Religion

Okay in reply to just about everyone! lol! There is a difference between witches and wiccans - To be confusing all Witches follow basically the same as wiccans only wiccans treat it more like a religion, they do rituals and habits almost every day they are more organised, where as witches follow the religion persay but not every day and we tend to be more free with our spells and rituals rather than follow guidelines - any wiccans out there disagree with me please feel free to let me know - In the big scheme of things or so i have read, anyone who does not follow the one god belief is a pagan, so although buddism is now classified as that "technically" buddism is a pagan religion. kooky huh?

I was always brought up very free to think on my own and be whatever i wanted to be, my mother has always been very spritual and has taught me throughout my life, i cant really remember why but about 5 years ago i really got into it. Whereas before i just believed in it all, i began to read books, collect tools and herbs and doing rituals and spells so thats how i began.

The threefold rule more applies to wiccans, whilst i believe in what i send out comes back to me, im not neccessarily sure that its 3 fold. It's still a good way of thinking though.

hope this answers the questions and if you have more please feel free to ask away.

I'm a Christian (Baptist). I come from a big Christian background on my mom and dad's side. There are so many kinds of Baptists, such as, Southern Baptist, Indipendent Baptist, etc., but I think that's not as important. There are Southern Baptist that are better than Indipendent Baptist and vice-versa. As long as they believe in the Truth, that's all that matters. Being a Christian can be hard and confusing, but it's great to know the Truth. I'm so sick of people trying to take Christianity out of America. In case they didn't know, this Country was founded on Christianity. It just proves that the "end times" are getting closer and closer... I don't understand how people can look around and just think everything just got here by it's self. evoulution as even been proven wrong before. I believe the King James Version is the closest thing there is to the Bible but it's okay to have other versions, too. Being a Christian is great.

brentx08:

I'm a Christian (Baptist). I come from a big Christian background on my mom and dad's side. There are so many kinds of Baptists, such as, Southern Baptist, Indipendent Baptist, etc., but I think that's not as important. There are Southern Baptist that are better than Indipendent Baptist and vice-versa. As long as they believe in the Truth, that's all that matters. Being a Christian can be hard and confusing, but it's great to know the Truth. I'm so sick of people trying to take Christianity out of America. In case they didn't know, this Country was founded on Christianity. It just proves that the "end times" are getting closer and closer... I don't understand how people can look around and just think everything just got here by it's self. evoulution as even been proven wrong before. I believe the King James Version is the closest thing there is to the Bible but it's okay to have other versions, too. Being a Christian is great.

What do you mean by truth?

I mean the Truth about like how everything got here. How God created everything and how He sent His Son to die for us so we can be Saved and go to Heaven.

Not to cause a debate or argument but i have a problem with the King James version because he changed it. The bible in latin said "thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live" and he changed it when he had it translated to "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" so its not the whole truth, but everyone is entitled to believe in something. I think faith is one of the best things you can have, no matter where your faith lies.

Yeah, you're probably right about that, but it means the same thing and it's the closest thing we have to the Truth.

brentx08:

I'm a Christian (Baptist). I come from a big Christian background on my mom and dad's side. There are so many kinds of Baptists, such as, Southern Baptist, Indipendent Baptist, etc., but I think that's not as important. There are Southern Baptist that are better than Indipendent Baptist and vice-versa. As long as they believe in the Truth, that's all that matters. Being a Christian can be hard and confusing, but it's great to know the Truth. I'm so sick of people trying to take Christianity out of America. In case they didn't know, this Country was founded on Christianity. It just proves that the "end times" are getting closer and closer... I don't understand how people can look around and just think everything just got here by it's self. evoulution as even been proven wrong before. I believe the King James Version is the closest thing there is to the Bible but it's okay to have other versions, too. Being a Christian is great.

What do you mean "take Christianity out of America"? Because they obviously aren't going round to peoples' houses going "stop being Christian!" But if you mean in so far as trying to make American laws more representative of what is socially right or wrong, rather than religiously so, I think that that can only be to America's credit. It may have been originally founded on Christianity, but is it not "The Land Of The Free"? (I could give you a hundred examples why it isn't, but thats another topic.)

