My Chrisitan Friends....ugh
As humans it is natural that we look for a higher power of some sort, it is hard to explain our existence other wise. Although some of us find it in one of the oldest faiths such as Wicca, or Shamanism or Buddhism and so on, there are also the others. By this I mean Judaism, Hinduism, Muslim and Christianity to name but a few. Yet, of all the religions, I find the one that causes me the most frustration is Christianity, it is fair to state before going any farther, this is not an attack on Christians or their faith simply observations, and a note or rather confession if you will, I have done my Jesus years, I got the shirt and as the saying goes burned it and moved on. For me at least, I had a great deal of difficulty reconciling a God, that was so judgmental and told us not to judge but told us that being different was wrong. That we were not suppose to judge people but not accept them either and than to be told we were suppose to not judge and love everyone, the confusion of the bible was one of the many things that brought me a great deal of discomfort. I have a great deal of difficulty with people who profess to be "Christians" and only act that way on occasion, or those that are Christians but are so judgmental and feel the need to cast the stone in someone else's house as though they have the right to judge because ' their god calls them to do so'. Having said all of this I also know friends that live their interputation of the bible the best they can, and I say if that works for you so shall it be.
As I said this is not meant to be an attack on Christianity or any other faith for that matter, what brings you solace, so long as it harm no one else in my personal judgment has value, but here again we run into a problem, because so many people believe their faith not just Christians is the one true faith, although they seem the most vocal, and feel the need to judge people based on their value system. In truth at it's most basic level we are all human, we all bleed, we all feel hurt, we all need love and joy, we all strive to find understanding and acceptance in a world that at moments feels so full of anger. I can only assume that if one were to look back over the ages of man we would find the greatest reason for anger and hate is based on misunderstanding and the feeling of not being accepted or an unwillingness to accept others because they are different. If my theory is correct, if this is the case, imagine all that we could fix, change and make better by simply accepting and listening to others. Know I am not saying that we will always agree or that we always should, I am saying that if we do not start by acknowledging the most basic principle that life, all life has meaning, equal meaning, if we do not try to listen openly and honestly than we continue as humans to perpetuate a world of hate and mistrust because we can not except that others are different than us.
Which brings me to this, I have friends, whom I care a great deal for, and they are of all faiths, and for the most part they no matter who they are do not pass judgement, except for my Christian friends, who feel the need to point out that their bible says this or that constantly. So this is part of my frustration, I am not Christian, I do not believe in heaven or hell, I do not subscribe to the idea that we have one God, and that they are judgmental, for lack of a better word, as hell. I do however, get offended at the constant need to attack those that are different from you, and although it might be subtle it is still done. The constant the bible says this so I believe this is exhausting and rather you know it or not does not make you sound faithful it makes you sound as though you are questioning your own belief and hey if you are having and existential crisis that's fine. This is normal and we all at one point and time experience it on different levels.
But as someone who is not Christian let me set the record straight on a few basic concepts for you, Christianity is not the oldest faith in the world, Shamanism, Paganism and Wiccan are the oldest, followed by the Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Muslim, and last Christianity. Satanism, is not the same, as Wicca, in order to practice Satanism you have to believe in the idea of a devil, Wiccans do not, although they believe in the idea of good and bad and that one cannot nor should it be allowed to cancel the other out. Your insistence that it is the same is an insult to me and my ancestors, because I practice my family religion of Wicca, although several generations removed I am a witch, my church is the earth, I love the elements and embrace the seasons, and if you were honest with yourselves and did research about your faith you would find that the holidays you so willingly embrace because they are in your bible, which was written by man as an interputation of your God, are actually Pagan, and Wiccan in premise. Let that sink in for a minute....and give it pause, there are reasons for this, which I will not get into at this point, I think I have beaten you over the head enough.
My point is this, I do not judge you based on faith, I accept all faiths and peoples, I am not blind to the fact their is evil in this world, I have endured it, but I find it frustrating, even rude that in a nation where Religious tolerance was demanded by the founding fathers, in a nation that was founded on the concept of natural laws not Christianity, that I am not allowed to voice in public my faith or beliefs because they are different than yours, that I am not allowed to be offended that every time I turn around your 'faith' is being loud and judgmental. If you do not agree with something simply do not do it, I am uncertain of why this is difficult to understand, but this is not a Christian nation, this is a nation built on immigrants and different religions, and you seldom hear Jew's or any other religion complain that the world is being controlled by Christians so why do you feel the need to complain about everyone else? Your faith demands you not be boastful, to many of us who are not Christian being boastful includes the constant need to tell everyone that they are living wrong because they are not living the way your bible says they should, And that your constant need to say your bible says this and telling everyone you are Christian is being boastful. Outside of your circle of Christian friends, let me assure you no one cares what your faith is. So I am asking, that you stop take a step back and consider rather you are being boastful and offensive to others around you? If your not sure ask, someone and be willing to listen honestly and openly to someone else's opinion, and I say this because Christians are so willing to share their opinions about how others live their lives, rather asked for or not.
