A little help?

[[lady joker]]

the topic was 'the best thing a pagan could say' they brought up good points, but this was where my faith was put to the test. i learned something new, nontheless. but what they brought up was right. i mean, i felt like i didn't belong. This is the conversation. (keep in mind this was almost a year ago)

[lady joker]:
This is what i love most. I love to see the reactions the the Jahova people cuz i was a nudist at the time but

"well in my religion, my gods ((and goddesses))have been around for centruies. Yours been around for how long now?"

TeaDidikai: Millienia. So... you might have wanted to rethink that.

[lady joker]: rethink what? i don't get it

Striga: Because Christianity has been around for almost 2 Millenia (20 centuries) now, and Judaism for a good while longer than that

[lady joker]: yeah but i thought the Greek Gods and Goddesses were before all that.

Byaggha: In historical practice.

But if you play by their theology, they still have an out - capital G God has, according to their scripture, been around since forever. And they'll use that fight against you.

Just because the codified theology hasn't been around doesn't mean the god it pertains to wasn't here. Or somesuch.

but anyway, can anyone explain this to me, comment me about this without sounding like your higher than me? they made me feel stupid and i think they were wrong for that. i'm sure that wasn't their intention. I'm not the smartest person in the world. I don't hang around Christians or Jewish people. If my friends believe, i don't bring religion up, or anything. I'm open to new things and opinions and facts, but not with a higher attitude.

anyway, comments, suggustions, help?

 

[WelkingPath]

(First, before I say anything, I would just like to say that this is mostly my opinion. Read it, question it, think what you would like with it. It may seem like I am attacking certain religions here, but I am not. I am simply stating why those religions do not work for me. If you have any problems/questions/concerns post them here or PM me.)

I'm not sure what you're asking for, here, but the fact is Christianity and Judaism have been around for a long time. No one really knows how long, but my opinion is that those who say/write/whatever it's been around for ages and ages (and possibly longer than any religion) have probably skewed views.

On the other hand, I have heard others say that Wiccans think their religion is so old when it really isn't and blah blah blah blah blah. So, my point is it goes both ways.

Yes, Christianity, Judaism, and the practice of Witchcraft have been going on for longer than we can imagine, but who is to say which one came first? We would all like to think it is our own religion, right?

That is another thing. The people who wrote the Bible (origionally) wrote it in a different language. That, no doubt, was a long time ago. And now think about a long time ago...no TV, no books, no soccer, football, or baseball. Nothing but farming, trading, and living, basically. It makes sense to me that those Christians/Jews were closer to their God because they didn't have all this distraction flying around.

But when they translated it into English--I believe they had some other motives.

Magickal people know the slightest erk or tingling or feeling can get in the way of the purest, most kind magickal spell. The people who translated the Bible probably had good intentions, and some connection to God (not neccessairily more than we do today, but still without some of the distractions), but they didn't live in a world that was distraction-LESS.

(Another reminder that this is my opinion. Take it or leave it. Also, I "pick on" Christianity the most because it's the only mainstream religion I know the most about.)

Those that translated the Bible could have been under pressure--from the Church/government--to make women inferrior, to sweep the Witches under the rug, to give people the fear of God and make taking over their world more possible. If they were under pressure, do you think that they would think "God ment to say something like THIS?!" and scribble it out in a rough translation from the Hebrew language?

Now again, I am not saying that Christianity (or any other mainstream religion) is wrong and totally skewed or whatever, I am just saying that this is what I think.

To look at it another way, everyone knows the basics of the Christian creation story. God (who had been forever) created the heaven and the earth and day and night and everything else, resting on the seventh day.

Quote:

Long, long ago, the world slept in the arms of a dark void. From this place of nothingness, Spirit drew together and created Our Lady of Infinite Love.

http://paganway.co.za/blog/?p=7

Here, our creation story states (or implies) that Spirit was around forever.

To sum it all together (sorry--it was long and winded. Sorry again, though, if it wasn't what you were looking for.), every religion would like to think it was created first. I think we need to look past that, and see that religion is all living, breathing people trying to move on to their place of rest. Religion changes, even if the change is ever so slight. We just need to realize that we are all in the same boat and trying to find our way through this plane and to our true homes. Along the way, along our life's path, we should show respect and understanding, because who knows? Maybe all the known gods and goddesses of this earth are one Spirit, and it's calling us home.  

[Rustig]

Again, own opinion. Mostly.

First off, Jehovah's been around for a far while - since somewhere between 1200-200BC. Likewise, the Greek Gods (for example) have been around since about 500BC. Jehovah was there at the beginning of Creation - the Greek Gods weren't, since the Titans created the world and the Gods of Olympus were born later.

"If you play by their theology" is bullshit. If you to find out which god was around longer, you look for evidence. I could create a god today, and say that he was around since the beginning of time. Now, "playing by my theology", my God has been around forever. If he wants to argue that the Greeks has been around forever according to Greek Scripture (particularly hellenistic), ask him for sources.

Lastly, some food for thought - Does it matter how far back a God's history goes? All it shows is a rough period of time where worship of the god(s) was commonplace.