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| | From:  PonySoldier5 (Original Message) | Sent: 11/7/2004 1:31 AM |
One on the main board there was a short thread concerning Christianity and Paganism. GOBF made a valid point about the numbers of Pagans vs the numbers of Christians. I'm sorry...I don't have that number for a comparison, but I can say that there are a lot more Pagans than a lot of people realize. We don't advertise our religion, nor do we have public speakers on it. We keep a low profile because of the flack we catch for being Pagans. Our intent is not world domination, nor do we have "recruiting drives" to bring in more people as some religions do. We get most of our people by accident. They discover us...ask questions and it follows through from there. If they are interested...they join. If not...they walk away. We never try to coerce anyone into joining. We feel that it's their decision and they make it for themselves without any coaching, or prompting from us. If one of us decided to leave and take up another religion, we have no problems with that. Here again...that's their choice. We don't attempt to keep them with us. We would like them to stay, but if they choose to leave we have no problem with that. Our services are not conducted in a chruch. We need no fancy building for that. Usually our services (depending on the weather?) are conducted outside. A forrest setting is ideal. Our religion centers around life and living things...plants, trees and all living creatures. No...we are not the "tree hugging" people of Green Peace. We relate to their platform and we support it, but we will not participate in any of their demonstrations simply because this would be drawing attention to ourselves and we would prefer not to do that. We try to maintain a low profile at all times. There are no stringent rules with our religion: "You must do this!" "You cannot do that!" There are also no dress codes with it either. When holding services....whatever you are wearing is quite acceptable. There is never a collection plate passed around at our services either. We don't conduct "training sessions" on "how to be a Pagan". There are a vast number of books written on Paganism. If someone needs to know, we refer them to any one of those books and they learn on their own. So...Paganism isn't all that different from organized religions. We have our belifs...they have theirs and we respect them for it. I thank your for your time in reading this. |
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Pony were just all people. |
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Pony were just all people. This is very true, but there's a lot out there that don't understand Paganism and they have a right to know....whether they care, or not. |
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Since Wicca has become a recognized religion, more and more people are becoming aware of it. I subscribe to an online newletter called Beliefnet. It contains information on all religions. One of the things it has is the "Religious Joke of the Day" and I noticed that it now contains Wiccan jokes as well. Pony, do you think that Wicca will one day become so mainstream that we'll see church buildings go up and the collection plate passed? I still prefer the outdoor ceremonies. sunday |
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Pony, do you think that Wicca will one day become so mainstream that we'll see church buildings go up and the collection plate passed? I still prefer the outdoor ceremonies No....I don't see this happening simply because we try to keep a low profile because of the flack we catch for being what we are. I see it becoming more wide spread, but not ostentatious as many religions are. Since organized religions began centuries ago we have always been the kicking post for them. Ever since organized religions invented the Devil as a method of instilling fear and loating into their parishioners, we have been cast with the Devil worship lot. Building big, fancy churches would accomplish nothing and would only draw more attention to ourselves and this we don't want. We are a silent minority and we prefer to stay that way. |
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I see Wicca as no different than any other group. If I were going to bash a group it would most likely be the Catholics. |
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I see Wicca as no different than any other group. If I were going to bash a group it would most likely be the Catholics. Therein lies the difference between "us" and "them". We don't bash anyone for their religion, nor do we bash any religion. It all goes back to personal preference. Some choose to be this religion....some choose to be that one. We don't care who is what and we don't bash them for their choice. We respect them for making a choice even though it is not with us. |
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Southern History and Topics wrote:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; ">
Organized
Religions and Paganism
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| From:
Confedup |
I see Wicca as no different than any other group.
If I were going to bash a group it would most likely be the Catholics.
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View other groups
in this category.
none are perfect. the Jews with the romans crucified Christ, the
Catholics burned "Protestant heretics", Jews and "witches" as well as
the "Crusades" against Islam.
Islam..well what do you say..we all know that and Protestants even
burned the odd person too particularly the Presbyterians in Scotland
and Northern Ireland came in for a hard time and the Amish in
Switzerland ( a group of Anobaptists / Mennonites) which really can
only be found on the US / Canada now as the Amish back in Europe
rejoined with the Mennonite churches in 1937.
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PonySoldier5 wrote:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; ">
Organized
Religions and Paganism
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| From:
PonySoldier5
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I
see Wicca as no different than any other group. If I were going to bash
a group it would most likely be the Catholics.
Therein
lies the difference between "us" and "them". We don't bash anyone for
their religion, nor do we bash any religion. It all goes back to
personal preference. Some choose to be this religion....some choose to
be that one. We don't care who is what and we don't bash them for
their choice. We respect them for making a choice even though it is
not with us.
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View other groups
in this category.
which is a bit wishy washy to me.
what exactly do you believe happens when you die?
do you believe in sin and sinners, right and wrong and if so what
happens to wrong doers?
