nothing to hers, and nothing to mine.

Jewish and christians hurt each other and people every single day, want to know how, watch an abortion clinic or a gay rights parade, or paen meeting in the bible belt. Listen to the jewish as they debate was jesus the son of both your god.

Do unto to others, jerry farwell is famous for standing on a pulpit and condeming pagens and gays and jews and much much more, and then in the same breath defending christians by calling us liars when we point out that what he is saying is hateful and not in the spirit of his own faith.

So who would you be accountable to in the end of the day, when the people you have wronged begin to hate, their gods your god, or them.
Because to us its to them, an entity that we will have to face right now, on this planet in this time. We cannot ask our gods for forgivness and just be allowed into our place. we have to earn it and there is no amount of restitution that will ever change that.
Eretik
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Post by Eretik »

Red - Reincarnation was an integral belief of Celtic peoples, of whom the Irish and Scottic Celts are the most Western of all, in Europe, Geographically speaking. So reincarnation is not new in the West. Sorry. I am also sure other faiths may have shared all or part of this concept, predating Christianity, but cannot say until I've checked. Everyone has been very eloquent and spoken as I would already, so I 'm not going to add anything more.
Fintroll666

Post by Fintroll666 »

a very interesting article. paganism is often very misunderstood so its nice to see a few sites that get it right.
Lucine
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Post by Lucine »

Excellent comments, not only do I have a lot of questions that were answered, my daughter has questions as well.

Right now I am merely studying. I don't have much to add. But, someone brought up Satan and I was thinking about this subject yesterday. I am terribly confused about Satan's role and the role of his legion so to speak. If Satan is in fact evil then how is it that he has the role to punish that which is evil?

I have no answer for this so any comments are appreciated.
Reason is out to lunch. How may I help you?
Sobek
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Post by Sobek »

i dont pretend to know alot of that kind of thing but, if satan was sent to hell as punishment, wouldnt it be more of a punishment to punish those who would otherwise be his allies against god?
Baratoz
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Post by Baratoz »

Sobek wrote:i dont pretend to know alot of that kind of thing but, if satan was sent to hell as punishment, wouldnt it be more of a punishment to punish those who would otherwise be his allies against god?
Actually, according to the Bible, Satan isn’t actually in Hell and never will be. He won’t be cast out until he actually goes to war with God just prior to “The End Times”. At the final judgment he will be cast into the Lake of Fire. At the moment, he is just a rebel angel with access to Heaven and God.

Hell was created for man because man was tainted and unable to enter into Heaven until Jesus. Until the death of Jesus, Godly Jews where in Hell but not tortured and everyone else was in Hell being tortured.
Only through silence can we truly hear the words of the Goddess and God.
Sobek
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Post by Sobek »

thanks for the correction, damn scripture teacher didnt know what the hell she was talking about, does it say in the bible he wasnt cast out?
Baratoz
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Post by Baratoz »

Sobek wrote:thanks for the correction, damn scripture teacher didnt know what the hell she was talking about, does it say in the bible he wasnt cast out?
I can’t remember exactly where all the verses are, it’s been a while. I do know that there is the instance with Job where Satan makes a bet with God and I think in there it mentions that Satan is before Gods throne day and night accusing the saints. In Revelations it mentions a war in Heaven shortly before or after the beginning of the end times, where Satan and 1/3 of the angels are cast out of Heaven.

I think they make it seem like Satan is in charge of Hell, because obviously he and his angels aren’t there. So I guess that means God is the one torturing people 24/7. In fact, in Revelations when God captures Satan he is bound and cast into the bottomless pit for 1000 years. Then after 1000 years he is released for a short period of time and then the final judgment happens where he is cast into the Lake of Fire, not Hell.
Only through silence can we truly hear the words of the Goddess and God.
SandyJI
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Post by SandyJI »

This is a really good article. I would like to print it out and show it to a couple friends. Thanks.

This is the kind of information that the closed minded need to read.

Sandy
Sandy

I'm sick of reality, I want my Fairy Godmother!
Eagleeyes23

Post by Eagleeyes23 »

I am so glad that I found this article. I now believe that I have always been pagan but never really realized it or was able to follow it. I grew up in a christian home with very conservative parents any talk about wicca or the like was a taboo topic and got us into trouble. Now reading this I know that for the most part we are like many religions in our basic philosophies. Thank you so much for posting this. I am so eager to learn more about pagan religious beliefs.
LaFiamma
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Re: What is a Pagan?

Post by LaFiamma »

Dancing Moon Child wrote:I don't remember if I've ever posted this
Is there more than One Pagan Religion?
There are hundreds of different Pagan Religions. Some of the best known Pagan religions are Buddhism, Shintoism, Native American Religions, Hinduism, Taoism, Wicca, Druidism, Asatru, Shamanism, Neo- Paganism and Eclectic Paganism.

Is Paganism a Cult?
No, Paganism is a major World Religion, with many branches. More people on Earth are Pagans than any other faith.

>

I'm probably wasting my time here, but this is absolutely contradictory. "Pagan" coveres many different religions, but it is NOT a single religion with many different "branches". I practice two separate religions and they are not "branches of the pagan religion."
Sobek
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Post by Sobek »

What's not a contradiction?
Hascats67

I really enjoyed your article

Post by Hascats67 »

The more I read the more that I realized that I was born a Pagan. I have a love for animals, that I've always been drawn to the water, fasinated with the power of the flame, I lay naked on my bed when the full moon shines in to soak up it's rays and can sence the changes in the weather (most times).
Revolpathon
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Post by Revolpathon »

everyone is born a pagan, it's just that allot of people get indoctrinated into christian based religions.
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