And how has evolution been "proven" wrong? Oh and by the way, I do think evolution should be taught at school. Its an important theory to know of, even if you only take it as "a theory". You don't have to make kids believe it, you don't have to say it is true, just say "this is the theory, whether or not you believe it is your own choice".

im sorry? how is a witch and a poisoner the same thing? witches are not what the churches and hollywood want you to believe, we dont curse people and the furthest thing from our minds is hurting people and causing harm - poisoners have the intent to cause harm and death and do it, how can you say its the same thing? I really think that you need to do some research before you say things like that

MistressRhi:

im sorry? how is a witch and a poisoner the same thing? witches are not what the churches and hollywood want you to believe, we dont curse people and the furthest thing from our minds is hurting people and causing harm - poisoners have the intent to cause harm and death and do it, how can you say its the same thing? I really think that you need to do some research before you say things like that

Exactly. I don't know MistressRhi, but she is a witch and I very very strongly doubt that she would ever poison someone. She said herself that she believes everything has a life force, and that nature should be appreciated and not messed about with. I would have thought that, reading back a page or two, you must have been aware that that statement was likely to cause offence, unnecessarily.

I'm not religous but, my mom is and I swear it just drives me nuts when she talks about this "god" of her's and shoves the bible in my face and says "read it and repent, or you're going to HELL" and I say to myself "hell is probably funner then heaven, who teh feck wants to read a bible and praise a 'god' that doesn't even care about you, all the time" *takes breath* okay that's it I'm done... I think... umm yeah... *sings a song* "Gerard is an awesome god and stuff and I don't know the rest of the song but, just sing along cos Gerard is an awesome god"

I took the alteration of poisoner to witch to be another part of State-Church witchhunt propaganda. And the deliberate mistranslation is still being used to justify anti-Satanist and anti-woman prejudice. Well, I didn't know much about this verse so off I go to research it...does anyone know anything about why King James decided to translate poisoner as witch?

clarissa:

I took the alteration of poisoner to witch to be another part of State-Church witchhunt propaganda. And the deliberate mistranslation is still being used to justify anti-Satanist and anti-woman prejudice. Well, I didn't know much about this verse so off I go to research it...does anyone know anything about why King James decided to translate poisoner as witch?

I think you mean anti-Pagan, rather than anti-Satanist. They were trying to erase the Pagan religion at the time and the Church wanted to get rid of free thinking women and those who were in tune with nature, which aren't traits of a Satanist (look at the word witch. It's origins are the same as those of the word wicca, so they are related). Anyway, Satanism - although it's been around since the late 1500's - only became a mainstream religion in the very late 1960's and early 1970's when Anton LaVey wrote his Satanic Bible and opened Satanic Churches, so the Church wouldn't have been worried about Satanism before that time.

Ahh yes, that does make more sense.

I think I meant that today it's used as anti-Satanist (whereas before as you said it would have been anti-Pagan) because some Christians still today use it against Satanists or Wiccans. I don't know if that's exactly prevalent now but I was mainly thinking of the Harry Potter Haterz.

clarissa:

Ahh yes, that does make more sense.

I think I meant that today it's used as anti-Satanist (whereas before as you said it would have been anti-Pagan) because some Christians still today use it against Satanists or Wiccans. I don't know if that's exactly prevalent now but I was mainly thinking of the Harry Potter Haterz.

Yeah that makes sense. Yet what's surprising is the number of young Satanists is rapidly growing, as is the number of young Neo-Pagans, but yet the Church still does very little or nothing to try to appeal to young people and stop them from converting to other religions.
And yeah the Harry Potter Haters in the Churches take things waaaay OTT. You should make time in your life for religion but not take so far as to make time for life in your religion.

Starr:

Yeah that makes sense. Yet what's surprising is the number of young Satanists is rapidly growing, as is the number of young Neo-Pagans, but yet the Church still does very little or nothing to try to appeal to young people and stop them from converting to other religions.
And yeah the Harry Potter Haters in the Churches take things waaaay OTT. You should make time in your life for religion but not take so far as to make time for life in your religion.

