Dangers of the Occult, New Age, and Paganism

[r21c]

So, personally, if I'm suddenly living on the moon? That's not going to be a big deal to a lot of my core beliefs... belief in deity, afterlife beliefs, honoring of ancestors/those who came before, honoring natural cycles - none of that, to me, seems really limited to earth. Now, some of the context surrounding that may change, which is not a big deal to me - goes back to that flexibility.

Honestly, don't even have to go to the moon to see that. To give one example, I spent a few years living across the country, and a lot of my holidays and their symbolism shifted around a bit because the seasons were a lot different than where I had been living. The core ideas, why I was celebrating, the symbolism in what I was celebrating, those were all the same... just the context of how/when/etc became a little different. For many pagans it's the same, the core ideas can be adapted to what's going on locally. Others may not even need that, because there are also pagan traditions which could be seen as fairly 'universal' as they are.

Just to quote the main part about the moon

No they aren't. How can anyone profess to believe that what some human beings decide to believe here on the Earth can many anything out there to microbes or possible distant planets with some form of life.

That's just being big and not small like we are on the Earth, we literally mean nothing out there, not even on the Moon.

When you see these images, and try and look back at humanity's ignorance over the centuries, and then to see these unknown locations to all life out there that may exist, and including us obviously. It looks to unreal.

http://aboutfacts.net/SpacePlanets/SpacePlanets4/GPN-2000-001137Apollo17.jpg

http://www.retroweb.com/apollo/ap17_tv_flag_s.jpg

http://www.freewallpaper-s.net/category/space/wallpapers/space-5/apollo17_2_big.jpg

http://www.meteoweb.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/apollo17.jpg

This two which is higher resolution, the colours of the soil are so different than what we see from Earth. When any of us get a chance to see the Moon on a full moon, we can say well our ancestors thought the moon looked like that, but we know from those missions decades ago it really isn't that colour.

If you actually watch the footage of Eugene's discovery of orange soil on the moon, they were thrilled. 29mins

Give it five minutes or so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1S-kr2Q7vc

 

[Rationalt]

Yeah, and besides, we're all possessed by demons, remember? That makes us totally more scary than Muslims hiding under your bed.

Your avatar makes you scarily comic.

 

[awitch]

Your avatar makes you scarily comic.

Yeah, I'm probably possessed by Chuck Jones or Tex Avery. That would be so cool.

 

[Gardenia]

No they aren't. How can anyone profess to believe that what some human beings decide to believe here on the Earth can many anything out there to microbes or possible distant planets with some form of life.

I don't recall saying pagan beliefs will mean much to microbes or alien life. Heck, I don't expect pagan beliefs to mean something to every human on earth. Doesn't stop them from being meaningful to some, though.

When I say that some pagan traditions are fairly 'universal,' I don't mean that in a "convert all the microbes!" sort of way, just that these particular traditions could easily be taken by humans out into space, and practiced there. Goes back to that whole flexibility and adaptability thing...

That's just being big and not small like we are on the Earth, we literally mean nothing out there, not even on the Moon.

Yes, yes, we're all quite tiny, anyone with a basic understanding of the scale of the universe can tell you that. Tell me again what that has to do with paganism? It's not like the majority of pagan traditions teach that humans are number one (or the only ones), earth forever, the rest of the universe is awful and useless.

You can understand that the universe is a huge place, and we, both as humanity as a whole and individually, are a very small part of it - and still want to honor and connect with it, honor where we came from, and have belief that there is a deity (which not all pagans even believe, I might add).

When you see these images, and try and look back at humanity's ignorance over the centuries, and then to see these unknown locations to all life out there that may exist, and including us obviously. It looks to unreal.

You're not showing me anything I haven't seen before, but I really don't know what it has to do with paganism being limited to earth. There are strange things in space, and things aren't always what we expect, so...? So what? Space is weird and parts of it are unknown, so humans will give up all existing forms of theism and spirituality because of it? I'm not following. A totally inflexible religion might break as we discover new things, as we continue to explore our universe, and even our own world - but many others will be fine, and grow right along with everything else.

