Looks like the “you can’t worship Jesus and be a Pagan” faction are getting even more vehement.
THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN SOMEWHERE!!!1!
Okay.
I’ll draw the line so that it includes this:
And keeps this out:
How’s that sound?
Looks like the “you can’t worship Jesus and be a Pagan” faction are getting even more vehement.
THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN SOMEWHERE!!!1!
Okay.
I’ll draw the line so that it includes this:
And keeps this out:
How’s that sound?
I don’t get the conflict. a polytheist by definition worships many Gods and holy Beings. If one wants to include Jesus in their personal pantheon, what’s the issue? We’re not monotheists. It’s not an ‘either/or’ scenario. the xenophobia, narrow mindedness, and insularity that seem to so define swaths of the contemporary communities (especially Heathenry) would have been quite alien to our ancestors. Ancient polytheism was by its very nature tremendously diverse and inclusive. so….as a historian of religion, as much as a polytheist myself, I just don’t see why people are so up in arms.
It absolutely is! And the thing that gets me is that so much of this Pagan antipathy to the idea smacks of rankest Protestantism. In practically every discussion of this I’ve seen someone say some variation of “The Bible and the teachings of the church make it impossible to be both Christian and Pagan!” Well, yes, that’s true from the perspective of the elite but for most of its history that elite represented only a tiny fraction of the total body of Christendom. Already in the epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Corinthians (among others) you find communities that are not attached to the notion of monotheism, who have no problem participating in Pagan ritual and who honor gods, spirits, angels and other divine beings alongside Jesus and his father. Granted, Paul is vehemently condemning these ideas and practices – but the fact that he does so shows that they existed simultaneous with the more “mainstream” view. Indeed, if these communities had had a spokesperson as literate and charismatic as Paul I think our perception of early Christianity would be very different. As it stands the apologists and missionaries and prelates of the church militant are constantly condemning the heretical and syncretic and backsliding tendencies of their flocks from the Roman period on up to recent times. Constantly. They were better organized, had better control of resources and were more willing to resort to violence to eradicate the competition – but that doesn’t mean we are obligated to privilege their version as “true Christianity.” If anything I’d say we’re obligated to resist that impulse.
Catholicism for me is like alcohol to an alcoholic, so I have to keep away or I’ll start using again. Jesus and Mary are prominent on my ancestral altar because they were such a huge, driving part of my life for so long, plus my ancestors worship/ed them exclusively. Pantheism allows us to have our cake and eat it too, as long as it’s the part of the cake we want.
That is such a perfect way to describe it!
It’s too bad that, unlike pharmaceutical ads on television, the latter “Love Spell To Find A Soulmate” doesn’t come with a list of side effects. Fortunately, you have me, and I know from the imagery used that this particular spell can have the effects of losing one’s voice, unexpected musical numbers with crustaceans, and turning into seafoam.
I’m now trying to imagine a popular film version of Andersen’s original.
I LOLed so hard
Glad you approve!
It would be fun to treat every Disney film that involves magic in a modern pharmaceutical warnings fashion…but, not now, there’s too much other important stuff to do! ;)
Yeah, it’s funny how many of those “all gods are one God, and all goddesses are one Goddess, and there is but one Source” types conveniently ignore Jesus as part of that oneness they’re always on about.
Funny’s not the word I’d use ;)