A Witch's 10 Commandments

[cesara]

Re: A Witch's 10 Commandments

[quote author=cesara link=topic=728.msg20029#msg20029 date=1291567851]
Lunacie, you are offering some great information here -- you are indeed, practicing apologetics.
[/quote]

Oy, that sounds a little harsh....I meant, it looks to me as though you are practicing apologetics.... sorry.... :-[

[Lunacie]

Re: A Witch's 10 Commandments

[quote author=Tylluan Penry link=topic=728.msg20023#msg20023 date=1291566754]
But if you add a few things, - whether or not they're contradictory - it's no longer the traditional training, surely?

And yes, not getting the basics IS a big problem, in so many walks of life!
[/quote]

I look at like we've all got the same basic framework, but how we decorate it can be very individual.

A street of houses that were all built the same can all be painted different colors, some may have shutters while others don't. You may add wall-to-wall carpet or a bay window, but you still have a basic 2-bed 1-bath cottage.

Adding another room on one side may change it enough so that it's not the same kind of house anymore, but it may not make that much difference to the basic house plan. Bumping it up and adding another story, that's a pretty big change.

[Lunacie]

Re: A Witch's 10 Commandments

[quote author=cesara link=topic=728.msg20029#msg20029 date=1291567851]

Personally, I find [insert religion/spiritual path here] apologetics both enlightening and necessarily educational.

I don't think it's fair that some people flail their arms around screaming 'You don't know about my religion at all!' without offering some form of apologetics to aid that person in their understanding....

Lunacie, you are offering some great information here -- you are indeed, practicing apologetics.
[/quote]

* goes back to read definition of apologetics again *

Nope, I don't think offering information is practicing apologetics. I'm not arguing with anyone or defending attacks on my religion, I'm just sharing some info. I'd say I'm being more of an educator than an apologetic.

[Gwen]

Re: A Witch's 10 Commandments

[quote author=Lunacie link=topic=728.msg19992#msg19992 date=1291557939]
Commandments or laws are delivered by someone who says "Hey guys, I had a conversation with god and this is what he told me to tell you." Wicca is about experiencing our own conversations with the gods and finding out first hand what we can do for ourselves. It's not a "revealed religion", it's an "experiential religion."
[/quote]

Let me muddy those waters a bit: Hindus interact directly with the gods at home, at street shrines, and at temples. They bathe, dress, share meals with, pray and chant to Them daily, and while I don't think it's as common to have lengthy conversations with the gods as many Pagans do, it's certainly not considered to be a one-way relationship. At the same time, Hindus have many religious-cultural practices that are carried out as diligently as commandments theoretically are (eat with right hand only; dress modestly if you're a woman and wear a bindi for Devi when you're of age; pay attention to caste and sub-caste when you seek marriage and work; remove shoes when entering a temple or home; worship in specific ways; etc).

What I'm trying to say is, it's complicated!

[quote author=Lunacie link=topic=728.msg19992#msg19992 date=1291557939]
And my point was not to nit-pik about the word "commandments" so much as to say that I (personally) don't see any point in comparing the rules of one religion against the principles of another. Twenty-some years ago Pagans were still trying to "make nice", and "not rock the boat", and assure the Christians that we're not really that different from them. But I don't see it being so necessary a decade into the 21st century. I had thought we were past that sort of thing so I'm very disappointed to see an author trying to Christianize our Pagan spirituality.
[/quote]

I think this kind of dialogue has a place beyond "we're not actually scary because we are like you!" So much strife in the world is caused or exacerbated by a lack of understanding of religions different from the dominant one in a region. (Take, for example, the bee's nest currently in the US's bonnet about the entire Muslim world.) Something like this list is not going to create a deep understanding of Pagans to Christians, but it is going to provide an entry point that might make it easier for us to be good neighbors. Choosing not to attempt to understand one another usually creates problems, and you gotta start somewhere.

Lemme flip this around a bit. So I've been Pagan for a bit short of a decade, and I am still working through some bitterness toward Christianity imbued by my Southern US upbringing. I've seen some pretty spectacular oppressive and extreme evangelism in action. I'm not studying Christianity in depth from the inside, but I am seeking a better understanding through cursory study of those liberal Christian theologies that I can appreciate because of my path and sensibilities. When, for example, I read about Genesis 1:28 being interpreted to mean that people are divinely charged to treat the earth gently and kindly, I find that I can understand and respect Christianity as a whole that much more. Now my view of that theology is going to be rather different than a Christian's, but it provides me an entry point because it intersects with my own views.

[quote author=cesara link=topic=728.msg20029#msg20029 date=1291567851]
Personally, I find [insert religion/spiritual path here] apologetics both enlightening and necessarily educational.

I don't think it's fair that some people flail their arms around screaming 'You don't know about my religion at all!' without offering some form of apologetics to aid that person in their understanding....
[/quote]

^ this.