Christians with Pagan Leanings: Why still Christian?

[Donal2018]

I am a Cultural Christian, that is I view myself as someone who was formed in Western Civilization and Christianity is a cornerstone of that. I am not a conventional Christian though.

My views are Universalism mixed with Paganism and other elements. I am also a Scientific Pantheist and a Religious Humanist. As a Humanist, I embrace the varieties of Human Culture and the diversity of religions in that culture.

Also, I was raised Catholic. My religious views are syncretic and universal. I view all the different manifestations of God/Goddess as incarnations or personifications of the sacred. God wears many masks and is mysterious.

I engage in what I call Creative Spirituality, which is basically me making up my own personal religious views. I am a polytheist who views Christ as a sort of "first amongst equals" in the god sphere.

More specifically, my main preference when looking at manifestations of the divine is eclectic spirituality. I am a sort of Celtic Pagan Christian. I look at pagan aspects of Christianity (Christ as a living and dying God, flesh of bread, blood of wine). I also try and integrate Christ into the Celtic Pantheon as the White God, a Prince amongst gods and goddesses.

I identify with that period in history when the Celtic Pagans were being converted to Christianity. Rather than give up their Pagan beliefs and embracing an alien religion, they integrated Christ into their existing religion.

So, I am polytheist but also recognize that God and the Goddess wear many different masks. God is essentially mysterious, and Christ is sort of a Prince amongst Gods, first amongst many.

I would also note that a lot of the above is Unverified Personal Gnosis. A lot of my personal religious views spring from imagination and abstract reasoning versus more realistic cultural reconstruction.

So this stuff arises more out of my consciousness rather than hard information out of history or folklore. I use the term "creative spirituality" to describe it. It is imaginative material that works for me but is subjective and personal, not objectively verifiable.

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[Beloved]

I identify with that period in history when the Celtic Pagans were being converted to Christianity. Rather than give up their Pagan beliefs and embracing an alien religion, they integrated Christ into their existing religion.

So, I am polytheist but also recognize that God and the Goddess wear many different masks. God is essentially mysterious, and Christ is sort of a Prince amongst Gods, first amongst many.

This is an approach I've contemplated myself believe it or not. Are you a fan of C.S. Lewis by any chance? This approach reminds me a bit of the scene in Prince Caspian where Bacchus and his girls feast with Aslan. 

[Donal2018]

This is an approach I've contemplated myself believe it or not. Are you a fan of C.S. Lewis by any chance? This approach reminds me a bit of the scene in Prince Caspian where Bacchus and his girls feast with Aslan.

I read the Narnia books a long, long time ago, but do not remember the scene you describe. I was a big Tolkien fan in my childhood, so I remember C.S. Lewis as Tolkien's friend and colleague. I never read Lewis' non-fiction books about Christianity, but have heard second hand that he was an important writer about Christianity.

[Donal2018]

I am a Cultural Christian, that is I view myself as someone who was formed in Western Civilization and Christianity is a cornerstone of that. I am not a conventional Christian though.

My views are Universalism mixed with Paganism and other elements. I am also a Scientific Pantheist and a Religious Humanist. As a Humanist, I embrace the varieties of Human Culture and the diversity of religions in that culture.

Also, I was raised Catholic. My religious views are syncretic and universal. I view all the different manifestations of God/Goddess as incarnations or personifications of the sacred. God wears many masks and is mysterious.

I engage in what I call Creative Spirituality, which is basically me making up my own personal religious views. I am a polytheist who views Christ as a sort of "first amongst equals" in the god sphere.

More specifically, my main preference when looking at manifestations of the divine is eclectic spirituality. I am a sort of Celtic Pagan Christian. I look at pagan aspects of Christianity (Christ as a living and dying God, flesh of bread, blood of wine). I also try and integrate Christ into the Celtic Pantheon as the White God, a Prince amongst gods and goddesses.

I identify with that period in history when the Celtic Pagans were being converted to Christianity. Rather than give up their Pagan beliefs and embracing an alien religion, they integrated Christ into their existing religion.

So, I am polytheist but also recognize that God and the Goddess wear many different masks. God is essentially mysterious, and Christ is sort of a Prince amongst Gods, first amongst many.

I thought that I would comment here again as the above post crystalizes my current views pretty well. I would say that I am trying to put Christ into a more Pagan context or perspective rather than the other way around.

So I am not a Christian with Pagan leanings; I am a Pagan trying to bring Christ into my Paganism, if that makes any sense. This is still very much a work in progress for me, and there is a lot more to do. Hopefully I will learn more and come to better understanding of both Christ and my Nature Religion/Pagan Views.

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[Donal2018]

I thought that I would comment here again as the above post crystalizes my current views pretty well. I would say that I am trying to put Christ into a more Pagan context or perspective rather than the other way around.

