Christianity

I feel I should clarify: I am not equating the current Christian Church to any form of paganism or any other religions/theologies/ideologies. I was simply stating that there are certain elements of the "Christian" church that are off-shoots of older pagan practices.
When I was younger, I thought only Christians did that kind of stuff. Now I have a bigger picture to look at. I see the roots of my practices and have (what I feel to be) a better understanding of the Divine.
I still do not claim to know everything. I barely remember my name at the end of my night shift at Wal-Mart. But I do know this: people are searching for their own truths and there are many different paths to be taken. Far be it from me to criticize one's path simply because I am further along than they are.
In short, if you are going to correct someone's ideology on a public forum, please use some level of tact and benevolence. Voracious criticism is what drives most people away from any faith. And if any "heathen" is truly offended, they should seriously take a chill pill cuz they were once new to the craft too.

There is nothing wrong with comparing the similarities of the different religions practiced here on Earth throughout the ages. In fact it is better to acknowledge and celebrate our similarities with those whom we currently share the Earth with and those who once lived here, than to harp on and fight about our differences. Complaining and being offended by someone pointing out the similarities of your religion with any other religion shows a lack of maturity and respect for diversity since the actions imply you are more concerned about being different than uniting us in peace for a better world.

Personified,

This too may then be relevant.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English hethen, Old English hthen, akin to German Heide, heidnisch (adj.), Old Norse heithingi (noun), heithinn (adj.), Gothic haithno (noun); perhaps akin to heath

Related forms
hea·then·dom, noun
hea·then·hood, noun
hea·then·ness, noun
hea·then·ship, noun
half-hea·then, adjective, noun

Synonyms
3. heathenish, barbarous. Heathen, pagan are both applied to peoples who are not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Heathen is often distinctively applied to unenlightened or barbaric idolaters, especially to primitive or ancient tribes: heathen rites, idols. Pagan though applied to any of the peoples not worshiping according to the three religions mentioned above, is most frequently used in speaking of the ancient Greeks and Romans: a pagan poem; a pagan civilization. 4. philistine; savage.

Pretty sure that the religions you're mentioning were around before Christianity, and I'm sorry but any good Egyptian/Norse god worshipper wouldn't want their diety compared to God. Sometimes I wonder if most Christians have even read the bible.

Kts... The gods in question wouldn't want you to get along. We're talking primarily about warrior gods, and death gods here. They don't want us to celebrate our similarities and get along peacefully, they want us to find a reason to wage war with one another and kill each other ruthlessly. It's actually quite insulting to celebrate harmony and peace in honor of a warrior god. I'm... Just going to throw that out there...

You do have to be careful when comparing religions as it is very easy to misinterpret aspects and wind up offending people. That being said though certain aspects of religions are very comparable. Particularly among the Gaelic Celts and Christianity there's a lot of similar if not identical characters. This is because when Christianity arrived in Ireland the monks studied and adapted Celtic legends so that the transition from Celtic to Christian wouldn't be quite so extreme and thus many religious characters from the Celtic faith became ones of the Christian. Brighid for example is an extremely important deity of the Gaelic Celts who as very popular during the arrival of Christianity, under the Christian faith she became a Saint Brigit of Kildare.

The comparisons are fair to make and neither religion should take offence from factual truths although offence can often be taken if the statement is not at all factual. For example (and this is not in any way true) if I was to say that the Dagda became God, the characters share some features in both being fatherly figures that care for their children and are capable of both great kindness and wrath. However the claim is still completely unfounded as God and the Dagda originated in entirely different areas and existed in those areas before the arrival of the other, God existed in Europe and the Dagda in Ireland before either culture learnt of the other's existence. It is possible that the Dagda became merged into the idea of God within the minds of the Irish people but they are still not one and the same.

I would like to say though that implying that Christianity was only a reason as to why a faith may have been lost is frankly false. I can't speak for Heathenry as I'm not well versed on its downfall but the Celtic faith was conquered not by war but through religions preaching. I don't resent the fact that Christianity dominated the Celtic faith in any way but it was still responsible for it.

The problem with comparing Christanity to Heathenry is that they are two religions that clash, and thus the latter faith does not like to be compared to the former. It is against our faith, and our culture, to do so. I am not opposed to Christians, or Christianity in general. But I think before making comparisons between religions you should at least understand the tradition and culture surrounding each one, and understand the background in comparing the two. There's a lot of cultural background involved here, which is why I pointed it out in the first place.

