Why does paganism sound so bad?

Are you pagan?

Total Votes:

[ 0 ]

This poll closed on February 6, 2005.
No longer accepting new votes.

[Squeax_Unknown]

I personally am pagan. People hear that and the first thing they think is "Oh man, this freaky chick is going to hell." Wrong. How can I go to hell if I don't personally believe in a hell?

Pagan basically means to me that I have a mixture of beliefs. My mixture is all of them, mainly wicca(also not evil). I believe that whatever anyone thinks is going to happen to them after death is what's going to happen. Let's say you believe in an almighty punishable god. The after you die you believe in heaven. Well, when you DO die...bam...you're in heaven. Well done.

I believe in my own personal heaven. A heaven with all of those that I have loved and all of my friends throughout life. My eden. But I DO NOT believe in a god who will punish those for lying(taken from the ten comandments)...That would be from christianity.

I see holes in almost every religion, but there are parts of religions that make sense, and that I do believe.

What about you guys? Think I'm going to hell? Or do you think the same? What DO you think?

[progie]

It only bothers me in the sense that all religions bother me. Which is that I consider them a cruch that people use to avoid taking responsibility for their lives and themselves. It's no better or worse than all the rest.

[Deoridhe]

I believe that this is yet another pagan thread whining about closed minded people. rolleyes

I think there may well be a heaven, but I'd rather not go there as it would keep me apart from my gods. YHWH is one of th emore isolated of deities, and I prefer the warm and conflict-ridden closeness of my gods.

[Squeax_Unknown]

I agree with you on that, but basically...there are not set rules to what I believe. I believe no matter what...there's my eden waiting for me at the end.

I mean, something has to happen to us after we die right? Try imagining ceasing to exist all together.

[Sinner]

cradleunknown

I see holes in almost every religion, but there are parts of religions that make sense, and that I do believe.

This strikes me as terribly misguided.

You're picking and choosing parts of religions that you like. Now, what are the odds of that being right?

[Triste Morningstar]

cradleunknown

I agree with you on that, but basically...there are not set rules to what I believe. I believe no matter what...there's my eden waiting for me at the end.

I mean, something has to happen to us after we die right? Try imagining ceasing to exist all together.

No, something doesn't have to happen. There doesn't have to be an afterlife.

[maenad nuri]

it bothers me because theres three other pagan threads on the front page.

[Deoridhe]

cradleunknown

I mean, something has to happen to us after we die right? Try imagining ceasing to exist all together.

I have. Sounds rather peaceful to me. I'm not pagan for the afterlife, you see; I'm paan for the life. The afterlife can take care of itself.

[Fanard]

I'm not saying this but my friend really wants me to post it

"We should all just write every religion down on a piece of paper and throw them into a hat and draw. Example:

"Satanism......Fock!"

[Kahri]

Nuri

it bothers me because theres three other pagan threads on the front page.

Wait... why?

[WolfWonderess]

*sigh* I really can't help but wonder...if you are pagan and do not believe in hell, then why does it matter so much to you whether someone believes you are going to hell or not?

[Dermezel]

Sinner

cradleunknown

I see holes in almost every religion, but there are parts of religions that make sense, and that I do believe.

This strikes me as terribly misguided.

You're picking and choosing parts of religions that you like. Now, what are the odds of that being right?

Isn't that basically what non-fundamenatlist christians do? Or is picking and choosing only ok when a Christian leaps arbitrarily from "creationism" to "evolution" because genesis was "obviously" a metaphor according to hindsight?

[Operation Shoestring]

Dermezel

Sinner

cradleunknown

I see holes in almost every religion, but there are parts of religions that make sense, and that I do believe.

This strikes me as terribly misguided.

You're picking and choosing parts of religions that you like. Now, what are the odds of that being right?

Isn't that basically what non-fundamenatlist christians do? Or is picking and choosing only ok when a Christian leaps arbitrarily from "creationism" to "evolution" because genesis was "obviously" a metaphor according to hindsight?

The bible is more poetry than anything else. Extensive use of metaphor and imagery is commonplace. (or do you think that Jesus was calling his folowers literal sheep? and calling peter a literal rock?) Not taking genesis literally is not being "arbitrary", it's being sensible, given the knowledge we have.

[Axioma]

cradleunknown

How can I go to hell if I don't personally believe in a hell?

This is possibly the stupidest thing I've read in the last 15 minutes.

Are you suggesting that a person who doesn't believe they can crash their car can't possibly crash it? That a person who doesn't believe drugs are addictive can't POSSIBLY get an adiction, no matter how much drugs he or she does?

[Dermezel]

AyanamiRei

The bible is more poetry than anything else.

How many Christians would actually agree with that? How many have in the past?

AyanamiRei

Extensive use of metaphor and imagery is commonplace. (or do you think that Jesus was calling his folowers literal sheep? and calling peter a literal rock?)

Well Karl Marx uses metaphors too when he says "A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism."

Now I doubt he is really calling communism a spectre, but that doesn't mean the whole communist manifesto is meant to be taken as poetry or metaphor.

AyanamiRei

Not taking genesis literally is not being "arbitrary", it's being sensible, given the knowledge we have.

That's debatable but not really my point.

My point is that if you accuse someone else of "picking and choosing" because they see some tenets of a belief system as legitimate, and others not (and hence implying it's all or none) then you must subject all belief systems to the same standard- Christianity included- and hence accept either all traditional beliefs or none.