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nerdygirl
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23 Jan 2016, 6:50 am

GoonSquad wrote:
^^^

Yes. The Romans did not persecute Christians and Jews because the Romans were intolerant. They did so because the Christians and Jews were intolerant and refused to give the state cults their due.

Also, strictly speaking the Greeks and Romans were polytheists, but not pagans. They called the 'country folk' who worshipped spirits, nature, etc. pagan.


You are right...the Christians were not "giving their due" to the the state cults. They did not go to the temples or participate in the religious prostitution. Christians were considered atheists by the Romans because they did not worship a god in the form of an idol or statue. But is this not INTOLERANT? There was no freedom of religion. The Romans were communicating "believe what we believe and participate in the state religion or we will persecute you."



nerdygirl
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23 Jan 2016, 6:57 am

Where do all of you who make no difference between religions get your basis for proper behavior?

Different religions and cultures, including pagan ones, throughout the millennia have held to different standards of morality, much of which you would find absolutely horrendous today. So where do you get "it only matters how one behaves?"

How is one supposed to behave? Where do you get that standard? Who decides which way of life is right?



Kuraudo777
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23 Jan 2016, 11:50 am

My philosophy is kindness and love to all living things: animals [including humans], trees, rocks, mountains, the whole earth.


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AR15000
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23 Jan 2016, 12:11 pm

The_Blonde_Alien wrote:
Note: This is more or less a sequel to one of my previous threads. Here a link to it: viewtopic.php?t=300864

Since I've herd in the aforementioned thread that the Devil/Satan might be based on one or several pagan gods, I've come to wonder which Pagan Gods are the most ethical and environmentally friendly?

Are these Pagan gods just as or more corrupted as Christianity itself? Or are they simply given a bad name because of the Christian Church's never-ending lust for world (and religious) domination?

Please take note that I have a profound interest in paganism itself. Although I have yet to sympathize or identify with any pagan god or goddess. :wink:

Tell me all about them! :D :heart:





Christianity is paganism in denial. You have 3 good Gods(Father, Son, Holy Ghost) and one evil God(Satan/Lucifer).



nerdygirl
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23 Jan 2016, 12:21 pm

AR15000 wrote:
The_Blonde_Alien wrote:
Note: This is more or less a sequel to one of my previous threads. Here a link to it: viewtopic.php?t=300864

Since I've herd in the aforementioned thread that the Devil/Satan might be based on one or several pagan gods, I've come to wonder which Pagan Gods are the most ethical and environmentally friendly?

Are these Pagan gods just as or more corrupted as Christianity itself? Or are they simply given a bad name because of the Christian Church's never-ending lust for world (and religious) domination?

Please take note that I have a profound interest in paganism itself. Although I have yet to sympathize or identify with any pagan god or goddess. :wink:

Tell me all about them! :D :heart:





Christianity is paganism in denial. You have 3 good Gods(Father, Son, Holy Ghost) and one evil God(Satan/Lucifer).


What is your definition of a god?

If God is one to be worshiped, then you're wrong - Christianity has ONE God. Yes, in trinitarian form. But ONE God. Same in character and quality (though Jesus added human form to it, not subtracting his "Godness.") Satan is not worshiped in Christianity.

If God is all-powerful, and all-knowing, again Satan is not God.

Pagan have different characters, qualities, and powers.



Gwaredydd
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23 Jan 2016, 12:53 pm

I believe we pray to the best aspect of ourselves, good or bad.
Whether they can be identified as common to others is left up to debate.
My Goddess is called Arianrhod, literally, "Silver Wheel" or basically the moon. She embodies the Divine Feminine, the most perfect of womanhood. My God has many names; Lleu, Mabon or Cernunos, even the Saxon Hern. In whatever aspect, I look for him in myself. The wheel of the year, sun and moon gives the Pagan faith great diversity; good and evil are but shades of the same hue. I believe that what you give to the Universe, so shall you receive; it is a Natural Law and very true.



Barchan
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23 Jan 2016, 3:04 pm

Nine7752 wrote:
It's stricter if you're "mono". If you're going to promote a single god, then you have to enforce compliance - hence all the rules against false idols and burning witches and beheading journalists. Montotheism is also much better suited to centralized state power.