 

[true2theword]

There are many dangers involved when a person practices the Occult, New Age, or Pagan religions. These religions are not true religions and those who practice them do not worship the true God. Instead, they worship Satan although they may not realize that is what they are doing. All Occult, New Age, and Pagan religions are to be outright condemned! Practicing these religions can lead to demonic possession, obsession, and other problems with the demonic realm.

But you don't have to be a member of one of these religions to put yourself in danger. People have encountered demonic problems simply by playing with a Ouija board which they thought was harmless. Some people think Seances are harmless as well but they most definitely are not.

If you are involved in any of these things or have been in the past, I would urge you to repent of your sins. If you are Catholic, go to Confession. If you're non-Catholic, become Catholic. If you have experienced demonic issues or other paranormal issues, contact a good orthodox Catholic priest. They can help you.

I want everyone to know that God is merciful. If you have practiced these things in the past or do so now and want to repent, God will forgive you if you sincerely repent for having offended Him. He loves you more than anything and does not want you to dabble in these demonic religions any longer. Please, come home to Christ and His Church.

yes necromancy is strongly forbidden, we see speaking to those who have left the earth whether with Christ or in hades is not doing what God desires. we dont see or hear from scriptures any apostle of Jesus praying to other departed saints for help

 

[Tenebrae]

You are correct about that, but I think it's important for you, and all Christians, to know why.

Consider what's happened. You start a thread publicly condemning personally held beliefs, yet know nothing about the Pagans here; nothing about who we are, what we value, what we believe, and how we practice. You declare us all to be duped by the embodiment of evil and declare your faith to be superior before wishing we all believe as you despite everything we've experienced and everything we've learned. Then you refuse to comment or respond to any sincere conversation, indicating you have no interest in learning who we really are because you'd rather hold onto your preconceived beliefs.

Can any Christian here honestly say they think this kind of proselytizing will endear anyone to the faith? I can tell you, if I was a seeking agnostic I would be so put off.

Jolly well said.

For me closely followed by christians who ask me about the body from my human sacrifices.

If christians cant take the time to find out what I believe in and think that i would kill someone for religous practices, why would I ever want to listen to anything they have to say about their god

 

[Zoness]

Jolly well said.

For me closely followed by christians who ask me about the body from my human sacrifices.

If christians cant take the time to find out what I believe in and think that i would kill someone for religous practices, why would I ever want to listen to anything they have to say about their god

This 1000x

 

[seeking Christ]

If christians cant take the time to find out what I believe in and ...

Just thought I'd mention I was looking for the quote where Zoness mentioned his spiritual hunger, it not being satisfied in Church, and I was doing so for the purpose of asking him what he had found and / or experienced since. (Which I can still ask even w/o finding the quote, right?) So, please don't lump everyone in together ok?

 

[Illuminaughty]

When I was a kid some of the religious conservatives my family was friends with would always get on my case about the demonic boogie man trying to posses me when I play Dungeons and Dragons. Heck, I thought I was a nerd with no life for having played that game so much but the demons forced to haunt me must have been real losers. Maybe they bother the nerds at the Star Trek conventions too?

 

[elephunky]

When I was a kid some of the religious conservatives my family was friends with would always get on my case about the demonic boogie man trying to posses me when I play Dungeons and Dragons. Heck, I thought I was a nerd with no life for having playing that game so much but the demons forced to haunt me must have been real losers. Maybe they bother the nerds at the Star Trek conventions too?

*giggle*

 

[Eyes wide Open]

I did a Ouji board once as a 12 year old kid with some mates. We all watched in awe as the glass whizzed around the board spelling out things.We all sweared blind we never moved the cup. It wasn’t dangerous in any way because I didn’t create a situation in my mind where a satanic or demonic being was moving the cup, I just laughed it off as bit of a jolly and moved on. What is Satanic (Satan used in its original meaning) is what we create in our minds that moves us from reality ‘as is’ and rather than saying we don’t know, we succumb to the demand of the ego which has to ‘know’ everything, and create something ‘other’. Then that ‘other’ become the norm, taught, believed and ingested, created from person to person in their mind as their reality, culture to culture etc, until it is immersed into society. If Jesus talked about Satan he was referring to creative aspect of the mind and the satanic aspect of that mind which creates the ‘other’, blinding or obstructing you to the reality of now. That demanding ego nature that creates the 'other' is the Satanic/demonic/devil aspect to our creative capabilities, so the very creation of a demon within the mind is in fact demonic, because demons don't exist in your reality other than creating them in your mind. Everything comes back to the self.