Tolerance should be an acceptable and desired outcome regardless of your 'religion' after all love and tolerance are taught by all religions on various levels. So I ask this, don't let your faith determine the way you treat people who are different than you rather use it as a way to develop empathy and understanding for those that are different. You can say I am going to hell but as I stated I don't believe in it's existence so for me it means nothing, and I had a Christian friend say well just because you don't believe it exist doesn't mean it doesn't and my response was this, and just because you do doesn't mean it does exist. In the end, my request is simple, I am a witch I find solace in my practice, and in my beliefs I do not agree or believe in the so called Christian tradition and if you don't agree with me that is fine it matters not to me, and if you don't want my faith pushed on you stop pushing yours on me and that is true of every other religion or a law you don't agree with, stop pushing your religious views on others and just chose to not participate in that action. Be responsible for your own actions and worry less about others actions. Be a good steward of the human race, who choses to embrace what ever your faith may be not a religious person who attempts to change the world. The world around you does not care what your religion is they only care how you treated them and made them feel.
Which brings me to this, I have friends, whom I care a great deal for, and they are of all faiths, and for the most part they no matter who they are do not pass judgement, except for my Christian friends, who feel the need to point out that their bible says this or that constantly. So this is part of my frustration, I am not Christian, I do not believe in heaven or hell, I do not subscribe to the idea that we have one God, and that they are judgmental, for lack of a better word, as hell. I do however, get offended at the constant need to attack those that are different from you, and although it might be subtle it is still done. The constant the bible says this so I believe this is exhausting and rather you know it or not does not make you sound faithful it makes you sound as though you are questioning your own belief and hey if you are having and existential crisis that's fine. This is normal and we all at one point and time experience it on different levels.
But as someone who is not Christian let me set the record straight on a few basic concepts for you, Christianity is not the oldest faith in the world, Shamanism, Paganism and Wiccan are the oldest, followed by the Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Muslim, and last Christianity. Satanism, is not the same, as Wicca, in order to practice Satanism you have to believe in the idea of a devil, Wiccans do not, although they believe in the idea of good and bad and that one cannot nor should it be allowed to cancel the other out. Your insistence that it is the same is an insult to me and my ancestors, because I practice my family religion of Wicca, although several generations removed I am a witch, my church is the earth, I love the elements and embrace the seasons, and if you were honest with yourselves and did research about your faith you would find that the holidays you so willingly embrace because they are in your bible, which was written by man as an interputation of your God, are actually Pagan, and Wiccan in premise. Let that sink in for a minute....and give it pause, there are reasons for this, which I will not get into at this point, I think I have beaten you over the head enough.
My point is this, I do not judge you based on faith, I accept all faiths and peoples, I am not blind to the fact their is evil in this world, I have endured it, but I find it frustrating, even rude that in a nation where Religious tolerance was demanded by the founding fathers, in a nation that was founded on the concept of natural laws not Christianity, that I am not allowed to voice in public my faith or beliefs because they are different than yours, that I am not allowed to be offended that every time I turn around your 'faith' is being loud and judgmental. If you do not agree with something simply do not do it, I am uncertain of why this is difficult to understand, but this is not a Christian nation, this is a nation built on immigrants and different religions, and you seldom hear Jew's or any other religion complain that the world is being controlled by Christians so why do you feel the need to complain about everyone else? Your faith demands you not be boastful, to many of us who are not Christian being boastful includes the constant need to tell everyone that they are living wrong because they are not living the way your bible says they should, And that your constant need to say your bible says this and telling everyone you are Christian is being boastful. Outside of your circle of Christian friends, let me assure you no one cares what your faith is. So I am asking, that you stop take a step back and consider rather you are being boastful and offensive to others around you? If your not sure ask, someone and be willing to listen honestly and openly to someone else's opinion, and I say this because Christians are so willing to share their opinions about how others live their lives, rather asked for or not.
Tolerance should be an acceptable and desired outcome regardless of your 'religion' after all love and tolerance are taught by all religions on various levels. So I ask this, don't let your faith determine the way you treat people who are different than you rather use it as a way to develop empathy and understanding for those that are different. You can say I am going to hell but as I stated I don't believe in it's existence so for me it means nothing, and I had a Christian friend say well just because you don't believe it exist doesn't mean it doesn't and my response was this, and just because you do doesn't mean it does exist. In the end, my request is simple, I am a witch I find solace in my practice, and in my beliefs I do not agree or believe in the so called Christian tradition and if you don't agree with me that is fine it matters not to me, and if you don't want my faith pushed on you stop pushing yours on me and that is true of every other religion or a law you don't agree with, stop pushing your religious views on others and just chose to not participate in that action. Be responsible for your own actions and worry less about others actions. Be a good steward of the human race, who choses to embrace what ever your faith may be not a religious person who attempts to change the world. The world around you does not care what your religion is they only care how you treated them and made them feel.
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