Again, yes. Overly-religious people really worry me.
I think teenhood is the time in everyone's life where they look to experience new things, sometimes that's exploring other religions. There's something attractive about non-mainstream religions like Paganism, Satanism, Wicca, especially for people who consider themselves non-conformists. I wonder how many of the young Satanists and Neo-Pagans will stick with their new religions past their teens. The Church might do little to prevent young people from converting to other religions because they probably treat it as a phase.

clarissa:

Again, yes. Overly-religious people really worry me.
I think teenhood is the time in everyone's life where they look to experience new things, sometimes that's exploring other religions. There's something attractive about non-mainstream religions like Paganism, Satanism, Wicca, especially for people who consider themselves non-conformists. I wonder how many of the young Satanists and Neo-Pagans will stick with their new religions past their teens. The Church might do little to prevent young people from converting to other religions because they probably treat it as a phase.

True, but many adults I know who are non-Christian converted as a teenager and the beliefs and free-thinking nature of the other religions appealed to them, not the non-conformist side of it. I think if the Church became a little more relaxed, people would be more willing to explore the Christian religion because it's a very fascinating one, especially with all the different denominations it has. Young people dislike going to Church if they are "different" because they feel out of place and uncomfortable, so I think the Church should try to combat that and maybe have more Youth Clubs or something where they can appeal to younger people and make them feel comfortable, as well as teach them about a religion.

Starr:

True, but many adults I know who are non-Christian converted as a teenager and the beliefs and free-thinking nature of the other religions appealed to them, not the non-conformist side of it. I think if the Church became a little more relaxed, people would be more willing to explore the Christian religion because it's a very fascinating one, especially with all the different denominations it has. Young people dislike going to Church if they are "different" because they feel out of place and uncomfortable, so I think the Church should try to combat that and maybe have more Youth Clubs or something where they can appeal to younger people and make them feel comfortable, as well as teach them about a religion.

That's a good idea, but I don't know how well it would work in reality. I can think of a few good Christian youth groups that really bring a community together, give young people something important and spiritual in their lives. I think other religions are more appealing at the moment because they're more of a blank slate; it's something not everyone knows much about and you can explore it. Whereas, for many young people brought up with a Christian background, Christianity doesn't represent much, it doesn't seem particularly relevant to modern life. At least, that's what it seemed to me, and I never liked going to Church. Youth clubs don't work for me, I don't think they work for everyone. There's only so much the Church can do to appeal to young people, without seeming partonising and desperate.

I don't know if this point has been made, but plenty of Christian symbols originated in paganism,. That's right, it's true. I don't remember which ones, but some did.

Sorry if that was pointless.

Overly religious people worry me, too, and I'm technically a religious person.

As for taking Christianity out of America, I think that they are taking out the religion and using the laws. Like we can't have the ten commandments but everyone hates gay people. They take away the good parts and leave the others.

It is true that relaxing in churches makes people more interested. For me at least.
I don't want someone barking fire and brimstone at me. There is a church less than 1/10 of a mile from my house that has one of those preachers that screams. I'm serious. He YELLS the message.
It sounds like, "AND GOD SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE (HA), YOU WILL GO TO HELL IF YOU DO NOT REPENT (HA) AND THEY SAW THIS WAS TRUE (HA)." He goes Ha and everything.
Where as my youth pastor takes us to Sonic and cusses and lets us skate and scream and have fun.

I get the message from my youth pastor, but I just feel contempt for the screaming preacher.

Having a "Godly" religion isn't something you should use to make yourself feel better. You should love God because you feel like you should.

And a lot of Christians forget that you shouldn't force your religion on people. We should say try to introduce it to people, and if they say no, just live with it. We shouldn't condemn them or stone them or make them leave.

People forget that, and they start hating us.

We're not all snobs.

Hey, look up which symbols originated with Paganism. I think you might be referring to the fact that sometimes people take Pagan symbols and give them a meaning that Christians can accept.
Like the pentagram meaning the five wounds of Christ.

People just can't leave stuff alone.