I often hear people say this, but I feel like it's an oversimplification. The largest religious group in India (and the third largest religion in the world) is polytheistic Hinduism, but India isn't exactly leading the world in human rights. Sikhs are monotheistic, but India's Sikhs are much more liberal than their Hindu brethren. Lastly we have Christianity, which is borderline-polytheistic, but shares most of its core values with Judaism and Islam which are monotheistic.



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23 Jan 2016, 3:11 pm

Barchan wrote:
Lastly we have Christianity, which is borderline-polytheistic, but shares most of its core values with Judaism and Islam which are monotheistic.


:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: Too funny. This sounds like parody. That it isn't just makes it better.



techstepgenr8tion
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23 Jan 2016, 3:21 pm

Important to forget as well - a great many, if not most polytheisms are actually composite monotheisms. That is to say they believe in an incomprehensible deity that manifests itself in myriad smaller and more comprehensible pieces. A lot of the Mediterranean systems of deity, by some alusion likely the Nordic, and going east the Hindu and pre-Buddhist Chinese is of that type of panentheism.

You see systems quite often also being described as having atheism at the top, deism slightly lower, and polytheism below that. That means what is at the top is so incomprehensible that to name it a living deity makes no sense and grossly personifies it, thus a lot of people in the west who are of Orphic, Hermetic, or other persuasions refer to it as the 'No Thing' . From that drops a myriad of chains of increasingly specific consciousness until you have that which is right above us that we can relate to most closely and which IS probably more likely to care what we think, say, or do than anything above it and then you have us on our level. I think that's what people tend to prefer to call 'metaphysical atheism' because while it does accept the doctrine of reincarnation, does accept immortal (ie. never born, never dying) definitions of consciousness and an march ever closer to where it came from (analogies to nirvana and paranirvana) it would agree with reductive materialists on one thing - that there's no personal deity brooding over how people behave, whether they eat pork or shellfish, whether they have sex without a wedding ring, etc. etc..


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techstepgenr8tion
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23 Jan 2016, 3:25 pm

Adamantium wrote:
Barchan wrote:
Lastly we have Christianity, which is borderline-polytheistic, but shares most of its core values with Judaism and Islam which are monotheistic.


:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: Too funny. This sounds like parody. That it isn't just makes it better.

This.

The Jews, prior to the Babylonian captivity and the persuasion of the Persians, were polytheistic. El was their Zeus.

The strange irony about Islam is that the Quran is wrapped in 'We' statements, it's deemed perfectly acceptable of one God, and encouraged not to be questioned.


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Barchan
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23 Jan 2016, 3:50 pm

Adamantium wrote:
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: Too funny. This sounds like parody. That it isn't just makes it better.

I don't understand what you mean by this. Explain?



Barchan
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23 Jan 2016, 4:02 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
The Jews, prior to the Babylonian captivity and the persuasion of the Persians, were polytheistic. El was their Zeus.

Yes, this is true, but I'm talking about Judaism in the present tense, not its early tribal history. I'd also like to point out that Israeli Jews and western Jews have vastly different values, for the most part.

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
The strange irony about Islam is that the Quran is wrapped in 'We' statements, it's deemed perfectly acceptable of one God, and encouraged not to be questioned.

It's called the Royal We. Ever heard the queen of England refer to herself as "We"? It's the same thing. An individual may use the word "We" to emphasize their power and authority. The King James Version of the Bible also has God use the Royal We. Of course the Quran and Torah weren't originally written in English, and any English translation can only be considered an approximation of the original meaning.



techstepgenr8tion
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23 Jan 2016, 6:50 pm

Barchan wrote:
Of course the Quran and Torah weren't originally written in English, and any English translation can only be considered an approximation of the original meaning.

The non-English versions of the Quran have it too.


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Barchan
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23 Jan 2016, 7:41 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
The non-English versions of the Quran have it too.

Okay. And that changes what, exactly?



techstepgenr8tion
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23 Jan 2016, 7:58 pm

Barchan wrote:
techstepgenr8tion wrote:
The non-English versions of the Quran have it too.

Okay. And that changes what, exactly?

I'm a sucker for completeness. You didn't mention it, now it's covered. :)


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Kuraudo777
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23 Jan 2016, 8:01 pm

I don't know if I would call myself a Panganist, but I love ancient mythology and spirituality, love nature and the earth, and have many similar viewpoints as Wiccan healers and Wiccan magicians.


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