Heretical?
"I feel so inspired by my Pagan encounters. I no longer subscribe to or feel moved by an 'Almighty God' up there, only knowable through the blood of his son. I am no longer convinced by the story - the all powerful and all male monotheistic God who sits alone, separated from His creation, with the flawed followers below all struggling and striving to gain his approval.... ...This God sends his son to bridge the gap IN BLOOD?
I just don’t buy it anymore. I’ve not rejected the whole thing for there’s much beauty in it, but the classic fall / redemption model is defunct in my opinion. To me Jesus is still a powerful symbol of the good-ness and god-ness of all people. He was a bringer of light indeed and his gift was to give people back to themselves, rather than set up a human / divine exchange system. He LOVED people into the kingdom by demonstrating the deep love of the divine, which is unconditional and ever flowing. The angry God who demands a price (a blood bargain) for our sins just does not make sense.
To me, Spirit (he, she, it) exists in and through and with and around all people, all creation. Over the millennia various cultures have tapped into this divine current and sought to express it in a multitude of ways, usually reflecting the landscape and culture of its origin. Faith grows out from the land that births it and nurtures it. If not a pantheist I am most certainly now a panentheist for I see deity in all things.
So, can I still also hold onto my Christian identity? I believe I can, for the beauty of the modern Pagan approach is to see all systems as valid. Reading Joseph Campbell has also moved me greatly. He helps us see that religious faith is not only natural but that it is also basically mythological. Myth does not mean falsehood, in fact it means the reverse, truth. Myth is truth told in story form. Myth expresses truth by metaphor, ritual and symbol. The deep power and resonance of the Christian myth is what keeps me from abandoning the world of Christianity altogether."
~Diary of a Heretic
I just don’t buy it anymore. I’ve not rejected the whole thing for there’s much beauty in it, but the classic fall / redemption model is defunct in my opinion. To me Jesus is still a powerful symbol of the good-ness and god-ness of all people. He was a bringer of light indeed and his gift was to give people back to themselves, rather than set up a human / divine exchange system. He LOVED people into the kingdom by demonstrating the deep love of the divine, which is unconditional and ever flowing. The angry God who demands a price (a blood bargain) for our sins just does not make sense.
To me, Spirit (he, she, it) exists in and through and with and around all people, all creation. Over the millennia various cultures have tapped into this divine current and sought to express it in a multitude of ways, usually reflecting the landscape and culture of its origin. Faith grows out from the land that births it and nurtures it. If not a pantheist I am most certainly now a panentheist for I see deity in all things.
So, can I still also hold onto my Christian identity? I believe I can, for the beauty of the modern Pagan approach is to see all systems as valid. Reading Joseph Campbell has also moved me greatly. He helps us see that religious faith is not only natural but that it is also basically mythological. Myth does not mean falsehood, in fact it means the reverse, truth. Myth is truth told in story form. Myth expresses truth by metaphor, ritual and symbol. The deep power and resonance of the Christian myth is what keeps me from abandoning the world of Christianity altogether."
~Diary of a Heretic
posted by Gary O at 5:26 AM
2 Comments:
Amen to this, Gary. I've been at this point a long time. gail o
I agree with Gail and the originator of this...certainly would shift our sense of perspective of Creation and culture if this became mainstream thinking...
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