"Some scholars also have tried to fit the Norse gods Odin, Thor, and Freyr into a Christian-like trinity, but this connection is weak at best. While Thor does have some Christ-like characteristics (as a divinity often turned to for help), he is a warrior, Jesus is not. Nowhere in Christian myth does Jesus display any warrior characteristics or tendencies. Odin has some resemblance to Yahweh, for both are fickle and known to cast punishments down on humanity, but Yahweh is essentially a storm god and Odin is the archetypal magician/seeker of wisdom figure. As for Freyr and the Holy Spirit, they have even less in common."

http://www.oocities.org/shadowfaux.geo/vschrist.html

When Christianity came through, they tried to make the comparison between God and Odin and allowed for those of the Norse faith to include their God into the Norse pantheon. But over time Odin became more and more like God and other important deities, like Loki, were demonized and turned into the Christian view of evil. The stories in our lore were then twisted with elements outside of the normal tradition, and started to minimilize our pantheons. Snorri Sturluson, who wrote part of the Eddas, had a lot of Christian influence- and the way the Eddas were written portrayed very Christian views.

http://haberdasher.hubpages.com/hub/The-Christianization-of-Norse-Mythology

So again, I refer back to what Kebs said: "Yes, Kemeticism and Christianity can belinked, as can any religions you want to smush together to make it fit the way -you- want. It certainly doesn't make the squishing right or even correct, especially when so little is actually linked and when assumptions are made. Please, I'm asking this now, do some research before bringing in religions you don't know and/or understand."

I didn't say I was personally offended, nor did I attack anyone with my comment. I merely pointed out that you're getting into a topic which can be seen as offensive, culturally, to Heathens and there are Heathens here. If anything, it was just a heads up from someone who's go into that kind of hot water before. I didn't intend to get into a debate over it.

And if you're interested, here is a five part essay that explains how Christianity and traditional Pre-Christian Norse beliefs were intermingled in the past:

http://www.norsemyth.org/2010/06/clash-with-christianity-part-one.html

After having said all that, I also think this is a site about magick and magickal practices- and not about religion, which is why I wasn't trying to start a debate over Heathens and Christians. I was just pointing out an issue that could arouse, and apparently did.

To me this seems like a giant attempt to undermine many traditions.

It's rather insulting to assume that Heathenry is comparible to Christianity. For starts, you should perhaps read up on philosophy, European and Eastern history, and sociology. Christianity is only 2013 years old. Heathenry and other pagan faiths are far older. They were practiced in very different parts of the world, by very different peoples.

Christianity is also an Abrahamic religion, and originated in the Middle East around 2000 years ago, it is based off the teaching of Judaism and the teachings of Jesus. This faith has an entirely different social-philosophical structure from Heathenry. The teachings are different, the divinity is different, the stories are different, and it's a foolhardy to attempt to compare them.

In fact, Christians as a society in Europe, tried to destroy Pagan faiths/peoples like the Heathens. They actively forced them to convert or die, they played social/political games to make everyone the same religion, which to me is a crime against divinity and nature.

In regards to the word Heathen - This word stems from "those who live on heaths." A heath is a field, hill, wild area. It was a term that the Romans gave to the Germanic people. This was also used to describe their faith. The use of it being compared to an ungodly person is incorrect.

In regards to Odin - Odin is not the really the "allfather", he had help creating the worlds and humanity.

In regards to Thor - Jesus Christ was a mortal man who ascended into heaven. Thor is the son of a god and is a god himself. Thor also carries a magical hammer and kills giants. How is that similar at all to Jesus?

In conclusion it is totally illogical to compare Heathenry and Christianity. The similarities you are producing are vague and being made because you are searching for them, and these religions have totally different structure of faith, and completely socio-philosophical structure.

Plus they arose in completely different times and areas of the world before either culture could communicate and have a chance to intermingle beliefs.

It is common in the current practices of those of the Northern Tradition to veer towards calling themselves Heathen rather than of the Northern Tradition, as the definition for Northern Tradition includes groups such as British Traditional Wicca, and other groups out of England.

I think that this is slowly devolving into a "them-against-us" conversation, rather than being any part of what it was intended to be, which was to show Christianity as having an involvement in the practice of the occult.