Pagans and non-believers.. and any other beliefs!

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redhen

redhen

Kiss My Grits...
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May 19, 2008
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Why do you have the beliefs that you have today? How do you celebrate your holidays? Tell me a bit about your beliefs and traditions around that belief...
Thanks!

*please be respectful of others* Thanks!
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One animal, human, child gets a disease and suffers through months/years, of pain before finally being allowed to die.

Another animal, human, child gets hit by a truck and dies instantly.

If there is a designated day for death, well both paths led to it... one just had to suffer while the other didn't... why should one squirrel suffer and the other have no pain? Why should one child suffer, while another dies instantly?

If nature is the only law at work, makes sense, totally random. Totally cyclic with no bias at all.

But if there's some higher design that justifies suffering for some and not others.... suffering for some who are not mature minds who understand and are responsible for their actions and are punished accordingly, but not others who are the same... well that's not a design, nor a creator, I have any desire to wrap my head around. Same reason I don't need to know WHY the serial killer does what he does... the fact that it's done at all makes me ill enough. And I most especially wouldn't respect, n'mind worship, such a mindset.

That said, I think that all the good in the world resides in the human heart (or rather head) and likewise for all evil. Death isn't good or evil, it's just nature. Everything dies. It's when humans interfere with nature that you see what we define as good or evil in action.

A man rescuing a child from a burning building we define as good. That same man killing that same child because of the wiring in his head we define as evil. In the end it was the man who committed either act, based on the impulses and justifications in his head. No devil, nor any god, made him do it by whispering in his ear.

We like to label nature as cruel, but that's simply personification. That's us putting our emotions onto something that has none because it makes it easier for us to understand. Nature isn't cruel, it's just there. It has its cycles, and try as we may we've yet to conquer it completely. We've made strides, huge strides. But still we die just as a squirrel does when our time comes.

Holidays... irony in me calling anything a Holy Day but that's semantics... mine revolve around family, seeing them, catching up, showing you care... that's what it boils down to for me. If calling it a Holy Day gets us off our butts and gets us all in the same house and sharing hugs then so be it. Great if you didn't need the excuse, but I'll take my hugs any way I can get them because all too soon you won't be there to give me any more.
 
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I totally get it.. and agree 100%! Its just nature... and any goodness IS inside the human heart. Its all about us making CHOICES... good or bad.. is ALL on us.
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I was raised as a Methodist Christian. When I was 12 we were studying Greek Mythology in Literature class, the other students were laughing at how stupid the ancients Greeks were for believing the stories. It made me wonder how the beliefs that I was raised with were different. Some of the stories are pretty unbelievable, just as unbelievable as Greek mythology, yet they believed it whole heartedly. I am not smarter than they were, I am not more "special". That began my questioning religion as a whole. I studied the bible (not bits and pieces, but as an entire book) and instead of bringing me firmer in my beliefs, as I hoped it would, it made it even more tenuous. I have learned about other religions and they all seem very improbable as well. To sum it up, my mother (an Evangelical Christian) asked me one time in despair "Angie, don't you WANT to believe that after we die we go somewhere that we can all be together again?". My honest reply was "yes, of course. I want to believe a lot of things, but that doesn't make them true. I just can't believe in fairy tales, even the beautiful ones." I feel for my parents, they desperately want me to share their religion, but I just can't.

We celebrate Christmas because it's fun. It's what I grew up with. Thanksgiving is also major, and we did the Easter thing for years until the kids were too big to hunt for eggs.
 
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The reason why I have the beliefs I have today is probably because I am too inquisitive for my own good. I always had many questions and no good answers,...I researched the subject and come up with what I say is a very personal decision for myself. How I would explain my beliefs now,..nature based,..seasonal. I celebrate Xmas because I have children steeped in that tradition and I will continue to observe it until they are older, even though it is very depressing. Other holidays, Easter and such, let them slide by. Thanksgiving slides by too,...I don't have much for pilgrims!
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(just kidding,..)
 
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Same here... That same thing clicked in my head one day.
 
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Nicely put. As a wife and mother of two in her 30's, I am still trying to figure out what I think of religion, or what I truly believe in. I like the way you described this. I was not raised in any religion, with the exception that there is "a God". To this day, I don't have a clear path as to what "higher powers" there may or may not be. My husband was raised Catholic, but does not practice that now. I have attented church a few times here and there over the years, and always felt very uncomfortable when doing so . I always felt like it was "cultish" - especially when they ask for money, and this has been at different types of churches, not just Catholic. I really like this time of year, mostly because of the same reasons that Pineapple Mama stated, because it brings friends and family together. I enjoy all the festivities, decorating, the lights, the weather, and just everything that goes along with this time of year. We celebrate Christmas with the Christmas tree, Santa and gifts. Most likely because that is the way my husband and I celebrated it, and our parents and so on. I like how my kids get excited about Santa's visit. It is such an innocent time, and I know that it isn't going to last for much longer. To me Christmas time is not about Christ's birth, but about family, sharing, and celebrating.
 
I just wanted to pop in and say Happy Solstice!!!! It's Tuesday, right? I have always been fine with others beliefs, because my own tells me to love others as I would myself. So there.

Do you guys have good food? Because what is a celebration without good food?
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I'll probably get tarred & feathered for this comment, but why is it, for example, a tornado rips a town apart, kills several, but the survivors, no matter how much they lost, say "God saved me.' I just don't get it.
 
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