Regards,
Alan
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what exactly do you believe happens when you die? This is going to open up a can of worms! What happens when we die? Most of us feel that when we die we merely join our spirit ancestors in the spirit world. We don't buy into that "crossing over" thing, nor do we buy the bit about "going to Heaven, living in a mansion and walking on streets paved in gold" that I have heard some religions claim. We don't buy the Islamic thing either. "Going to paradise and being given 21 virgins". Those are excellent stories concocted to make the worshipers more stronger in their beliefs. Very typical of some power hungry Holy Men. There is no answer to what happens when we die, because no one knows for sure. There is no proof positive on this. There are many religious theories on this, but they are only theories...not proven. I know of no reported case of someone coming back from the dead and saying "Ok folks...here's what happens when you die!" Many of us (myself included) beileve in reincarnation. We feel that we have been here before. In another time and place. This also is not a proven fact, but indications point in that direction. I am reading a book at the present. "Someone Else's Yesterday" by Jeffery Keene. This concerns a modern day man, a fireman in the East who had attended a party and as a joke, had a phychic reading done. The medium told him that he was once a famous general and fought many battles in another time. This he laughed off. After the incident he began to have dreams and thoughts about the Civil War. He started a research project and discovered that the dreams and thoughts he had were of General John B. Gordon, a Confederate General. He researched this farther and things began to fall into place. Pictures of both Gordon and Keene were very similar up to and including facial marks and small scars. He had a past life regression done and the hypnotist discovered that in a past life he had been General Gordon. There was another reported case of a woman in the UK who began having dreams about a small town on the coast of Ireland. She and her husband went there and began checking small towns along the coast. They finally came to one and many things on the town she remembered vividly and she had never been in Ireland. The docks, some of the very older buildings and other things all came back to her. She remembered events that had happened in another time and when checked...they had happened. So...reincarnation, although not a proven fact, does appear to happen in many cases. There are too many things pointing in that direction to pass them off as mere dreams, or fantasies. |
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I think you are right Pony. |
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I think you are right Pony. Well...I'm not saying I'm right, or wrong on this. I have read many cases about reincarnation...some valid...some questionable. But there are strong indications pointing toward reincarnation. I, personally , had a past life experience (I'll e-mail you on it) and it made a believer out of me. Had that not happened I would still question it. Another good book to read is "Keepers of the Garden" by Dolores Cannon. This also deals with past lives. If interested, I recommend this book to anyone with an open mind. This is not a book for the closed minded. So...I think reincarnation does happen. Again...it isn't proven, but things point that way. |
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PonySoldier5 wrote:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; ">
Organized
Religions and Paganism
Reply
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| From:
PonySoldier5
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what exactly do you believe happens when you die?
This is going to
open up a can of worms! What happens when we die?
Most of us feel that
when we die we merely join our spirit ancestors in the spirit world.
We don't buy into that "crossing over" thing, nor do we buy the bit
about "going to Heaven, living in a mansion and walking on streets
paved in gold" that I have heard some religions claim. We don't buy the
Islamic thing either. "Going to paradise and being given 21 virgins".
Those are excellent stories concocted to make the worshipers more
stronger in their beliefs. Very typical of some power hungry Holy Men.
There is no answer
to what happens when we die, because no one knows for sure. There is
no proof positive on this. There are many religious theories on this,
but they are only theories...not proven. I know of no reported case of
someone coming back from the dead and saying "Ok folks...here's what
happens when you die!"
Many of us (myself
included) beileve in reincarnation. We feel that we have been here
before. In another time and place. This also is not a proven fact,
but indications point in that direction.
I am reading a book
at the present. "Someone Else's Yesterday" by Jeffery Keene. This
concerns a modern day man, a fireman in the East who had attended a
party and as a joke, had a phychic reading done. The medium told him
that he was once a famous general and fought many battles in another
time. This he laughed off. After the incident he began to have dreams
and thoughts about the Civil War. He started a research project and
discovered that the dreams and thoughts he had were of General John B.
Gordon, a Confederate General. He researched this farther and things
began to fall into place. Pictures of both Gordon and Keene were very
similar up to and including facial marks and small scars. He had a
past life regression done and the hypnotist discovered that in a past
life he had been General Gordon.
There was another
reported case of a woman in the UK who began having dreams about a
small town on the coast of Ireland. She and her husband went there and
began checking small towns along the coast. They finally came to one
and many things on the town she remembered vividly and she had never
been in Ireland. The docks, some of the very older buildings and other
things all came back to her. She remembered events that had happened
in another time and when checked...they had happened.
So...reincarnation,
although not a proven fact, does appear to happen in many cases. There
are too many things pointing in that direction to pass them off as mere
dreams, or fantasies.
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The Hindu religion believes i this and "cycles" which would also fit in
with the expansion / contraction of the universe thing too............
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It seems to me, and I could be wrong about this, but some Hindu religions say that if you have lead a pious life and committed few wrongs, or no wrongs you will be reincarnated into a higher Human. In other words...a man who was a common laborer all his life will be reincarnated to become higher up in society....doctor....lawyer...judge....whatever? However...if in your life you committed crimes and stayed away from your religion and were, in essence, a second class citizen, when you are reincarnated, you come back as a lower animal. Dog, horse, goat etc. and not as a Human. I have the basic concepts of the Hindu, Islamic and Asian religions, but I am far from an expert on them. |
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