Those with christian backgrounds (Creator, Earth, Deist, choice, hell)

[Reverend Rick]

Originally Posted by BFD_Zayl

last I knew other paths could post in a DIR as long as the question or comment was respective of the DIR

Thats the way I read it. When I quoted a Mod who said we cannot post PERIOD, I asked what the tenets where so I could be in compliance with the rules, not to be off topic.

So the situation is, Paganism has no set tenets, but to post in the DIR we must stay inside them.

[MaddLlama]

The OP posted the thread in the Paganism DIR so he could get answers from Pagans.

[Reverend Rick]

Would I not be qualified to speak on this issue being brought up Christian and becoming a Pagan and dealing with the same issues as the OP as well?

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

Would I not be qualified to speak on this issue being brought up Christian and becoming a Pagan and dealing with the same issues as the OP as well?

It doesn't bother me, but of course I'm not the starter of the thread.

[Isabella Lecour]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

Thats the way I read it. When I quoted a Mod who said we cannot post PERIOD, I asked what the tenets where so I could be in compliance with the rules, not to be off topic.

So the situation is, Paganism has no set tenets, but to post in the DIR we must stay inside them.

It's still a moot point. The op was for Pagans to answer. Doing so was staying in the spirit of the DIR.

Asking for the tenets of Paganism is a week arguement when the OP was crystal clear.
Just don't let post boardom get the best of you. Good posts will be along any day now...summer's just about over.

So can we get back on topic?
This was getting interesting.

[Kcnorwood]

About two years ago I told my mom that I was Pagan & was studying witchcraft at first she was your typical parent & had the typical response. It's been a year & she's starting to understand alot more about what I believe. Last time we talked about he she told me she didn't want to see me go to hell. I told her that I didn't believe in hell & that if god loved me so much why would he send me there? And then of couse I asked her is there anything I could ever do that she would send me to such a place, She hasn't said anything about it in weeks now!

[wednesday]

^ My parents tend to support what ever i do. i think the thorn in society is ignorance and it is wrong of her to expect you to accept a God that to date, hasn't exactly come down here and done anything for anyone. If she really cares about you she will accept your beliefs because she loves you and not because shes letting her own beliefs get in the way of her judgement.

[CelticRavenwolf]

I remember wondering why a God who loves us so much would lets us burn in the fiery torments of hell? The only response I ever got was "God doesn't let us, we choose it by rejecting him". I was a pretty literate kid. I read cover-to-cover a simplified children's bible when I was 12, supplemented by the weekly readings at church and my own studies at home. It seemed so odd to me that there were so many contradictions in the bible, how God could change from vengeful to loving, then back again at the end of the world - did you know that according to Revelations only 144,000 celibate men will be saved? 14:3-4

Speaking of Revelations, that was a book missing from my childhood text! Have any of you ever read it? You wanna talk fire and brimstone, Revelations is enough to give anyone nightmares!

Anyway, long story short, I was 16 when I knew in my heart that Christianity wasn't for me, but I kept going to church until I was 18 because it meant so much to my mother. But finally I couldn't take it any more, and told her that I was done, that I rejected Christianity and all of it's teachings. She accepted my decision, but I was disappointed that she didn't want to discuss anything with me. A short time later I realized that I missed the sense of community and belonging that is the church.

A lot of things led me to my decision. The idea of heaven and hell never did sit well with me. Even heaven didn't sound all that great to me. There is so much on Earth that I won't get the chance to experience that not being allowed to come back would be my idea of hell.

My only fear, one that has plagued me since I renounced christianity, is that of loneliness. Say what you will about christianity, but one cannot deny how uplifting it is to worship with others who share and confirm your beliefs. I have no one who shares my beliefs, no one to worship or participate in ritual with. I can hold feasts and parties under the pretext of Samhain or Solstices, but the spirituality has to be kept to a minimum if I want my peers to participate. Sidenote: I believe that this is why so many pagan communities fail. We are all standing alone in a room of hundreds.

As usual my replies are dreadfully longwinded! So if you just skipped to the bottom, hell was never an issue for me, leaving the community of the Church was the hardest part.

[UltraViolet]

Originally Posted by Kcnorwood

I was wondering for those of you who were brought up as christians how long did it take you to stop thinking that you might be going to hell? Well not hell excatly but to....get past what you were taught & move on with something that's a completly different.

I grew up "going to church" and catholic high school,
but I didn't actually get sucked into it all till my mid-late 20's,
then I got out again in my mid 30's.
I'll be 40 this year, and believe me,
I'm something completely different.

I have been breaking down every (religious & world) taboo
I can find in myself, one at a time,
actively laying them to waste,
and I've never felt more myself.
I've never lived more alive.

(though I consider myself more of a sourceress than a pagan)
(my closest match to a "known" "label/way/philosopy" now
it seems would be Chaos Magick)