So I am not a Christian with Pagan leanings; I am a Pagan trying to bring Christ into my Paganism, if that makes any sense. This is still very much a work in progress for me, and there is a lot more to do. Hopefully I will learn more and come to better understanding of both Christ and my Nature Religion/Pagan Views.

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So I thought that I would comment further here on the fact that I am a developing Christian Pagan.

I wanted to be honest about it and upfront. I have met some people who describe themselves as Pagan that take offense at Christ being involved in Pagan beliefs and practices. I did not want to hide the fact of what I believe. I also do not want to be problematic to people who have some issues with at least the idea of Christ.

I know that some people who have embraced different types of Paganisms have come from restrictive religious backgrounds, often Christianity. Some of them partly got into their own type of Paganism to get away from that. This sometimes means getting away from Christ.

Also, I know that a lot (most) of different kinds of Paganisms have absolutely nothing to do with Christ. I want to respect those people's beliefs and boundaries as well.

I have gone through phases in my beliefs where I thought I was done with Christianity. It turns out that I may be done with *some* of Christianity, but not with Christ himself.

Where I am at now is a sort of developing Paganism that recognizes many gods, goddesses, ancestors and spirits, but includes Christ as a god in this Pagan scheme. So, a Pagan that believes in Christ, a Christian Pagan.

I hope that my expression of this belief does not rub up against too many people here. I just wanted to be open and truthful about it, because I did not want to present myself here on the Cauldron Forums as anything other than what I am- a Christian Pagan.

[Mandi_S]

Hi all! I don't post often, but I check in almost daily to learn from you all.

For those of you who still identify as Christians (or ChristoPagans) but have obvious pagan leanings, either in practice or in belief, what is it that keeps you tied to the Christian faith?

This is something I am wrestling with personally and I'm curious to hear from others.

For me ultimately I came full circle so to speak.  I was all over the map for awhile.  Through studying other cultures birth faiths, I eventually had to ask myself why I was so dang triggered about my own.

I worked back around the circle.  I was tired and burnt out trying to reinvent the wheel of the year.  Practice was a burden not a joy.  I wasn't effective in manifesting.  I wasn't even trying anymore, just sort of calling it in.  I had my will locked up in trying to determine the validity of my will according to any given system.  I will never be 'good' or harmless to all possible angles.  My being has a cost.

For better or worse I am.

There are aspects of every faith that could be considered cruel or unfair by human standards.

Faiths are practiced by humans.  It's the nature of the beast.  You won't find one that doesn't have human smudges all over it.

The reflexive rejection of Christianity as the religion of the authoritarians had to get unstuck if I ever really wanted to grow into my own feet and wings as a human and become an authority in my own life without being blocked by my own feelings about authority.  I had a lion to beard. 

The cringe at association with humans I didn't like and the knowledge that my God loves people I hate and we might very well share the same afterlife is the Ice Bucket Challenge of Christianity.

For example that fundamentalist bible beater isn't necessarily a great example of Christianity.  Because people often jump ship when faith gets uncomfortable or illogical, the people who never thought past the surface often are the only ones speaking.

Like a gong clanging.  Corinthians iirc mentions that.  I know in part and am known in part.

After a decade or so, walking back into a Catholic Church and participating in the community of my parents and grandparents was/ is a rite of passage.  The smell of the old decaying entryway into the church, walking through the places the stained glass casts color on the carpet that is older than I am flips the switch and parts the curtain.

It was something I had declared off limits.

Outside of hearsay I really didn't have any experience of all the anti everything strictures from the mouth of the God.  I'm not a Hebraic Reconstructionist.  I've not been smited.

The worst things done to me by Christianity were done by other humans.  Not by Christianity.

I have to also admit my parents were not great teachers.  So the transition from childhood faith to adult faith was rough.  They didn't have good answers.

Over time I realized my adult self was taking apart BELIEF by thinking knowledge would be emotionally safer.


So I had to ask myself what I was able to truly believe in and what my goals were.  Was I capable of stake your life and reputation belief in something I hadn't even heard of till becoming an adult and losing my first faith?

What's to say eventually the adopted faith won't fail as the first did, since your adult self is chewing away at it.  How long till the practice becomes just another rerun, till the fire burns out?  What happens to your ability to manifest will if belief doesn't ring your whole being?

Are all practices doomed to fade or be worn away by habitual adult skepticism?


That was why I felt I had to make peace with belief and Christianity. 

[arete]

Hi all! I don't post often, but I check in almost daily to learn from you all.

For those of you who still identify as Christians (or ChristoPagans) but have obvious pagan leanings, either in practice or in belief, what is it that keeps you tied to the Christian faith?

This is something I am wrestling with personally and I'm curious to hear from others.

I'm a polytheist, so I don't deny the christian God. He is a God out of many Gods. I dislike him though. And I break the first command.