'I like your Christ, but not your Christianity' - Mahatma Gandhi
So, you might wanna be sitting down for this............................I no longer call myself a Christian!
From the things I've been blogging about recently, some of my readers probably aren't too surprised by my intentionally blatant statement. Don't worry; I have not left the Path I embarked on, those many years ago. It's been roughly 30 years since I was introduced to the principles of Preterism. Well, let me tell you, my friends; that was the beginning of the end!As I advanced in these Principles, I began to see that much of what we held as dogma was based squarely in Scriptures that not only were primarily applicable to the original audience, but had been fulfilled to that original audience ( the Hebrews/Jews ), IN the first century, soon after the final words that we read in what we know as the Holy Bible had been written.
Some 15 or so years ago, I read a book, co-authored by George Barna & Frank Viola, called 'Pagan Christianity'. While I could not agree, especially at the time, with everything written therein, it was enough to awaken me even further, showing me that, not only did Christianity NOT hold anything for me, the Old Religion ( really, more a way of life, like Christianity should be ) upon which modern Christianity is largely based ( except for the dogma ) held much more appeal for me. I am not Wiccan, or really any other such label, but, if anything, I AM Pagan, which means that I worship the Creator through the Creation. Notice, I did not say, 'through His Creation': I do not believe that the Creator, be IT 'Energy', 'the Universe', or whatever you want to name the Divinity that IS, can be rightly personified as male or female, although I DO recognize all the different aspects ( perspectives ) as noted by the different world religions. Even 'Allah' is an aspect, though a faulty perspective, of the One.
My new mantra concerning belief is, 'I know what I know & I don't know what I don't know'! It's not that I no longer believe ( for instance, 'I believe I'll have another!' ); I just don't believe something, just because the moral majority or some book says so. If it resonates with my own Spirit ( read 'Divinity' ), I don't simply believe it ( 'blind faith' ), I KNOW it! I DO believe, as I have written about previously, in the Universal Truths of the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures: the Wisdom of Solomon can truly apply across the board, while the Words of Jesus the Christ are full of the same Wisdom, that from Above.
By 'Above', I am not referring to 'Heaven', at least, not the 'Heaven' that Christianity teaches/preaches! 'Heaven' is the dwelling place of 'God', yes, but just as 'Heaven' is not what we have been taught, neither is 'God'! 'Heaven' truly is all in our heads! By that, I simply mean that ''Heaven' like 'Hell', is what we make it. Through our choices, we decide & manifest whether we're going to spend our days ( Eternity? ) in 'Heaven' or 'Hell'. Some might be thinking right now, 'I'll bet he's gonna say next that we're our own 'God' too, as if THAT'S all in our heads'. Well, you got me; I AM! We ARE part of that Divinity, the same Divinity that has a corner on Universal Truth, the Energy that is back of the Universe & everything that IS!
By 'Above', I'm referring to our Higher Self, which is our link with that Divinity. By living from, becoming acquainted with that Higher Self, we become aware of our own Divinity & thus realize that we are Creators in our own right. With the understanding, of course, that by saying, 'I AM', I'm not saying that I'm the end-all, although I AM in control of my own destiny; I'm simply saying that we, as the Divine Collective, make up what is most often called 'God'. There, I said it! Enough preaching; back to MY ( individual ) Story.................................
Coming from the background I did & not really having studied the other world religions to any great extent, the Principles that Jesus taught flavor much of my life, but I no longer label myself thusly, or believe that He was anything other than what He claimed to be. He truly WAS the Son of God, as we all are, in Essence! As is often said, though, He did not come to start a new religion, at least, not an institutionalized one, anyway ( that's all on humanity ). He came to show the Hebrew people how they should live, thereby proving to be the 'Son of God' He was/is. There I go, preaching again............
I have found that Paganism in general holds more for me. As 'worship' simply means 'to ascribe worth to'; I DO worship Nature, in ALL Her manifold aspects. Yes, I said 'Her'! One thing that attracts me to the Old Religion is that, rather than focusing on only the Male aspect of Divinity, Paganism focuses on the Female Divinity, not forgetting, or hiding the Male, as Christianity, along with other patriarchal world religions have done with the Female. One might say that I have accepted my 'witchy' nature, for though I do not follow any certain religion, I HAVE embraced Paganism, which is not based on dogma, but rather on a profound respect for Mother Nature, which most call 'Creation'.
Again; 'I AM on the same Path I have always been on'! It just looks a bit different than even I would have surmised, back those many years ago. So, one might well say that I have left 'the Faith'. If I still have any faith ( "Blind'? ) anymore, it is either in those closest to me. or in my Higher Self. I have no faith in the Christian 'God', One that says, 'love Me or else'. 'He' cannot save me, either from myself, or from an eternity in 'Hell'; that is MY choice & mine alone! No one, however powerful, can make that choice for me! That IS a lot of weight to put on such feeble shoulders, but remember, I AM More than these feeble shoulders...................
I AM, Sage Charles
