OT: A POLL How many pagans do we have on this Board?

[Varghjärta]

Sometimes it is uplifting. Sometimes very uncomfortable. Sometimes, particularly if someone is trying to make a "convert" out of you, it can border on the offensive.

Well I suppose it would be a lot smoother if the friend one goes with is of the open-minded-kind. Otherwise _I_ probably wouldn't want to go at all -- and if it wasn't with someone I trust.

I don't like to put labels on myself anymore--even "pagan" doesn't always seem to fit.

Me neither, though for the sole purpose of trying to find likeminded I think it is acceptable.

I mean, I can say that I worship bagpipes. And right away people around me will get a clue as to what I share with them, and that could open up doors to new relationships centered around that common interest.
Just a way to lump togeather things into groups that will atleast somewhat reflect the content.

Didn't mean to correct anyone btw, just clarifying a bit why I think it can be acceptable. Aslong as people acknowledge that people are more that those labels.

I am a Christian of the Born Again type

I assume Born Again by definition means that you had an other religion before it? What was it?

However, I would happily share my beliefs with any of you privately because I am completely sold out on what I believe.

Sounds interesting. I'm always interested in what moves about in other folks heart. Do you prefer PM or email?. Email is probably better for me, since internet-access suck where I live it's uncomfortable to be online and write correspondences. Lemme know.

~~~~~~~~~~

BTW, about the defintion of Paganism/Pagan. What I was taught and lernt is that a "pagan" religion or "path" is one that is at it's core "Nature-Based".

Or well, my native lang isn't english and there ain't any other good translations for it then "pagan" but it should all be the same -- so don't chop me into little pieces if that isn't 100% correct. It's considered to my knowledge correct here atleast .

Peace.

[peeplj]

"My mother says I don't need their rebirth.
'Cause she got it right the first time."

--from "Six Days" by Gwen Knighton, as performed by Three Weird Sisters

--James

[franfriel]

I was raised Methodist and drove the pastor mad. I was the kid that always said, "but what about this or what about that?" He was a patient man but only had so many answers for me so I started asking and reading everywhere. I got to know all kinds of people and their religions - catholic, baptist, jehovah's witness, jewish, buddhist, hindu, TM...

So I began to see that once you get past the thick and divisive rhetoric, most religions when not fanatically practiced are heading in the same general direction - helping people deepen their understanding of love and how to live it as best they can.

So with half a lifetime of Christianity, about 10 years of Buddhism, years of TM and meditation, six years of training as a healer and a decade and a half of professional practice, and the last 3 years of working with nature via co-creative science I just don't have a good label. But I suspect there are some that would call me pagan (and a few other choice words ).

To me, there's room for everyone and their spiritual journeying as long as they believe there is room for everyone and their spiritual journeying, too.

Peace,
Fran

[Walden]

Merriam-Webster's unabridged (Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.) says, "One who worships false gods; an idolater; a heathen; one who is neither a Christian, a Mohammedan, nor a Jew."

This is a scream! False Gods? Idolater? Mohammedan? Was this written by Torquemada or something?

In origin, and traditional usage it is a Christian term. From the old Christian standpoint it was a sensible enough concept, however, to those outside, it probably seems as unsatisfactory as defining the word barbarian as meaning any non-Greek or non-Greek-speaker.

The term pagan, etymologically comes from Latin for a villager or a rustic... a country person. In its religious sense, it was adopted by the Church because rural areas were less Christianized.

[fancypiper]

A born again Christian refers to the idea that by baptism, your sins are washed away and you "die" and are re-born sin free.

I am 2 weeks old today. I was born again (baptised) on the 4th of July.

[Redwolf]

A born again Christian refers to the idea that by baptism, your sins are washed away and you "die" and are re-born sin free.

I am 2 weeks old today. I was born again (baptised) on the 4th of July.

Congratulations, and welcome to the family

Redwolf

[Berti66]

another pagan here....... there seem to be many on this list...had no idea.
I finally found this after having been an official catholic but never liked that.....went for buddhism but seemed there were things missing that I was looking for.....then stumbled across the old religion........and I came home.
what I like best about this, is that there are no dogma's (spelling?) and under the pagan umbrella, there are many others like the witches and druids and...

berti

[Cyfiawnder]

I can't believe this thread is still around...!!!

[blackhawk]

A born again Christian refers to the idea that by baptism, your sins are washed away and you "die" and are re-born sin free.

I am 2 weeks old today. I was born again (baptised) on the 4th of July.

Congrats, Piper!

[Joseph E. Smith]

Merry met...blessed be.

[glauber]

I'm disappointed. This is not a poll!

[rh]

This is a scream! False Gods? Idolater? Mohammedan? Was this written by Torquemada or something?

In origin, and traditional usage it is a Christian term. From the old Christian standpoint it was a sensible enough concept, however, to those outside, it probably seems as unsatisfactory as defining the word barbarian as meaning any non-Greek or non-Greek-speaker.

And apparently Merriam-Webster is designed for use by old Christians... certainly the language reflects a strong religious-cultural bias. 1998 seems a bit recent to be retaining the term "Mohammedan", which in common usage has been largely discarded as it is offensive to Muslims.

anyway, it struck me as anachronistic, bordering on ridiculously so.

[dubhlinn]

Bob Dylan is God.

Beware false prophets.

Slan,
D.

[Lorenzo]

A born again Christian refers to the idea that by baptism, your sins are washed away and you "die" and are re-born sin free.

I am 2 weeks old today. I was born again (baptised) on the 4th of July.

Welcome to Paganism!
(oops, sorry! That's right...there's nothing pagan about Christianity! Miracles, Baptism, the Eucharist, Heaven, Hell, Prophecy, Eternal Life, and a hundred other Christian beliefs were not derived from Paganism!)

It's never been controversial! Melanchthon never wrote a book called Aplologia Confessionis Augustanae in 1530 AD, detailing Catholic rituals copied from Paganism.

H. Bullinger never wrote De Originie Erroris Libris Duo in 1539, detailing Catholic "cultic errors" copied from the Heathens.

Isaac Casaubon never wrote De rebus Sacris et Ecclesiasticus Exercitationes in 1614, about how the apostle Paul's use of terminology and ideas came from the pagan mystery religions.

...and thousands of modern scholarly works, such as Drudgery Divine, or The Survival of the Pagan Gods, have never linked the two!

[amar]

The Inquisition (what a show)
The Inquistion (here we go)
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away.
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to staaaay!


speakin of torquemada..