Learning about Pagans for the Purpose of Converting Them

Last month, I answered some questions from a reporter for a Christian news site.

He had such response that now he is on the Pagan beat. So I give you “A Peek at Modern Paganism, Part One” and “Part Two.”

Soon — wait for it — you meet that reliable figure, the ex-Pagan who found Jesus.

(Sorry, but there is a long history of fraud about that. One example here: John Todd. I mentioned Todd to the reporter, Mark Hensch, but Christian reporters rarely seem to investigate the claims of ex-Pagans on the lecture trail. Todd was brought down by Christian journalists, it’s true, but he is just one example of the type.)

Understanding such multiplicity, says former Santeria-high-priest-turned-evangelical-Christian-author John Ramirez, is vital to befriending and ministering to pagans. Christians need grace, compassion and mercy, he said, to connect with their pagan peers.

Interestingly, the next expert quoted is James Beverley, a Canadian whom I know slightly from academic study of new religious movements, in which he is active. But here he has his theologian hat on:

“Witchcraft ultimately fails in the mythic and legendary nature of its gods and goddesses,” Beverley writes in Nelson’s Illustrated Guide to Religions’ chapter on Wicca. “The Roman, Celtic, Nordic and Greek deities dwell only in the followers’ imaginations. The lack of historical trustworthiness concerning Artemis or Zeus or Diana or Isis is in direct contrast the historical nature of the Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ.”

Bottom line: be strong in your faith, learn to appreciate nature, and you can get close to the Pagans.

 

9 thoughts on “Learning about Pagans for the Purpose of Converting Them

  1. Medeine Ragana

    “The lack of historical trustworthiness concerning Artemis or Zeus or Diana or Isis is in direct contrast the historical nature of the Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ.”

    The Gospel accounts of Yeshua Ben Yusef are also have numerous instances in which “historical trustworthiness” is lacking. For example, the idea that he rose from the dead, walked on water etc. And some of these accounts are apparently taken from the life of Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of Yeshua.

    I suspect that if we ever invent a working time machine that can go into the past, the Christians may be very shocked to learn the truth about their “savior.”

  2. The articles don’t seem to deal with the fact that many, if not most, contemporary Pagans were Christians first. They’ve tried the product and found that they didn’t like the flavour. Offering more of the same, perhaps with some added chocolate sauce on top, is not likely to win them back.

    1. Good point. My own split from the Episcopal Church occurred when I was about 15. I was not angry with anyone, not disgusted with “adult hypocrisy” or anything like that. It all just stopped making sense to me.

    2. Medeine Ragana

      I was told in 1962 by the nuns in the grammar school I was going to that if you stepped foot in a Protestant church that that was a mortal sin because they were heretics. Then, after Vatican II, all of a sudden Protestants were “our good buddy-buddy Christians.” And they wondered why I left the Church…

  3. Pitch313

    Even though I acknowledge that the Universe probably embraces possibilities and potentialities beyond the extent of any human world view, I firmly hold that some world views guide folks like me to better outcomes than do other world views. Paganism, for example.

    For one thing, Paganism keeps my nose mostly out of the everyday doings and ultimate fate of other souls. I mostly cannot abide that many Christians are seemingly more concerned for my soul than their own.

  4. Pingback: Magickal Media Blog » Blog Archive » News for Pagans, Monday, 1-9-12

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