How to Share the Gospel with Pagans by Gwydion

[icymist]

For starters, I am not a Christian. I am and have been Pagan (Wiccan in particular) for several years now. So why am I writing this? Because I understand that believing Christians feel they have an obligation to share their religion with others (I was Christian once and participated actively in missionary work at that time). I have also observed over a number of years that believing Christians tend, however unintentionally, to ignore their own strengths, and to consistently put their worst face forward when dealing with those who do not share their faith. This is especially obvious when they are dealing with Wiccans, Druids, or other "pagan" religions. I have thus written this outline in the hope that it will help Christians understand better who and what Pagans really are, and, in the process become more effective in sharing their beliefs.

Don't Attack

First and foremost, never, and I repeat, never attack. I make a point of reading every Christian tract on Paganism I encounter on the Internet or elsewhere, and the overwhelming majority of them are based on attacking Pagan religions, and those who practice them as "evil, " "devil-worshippers" and "calling them to repentance before they are doomed to hell forever." I have written to the authors of these tracts, asking exactly what they meant to accomplish by writing what they did. The two purposes that are always mentioned are...

1. to protect Christians from being "lured away" from the true faith.
2. to persuade Pagans to return to Christ.

Unfortunately, attacks such as these usually fail totally on both counts.

http://www.everythingunderthemoon.net/how_to_share_the_gospel_with_pagans.htm

[mntleo2]

1. Good Advice!

The truth is that there are some very significant stories in the bible in support of Pagan thinking that connect throughout the Bible such as the story of The Witch of Endor. Remember when the Queen of Sheba (also an Ethiopian) came to visit David's son Solomon it is said she came because had heard of Solomon and his notorious "wisdom" ~ and it says right in the scripture that she came to test his knowledge to see if it was equal to hers.

Jonathon's father (who was David''s best friend, some say his lover) King Saul, consulted The Witch of Endor after his beloved adviser Nathan died and he wanted to contact Nathan through her in order to get some advice about how to deal with his enemies and govern Israel. Who was the Witch of Endor? Her name is significant because it indicates she was Ethiopian, a Falatian who exist to this day. The Falatians were a people who claimed that Moses never left Africa, but settled in Ethiopia. They are also the fore bearers from a great Magician society from which our present day Rastafarians descend.

Old stories exist that one of The Three Kings ~ or Magi ~was Falatian, from Northern Africa. These traditions say these Magi who came to bring gifts to Jesus were from Asia, from Mesopotamia (present day Iran/Iraq/Syria), and from Africa. Living so far apart with no way to communicate, no radio or telephone how did they all know to come at the same time, one might ask? A Magi was a master in all sciences and with magic. In order to be a 'magi" he/she was a master (equivalent to having several doctorates) in all disciplines, a botanist, master artists, engineers, an astronomer, a priest, as well as a medical doctor.

It is also said in tradition that in Jesus' "lost years" as well as his first years as a child he studied under these same Magi disciplines ~ in Egypt and in India under the great Yogis of his time. Indeed one of the first churches established was by the Apostle Thomas in India that also exists to this day. They will tell you Jesus was there as a young man, the Yogis and Falatians were adept in things like being on two places at once, communicating over long distances through meditation, magic in its many forms, they were masters at these practices. but I digress...

The point I am trying to make about paganism and Wicca is that God is God no matter what Face you see, and those of these cultures knew it. These things are historical from the aspect of those not of our culture, but we of mostly "European" culture do not hear those pieces of history, and if we do hear them, they are "folklore" as if those stories we hear are not folklore too (yes they are)! We only hear the rather disjointed Greek/Roman versions that had little understanding of Far East thinking. As other cultures have adopted the "European" version of these stories and remain ignorant as to their roots, we continue to believe they are disconnected.

Because of what I know as a Christian myself I have come to see that Paganism is simply seeing another side of God/Goddess. As a great Hindu spiritual leader once told me after driving around Mt Rainier and noting that it looked like a completely different mountain from every side, but still it was the same mountain. He noted that we of different spiritual faiths look at God the same way, God is One ~ but we often see the One Face that we can relate to, that Face helps us personally and communally connect to All That Is.

My 2 cents,

Love, Cat in Seattle

[mntleo2]

2. Oh and PeeEss:

Christians will not like what I have written about their own history with Pagan people. I have only covered Far Eastern contacts, there are even more European and African contacts that would just make them veclept. But it is the truth that we Christians have basically tried to hide our own affiliation with paganism.

An East Indian Christian friend told me once of the history of her church in Kerala. When the Portuguese invaded India in the 1500s and found their church ~ which had no statues that is a strict Jewish law taken directly from the 10 Commandments (not to have any graven images). This church also contained a beloved letter from the Thomas who was Jesus' friend and devout Jew. They said it was not really a church and burned it to the ground. You know why? Because it contained no statues like the Roman Catholic church ~ statues that were taken directly from Roman and Greek gods who were transferred into the Christian representatives of their own religious figures.

The point I am making is that Christianity is rife with Paganism at its very root, and while we like to pretend it only worships "one God" the truth is we have many gods. Whether it is the mother Mary, a saint, even Jesus, they all represent a side of God with Whom we can relate, which, as has been true throughout the time of humanity, it is just the best way for many to relate to All That Is.

Love, Cat