 

[seeking Christ]

If Jesus talked about Satan he was referring to creative aspect of the mind

You get to believe what you wish, but you do not get to distort the words of my Lord like this without being called on it.

His words make very plain something that you are apparently unwilling to accept, and have no experience to need to do so.

 

[elephunky]

You get to believe what you wish, but you do not get to distort the words of my Lord like this without being called on it.

His words make very plain something that you are apparently unwilling to accept, and have no experience to need to do so.

People interpret things differently and there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[Eyes wide Open]

You get to believe what you wish, but you do not get to distort the words of my Lord like this without being called on it.

His words make very plain something that you are apparently unwilling to accept, and have no experience to need to do so.

You are calling me on nothing, all you are doing is objecting to my comments, which you are free to do. I could suggest to you that the words of The Lord have been distorted for centuries, how would you call me on it?

 

[Eyes wide Open]

You get to believe what you wish, but you do not get to distort the words of my Lord like this without being called on it.

His words make very plain something that you are apparently unwilling to accept, and have no experience to need to do so.

Belief and faith that is formed in the mind is hollow and worthless. Faith and belief should stem from your intuitive nature, which is the connected aspect of self that enables you (once you can move beyond fear etc) to embrace subtle signals that allow you to follow and apply your thoughts to this guide and to bring this guidance into your reality so you KNOW God is real, it manifests itself in your reality as a knowing, and this is the basis of my belief and I have a great faith in it, not the hollow words created by the fragile minds of men. So Satan, meaning the human ‘demanding’ ego obstructs this process and all you are left with is the creation of God in your mind as thought processes, which may indeed be correct, but how do you know it? So yes I’m free to believe what I want and my above words are ‘calling you’ on your claim that I have no experience of it.

 

[awitch]

You get to believe what you wish, but you do not get to distort the words of my Lord like this without being called on it.

Well at least he didn't say your religion was dangerous, could lead to demonic possession or that it should be condemned, right? I can just imagine how insulted you might have been then.

 

[seeking Christ]

People interpret things differently and there is nothing wrong with that.

Of course. The statement being objected to doesn't fall under that heading.

 

[seeking Christ]

Well at least he didn't say your religion was dangerous, could lead to demonic possession or that it should be condemned, right?

But don't go ascribing insult to me, ok? Calling someone on their blatant error does not equate to being insulted over their mistake.

 

[Eyes wide Open]

But don't go ascribing insult to me, ok? Calling someone on their blatant error does not equate to being insulted over their mistake.

I am not a Christian so I am free to interpret words in the bible to how I see fit.
My own experience does not contradict the life of Christ in any way, nor do I manipulate what he wrote, as he wrote nothing, a telling action in itself, as the word is very open to manipulation, but the life by his example not so. The only issue you have raised is with my use of a word and its applied meaning, feel free to give me your definition of the word Satan and its applied meaning so you can 'call me', and I will do you (perhaps) the same courtesy of calling it a blatant error.

 

[seeking Christ]

I am not a Christian so I am free to interpret words in the bible to how I see fit.

Of course! I'm just pointing out that your rendition has NOTHING to do with anything Jesus has ever been taken to mean by His followers.

My own experience does not contradict the life of Christ in any way, nor do I manipulate what he wrote, as he wrote nothing, a telling action in itself, as the word is very open to manipulation, but the life by his example not so. The only issue you have raised is with my use of a word

And there you are very wrong. The concept you are espousing contradicts a great many events in the life of Christ, both before I came along and after.

feel free to give me your definition of the word Satan and its applied meaning so you can 'call me', and I will do you (perhaps) the same courtesy of calling it a blatant error.

I would not attempt to define satan. The concept you are describing does indeed exist, and most people (if not all) will have it as an adversary to contend with far more frequently than they would ever contend with any power of darkness, be that satan himself or otherwise.

The Bible has many names for what you are discussing, and there truthfully is some potential for overlap between what you are describing and the spiritual realm. Many sayings point to this phenomena, not the least of which is "the idle mind is the playground of the devil." Nonetheless there is a difference between what you are portraying and satan himself, who would prefer to go undetected, and to have people deny he even exists.