There's been a fascinating discussion over on Matt Stone's blog about how Christians should (or more to the point shouldn't) deal with Pagans.
My own experience of alot of Christians is that they are actually terribly insecure about their own faith, and worried that it won't stand up to any kind of questions from someone of another belief system. If you couple that with the standard evangelical concept that if you do not believe XYZ, then God will fry you in hell forever (because he loves you so much, of course!!!) and that if I don't tell you this, then when it happens it will all be MY fault (and what terrible things might God then decide to do to me????) you end up with a recipe for serious neurotic guilt.
I have enough problems feeling guilty about stuff that I am not responsible for - I've had depression for the past 20 years - and have had to learn NOT to take responsibility for things that are not my problem. Consequently I don't buy in to the above.
So, to be clear: I am a follower of Jesus, but I don't think it's my job to convert people. I love talking God-stuff with anyone daft enough to want to. I know very little about Paganism, but love hearing people's stories about their faith journey. So - maybe we can start exploring together?
Unexpected November Knitting Challenge
3 hours ago
Hi Pastasmissus, I follow Matt's blog when I get a chance to get on the net, and saw the whole massive comment conversation afterwards. I found the topic particularly interesting because I am Christian while the majority of my friends from my hometown are pagan, and I also celebrate the festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane & Lughnasadh, as well as summer & winter solstice as a Christian. Anyway that's me, just wanted to say hi, and that I thought your comments added grace & peace to the mix that was there & that was lovely to see.
ReplyDeleteHi Fire Girl
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued... please could you tell me more about what you do at these festivals and how you celebrate them as a Christian? Do you do the traditional Christian festivals as well? (I am well aware that Christianity took over certain Pagan festivals for Easter and Christmas!)
Thanks for your kind comments, look forward to exploring together
Hello hello! I'm a Pagan (I tend to say "Vanic witch" to be a bit more specific) and a blog-buddy of Matt. It's good to get your invite to come over here.
ReplyDeleteI totally hear you about not taking responsibility for things that shouldn't be your responsibility. It seems like there's too much of that sort of thing in society these days. I figure I have my hands full just being responsible for me. ;)
Hi Jarred and welcome - I've appreciated your comments on Matt's blogs. Now I'm off to google "Vanic witch" as I've absolutely no idea what that means ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the warm welcome. I'm not sure if you'll find much on "Vanic witchcraft" on Google, as I'm not aware of anyone besides myself that uses that specific phrase. It's meant to indicate that I practice a religio-magical witchcraft tradition that focuses on worship and veneration of those gods who are members of the Vanir (one of the two "races" of gods in Norse mythology). In particular, I tend to honor and work with the goddess Freyja.
ReplyDelete