Dragon Religion/s

[Dradolan]

Christianity has been against Paganism for quite a long time because well, they think Pagans believe in the Devil. Even though Paganism has been criticized and shun by Christians, they don't mind taking traditions from Paganism and using it as theirs.

I know it has been said by many people that it is impossible to be both a Pagan and a Christian but people have managed being both. Worship God and do rituals and spells as a Pagan (Technically that is a Wiccan).
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~Akrisha Dradolan~
Nothing.

[Shiari]

Part of being wiccan involves the beliefs too... Can't be christian and worship the Goddess as well. :/

If you pick and choose too much, it ceases to be actual christianity. Go to any christian church and ask if it's okay to perform spells and use magic. I doubt you'll be told that it's all peachy.

The reason why pagan holidays were 'stolen' was to help bring the populous in line. It's easier to switch religions if only so much changes and the traditions of thousands of years do not change readily. The holy-days that christians now worship may share the same days and some symbolism (or in the case of Easter, a goddess' name...), but they are still very much christian. As a pagan, I'm not going to be celebrating the supposed birth of Jesus on the 25th just because it happens to fall near the solstice... and so too do christians not celebrate the solstice just because it falls near christmas.

[SkieFireYokana]

In response to Dradolan: No, they can't, unless they specifically ignore the commandments of God which explicitly prohibit and condemn witchcraft and the worship of other false gods, which are those gods you are calling upon in rituals, which are themselves witchcraft. Shiari is right: Christianity--in pure form--is totally exclusive of paganism (witchcraft), unless you abstain from performing any ritual at all ever and don't ever believe in the actual gods of paganism. Paganism is not exclusive of Christianity, however: theoretically (and probably in practice somewhere) you can have a variant of paganism which worships (the Christian) God and performs rituals in his name. But that's just like having a variant of paganism that worships a particular preacher and performs spells in his name. He doesn't like it, he doesn't want it there, and he wishes it would go away. You cannot be a Christian pagan.

And no, Christianity does not believe Pagans believe in the devil. Not anymore they don't, anyway. In medieval times they thought Pagans worshiped the devil, which is an example of the arrogance of ancient Christianity: they couldn't believe in other gods, because other gods didn't exist, so they had to be worshiping Satan since they obviously weren't worshiping God. Originally they didn't believe they were worshiping the devil, they understood that they worshiped other gods: but they still had the same problem of "You are all wrong." They were worshiping other gods, but those other gods had no power and did not exist, while they believed theirs did. Not only that, but it was repeatedly said in the Bible that witchcraft was forbidden, and these people were practicing it.

There are two points you're correct on. Christians took pagan traditions (see Saturnalia, now Christmas) and used them for themselves. This is largely due to the first Christian emperor of Rome in... what was it, 300 CE? They had feasts based upon the Roman tradition and the Roman religion, but he no longer considered these valid and didn't want his people celebrating under the Roman false gods. But also, people have "managed" being both Christian and pagan. Not many and not well, because they cannot follow Christian law as long as they are pagan, but they have done it. People have also claimed to be Islamic and then turned around and condemned pedophilia despite that Muhammad, the ultimate example of morality, married a six year-old girl and consummated that marriage with her (that is, slept with her) when she turned nine. You can do both. You can't do both right, it's just not possible.
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Happy Fourth of July everybody! The funniest thing about this signature is that I wrote it on the fourth of July, 2010, and it's probably going to be here for several months.

[Dradolan]

Right. I am not going to say anything more. I shouldn't have talked about something personal so it was my stupid idiotic mistake for even mentioning I believed in something. I am VERY sorry .

Forget all that I said. Topic ventured off here.
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~Akrisha Dradolan~
Nothing.

[CB]

My personal idea of beliefs is that you will be a lot happier going by what you believe than letting a belief structure form your ideals for you. If there is a god, i doubt he will bar you from a good afterlife just for not believing in a word. I think you should figure out what you feel is right (in a rational, weighing-both-sides approach) and not worry about going against a set religion, because in the end you may decide that religion is not suited for you.

Edited: Spelling. ~Namhias.
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I would love to have you on MSN, send me a PM with your IM account. Or not, if your that kind of person.

[Namhias]

[SkieFireYokana]

I feel I should also add that I may have been overly fervent or passionate in stating what I did, though of course since I've been speaking with Dradolan over PM he knows that.

That said, I still do not think Dradolan's belief system is logically consistent, but then again neither is Christianity or Islam. Really, my argument with him is a matter of vocabulary: he says Christian and pagan, while I say such a thing is impossible as stated. Obviously he defines his terms differently, as I've found in speaking with him. In either case, I don't think he should stop discussing his beliefs, since there is no logical reason why he should feel attacked. Even if someone proves beyond a doubt that he is wrong et cetera--which is not my purpose or desire--he doesn't need to listen. That's the nice thing about religion. You can learn and become aware of other points of view or information, even when it completely disproves your beliefs, and nobody--well, besides me--will criticize you for being illogical and sticking to your impossible dogma. Like I said, I have no reason to dislike his beliefs any more than Christianity or Islam. I'm not singling you out, either; I always do this. It's my hobby at this point. Don't worry about it.

Someone once said "I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. I just do things." I'm always chasing and barking at people, telling them this and that about their illogical beliefs, and I have no idea what I'd do if I actually converted someone. Not my goal. I just want people to think and have to defend their religion for once. If they can, good. If not, there's no reason for them to believe that. That's all I did with Dradolan, and if I offended him, I'd like to publicly apologize for doing so. I just won't apologize for bringing up the points that I did, only for the abrasive manner that I did. I'm sorry for having done that. It's a habit, and I didn't realize that you were sensitive to it. I genuinely hope you don't stop talking about your beliefs, because I'm only one person on this forum, and I'm the worst one when it comes to religion. Lots of others will be happy to talk to you and learn from you and such. You shouldn't blame them for what I did.
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Happy Fourth of July everybody! The funniest thing about this signature is that I wrote it on the fourth of July, 2010, and it's probably going to be here for several months.

[Hyraxylos]

I looked over the Draconic Wicca site actually some time very shortly before Dradolan linked it, and... well, to each their own.

I don't agree with Shiari and SkieFireYokana. Christianity has split apart so many times that there's just not so much place in it anymore for organization. I suspect the definition of "Christian" is going to drift away from that such that it will no longer mean "member of an official organization of Christianity". If my guess is correct, I'd say it's an improvement; whatever happened to the philosophies of CHRIST being at the center of everything "Christian"?
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