Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!mephisto!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: garyh@crash.cts.com (Gary Hipp) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Pagans and Christ (was Re: Christians abetting Satan?) Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 90 08:05:18 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA Lines: 78 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article wolves!wolfe@remus.rutgers.edu (G. Wolfe Woodbury) writes: >Not to ignore the rest of Tim's commentary about christian isolationism, >I would like to object strongly to Tim's misinformation. He says: > > ...the "New Age" pagan movement does not honor Christ.... > >This has several wrong assumptions. > >1) The "new age" spiritualist movement is not identical with the > neo-pagan religious movement. Specifically, much of the new age > spiritualism is appended to basic christian belief systems and a fair > number of new agers are churchgoers. IMHO, this hardly makes the new > age people enemies of Christ. Just a cursory study of the New Age Movement makes it easy to see that it is nothing more than and extension of Hindu thought with a western twist. There are similarities in every religion, but Christ does not allow room for competition. Christianity is black and white with Christ the singular Lord and Savior. Any religion that masks or dilutes this, as the NAM does, it is deception and you know who the father of that is. >2) Pagan does not automatically imply Satanic. You all are certainly > welcome to your opinions about the origins and objects of > non-christian religions, but it is offensive and uncharitable to > presume that they are necessarily opposed to the aims of the > Christian traditions. IMHO, "Christian traditions" can be just as Satanic as Paganism. And you are right, Christianity is an offensive religion (at least many of the people are), however, true Christianity is not uncharitable, but quite the contrary. >3) Pagan does not automatically imply that Christ and the God of > Christianity (however any particular christian chooses to define him) > are not "honored". There are a number of neo-pagan traditions that > honor Christ and the Christian god as deserving of reverence. They > simply hold an additional belief that there are other divinities that > also deserve reverence. Pagan may not imply it, but Christ does. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...Jn 3:16. I bring you attention to "only begotten". There is no other divinity. Christ states that He is the way, truth, and life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Christ (and therefore, Christians do not acknowledge any other diety and to rever or worship any other is idolatry and sin of the worst sort. "You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him... You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth." Deut.6:14,15. > >Note carefully: none of this is to imply that the new age or pagan > movements are "christian" in the commonly understood sense of the > word. Nor is it intended to denigrate the faith of any particular > Christian person. I get rather upset when anyone places another > person in opposition to themselves based on wrong information. My responses are not intended to be offensive, but I do wish to inform you as to some foundational truths of Christianity. It is not that paganism does not follow some of the tenants of Christianity, but Christianity does not, by the nature of Christ, allign in any form with paganism. > >I will complain slightly by saying that while I know a large number of > "Christians" that will automatically condemn others for having the > "wrong" beliefs, rather fewer of my "Pagan" accquaintances do the same > simply on the basis of religious opinions. (Of course, there are some > pagans who do that, but its probably the same in terms of relative > percentages.) >-- >G. Wolfe Woodbury @ The Wolves Den UNIX, Durham NC > UUCP: ...dukcds!wolves!wolfe ...mcnc!wolves!wolfe [use the maps!] > Domain: wolfe%wolves@mcnc.mcnc.org wolfe%wolves@cs.duke.edu > [The line eater is a boojum snark! ] I will complain more than slightly in agreeing with you on the condemnative nature of many Christians. It is this prideful attitude that keeps many of the pagans from experiencing the true joys of a relationship with the risen Chist.