| Subject: What Wiccans Can Learn From Christians |
Author:
Vince
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Date Posted: 08:53:10 07/04/04 Sun
Saw this on the Ex-Witch message board and thought I would reproduce it here. The article is written by a pagan:
What Wiccans Can Learn From Christians
The two reasons why I'm not a Christian is that I don't believe Yahweh is the creator of the universe and that I can't accept a religion that has a threat of eternal torment behind it. But when I leave those problems aside, I come to the opinion Christianity is a best-of-breed theistic religion, a religion with much good in it. I am not ashamed to say Christian writers (such as J Gresham Machen) have influenced my thinking. In the following article I elaborate on the good things Wiccans can take from the Christians.
Attitude towards the Deity
The respect and devotion Christians show towards their God is simply amazing. They are careful in how they think about Him and in how they turn to Him. One cannot find a cavalier attitude towards God among Christians. They recognise that He is worthy of the most pious worship and that He can be fully relied upon. In contrast, Wiccans' attitude towards their Goddess and God is often disgraceful, in that many of them never call upon Them except for help in magical work, as if They were some metaphysical servants of mankind.
The proper attitude towards Deity is deep respect, devotion and, yes, even fear--not grovelling, canine fear, but fear born of respect, out of acknowledgement that the Goddess and the God have power over nature and fate. Certainly the deities approve of humour, but making light of Them and Their worship is inappropriate.
Distinction between Humanity and Deity
Christianity, much like Hellenismos, stresses the distinction between Gods and humans and warns against the hubris of thinking one is a God. Maybe Christianity takes it too far in denying the existence of a Divine Spark in all of us, but it is important to remember that having that spark within us doesn't make us Gods. We are not Gods--we die, and our power over nature and fate is very limited. By our practice of the Craft we can come closer to (partial) union with the Ground of All Being, since Brahman is Atman, but we cannot become Gods except for rare cases when the Gods decide to raise a human to the level of demigod.
J Gresham Machen rightly says that "between the creature and the Creator a great gulf is fixed," and that the most potent expression of theistic religion is the recognition of the awful transcendence of Deity. He is right in saying pantheism brings us farther rather than closer to Deity, because we cannot relate to a god of which we are parts. Try as we may, we cannot become one of the Gods and Goddesses, and even though we may come closer to the Brahman, we cannot became identical with Him, because He is transcendent as well as immanent.
Personal Relationship with Deity
Christians like to say, "Christianity isn't a religion, it's a relationship with God." While Christianity is in fact both a religion and a relationship with God, the spirit behind that catchphrase is: leave empty, soulless works behind and focus on a living, thriving relationship with Deity. That is perhaps the most important teaching of Christianity: that the deity is a personal being with whom one can, in fact should, have a relationship.
Wicca is the same as Christianity in this regard: the Goddess and the God are persons with whom a relationship can be had. They are not only openers of the magical circle or teachers of the Divine Mysteries; They are personal beings like our mother and father, and we should have such a relationship with Them. Rituals are important, as they make us more receptive to the Divine; but care should be taken that they do not become mechanical. And they should be augmented by prayer and conversation with the Goddess and the God. A Wiccan should be able to boast of a living relationship with Deity no less than a Christian.
(original source: http://www.geocities.com/eclecticsatyr/wfxians.htm)
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