Other deities besides God?

[Cyzarine]

Does anyone honor other deities besides God? Maybe from another pantheon or even from the Christian pantheon? Do you feel it is wrong or that God feels it is wrong?

Most of those I honor are all from within the Byzantine Catholic faith but they are my chosen deities. I do not feel guilty about it. I have plenty of statues of Egyptian gods and goddesses in my house. I still honor Anubis. I was once a Kemetic and even though I have since changed spiritualy my connection with Anubis does not.

I do not believe that it should matter. I see it this way...as long as I know who God is and what God has done for me I can be free to communicate with other deities. I am polythestic when it come to this...so bare with me. If it was wrong to communicate and honor other deities would you not know about Gods feelings on a much larger scale then guilt. I do not believe God is as vengeful as most make it out to be. We are surrounded by man-made dogma and beliefs and we must spiritually find our way to the divine.

[LostSheep]

I've been thinking about this lately ... I think that, while I recognize and try to follow the teachings of Jesus, I tend to believe in the God and Goddess who are everywhere, in all things, rather than God in the Christian sense as an individual. Whether it's possible to be Christian but not believe in the biblical God I've no idea; but who said that life had to be simple?

[Cyzarine]

Life is far from simple and spirituality is even farther from simple...but everyone has their veiws and no one is right or wrong...just perception. You have a good point though. I do believe you can be Christian and believe in Mary or Christ or Joseph, etc. I don't know about not believeing in God. Yet, a Christian is one who believes in Christ...so it could be you believe in Christ but not God. It get's complicated but spiritualy it has to feel right to you.

[Christo Pagan]

I don't believe in the monotheistic God of the Bible, but instead my belief is that God is made up of an innumerable amount of divine personages or emanations, each representing a different personality of the creator. It's these personages that I believe many have assigned as different gods throughout ancient history. Therefore, me personally, I see the worship of other gods both inside and outside the Christian pantheon as being perfectly acceptable (though I myself have chosen my God & Goddess from within the Gnostic Christian cosmology).

[Cyzarine]

I don't believe in the monotheistic God of the Bible, but instead my belief is that God is made up of an innumerable amount of divine personages or emanations, each representing a different personality of the creator. It's these personages that I believe many have assigned as different gods throughout ancient history. Therefore, me personally, I see the worship of other gods within and within the Christian pantheon as being perfectly acceptable (though I myself have chosen my God & Goddess from within the Gnostic Christian cosmology).

You make a good point. I agree with you about not seeing anything wrong.

[Cyzarine]

What deities do you honor...besides God?

For me it is God first...the creator who created physical...the earth, the animals, humans, etc. Then Holy Spirit...female part of God (being that God is genderless or both gender, however you look at it) who is within all. Then comes Christ and Mary the Virgin. Other deities that I acknowledge are Mary Magalen, Joseph, John the Babtist. I honor Anubis because I feel a connection to this god. Why I do not know. I know Anubis has reached out and guided me several times and I honor him just not as much as my pantheon.

[Christo Pagan]

What deities do you honor...besides God?


I hold a panentheistic view of God, and that is that God is both within and without his/her creation. In that regards, I am a Deist. However, I honor both Christ and Sophia as my God and Goddess symbolically.

For me Christ, the masculine side of Deity, represents Knowledge, for according to Gnostic myths it was Christ that came to Adam and Eve in the guise of the serpent (and not Satan) and imparted knowledge unto them, thus helping them discover their divine nature. In the Gnostic gospels, Christ was also seen as a liberator whose purpose on earth was to reveal to mankind their inner light through gnosis.

On the flip side, I see Sophia as the feminine side of Deity, who represents wisdom. She is the "divine spark" within us that is revealed when paired with Christ (the bridegroom), and together they bring about gnosis.

I also believe in another, lesser deity - the demiurge, which I see as being the "ego" that we must all overcome in order to find God. The demiurge demands worship and blinds us from seeing our true divine heritage. By finding gnosis (through Christ and Sophia), I believe we can ascend above the demiurge and trully know God.

[CleftOfLight]

I have guardian spirits that are always with me that are none christain.But I respect them I do not worship them,I worship God and God a lone.I dont even do any prayers with the trinity because I believe it is taking away from God.

[Silver Ivy]

I've been thinking about this lately ... I think that, while I recognize and try to follow the teachings of Jesus, I tend to believe in the God and Goddess who are everywhere, in all things, rather than God in the Christian sense as an individual. Whether it's possible to be Christian but not believe in the biblical God I've no idea; but who said that life had to be simple?

I believe in much the same as this ... at times it is hard for me to wrap my head around ... but I think that this is the simplest way of describing it.

[Meryln2k]

Hi agian, Cyzarine,

I also worship work with the -Green Man and Lord Herne, sometimes the Orthodox Saint John.

As far as Goddesses go, it's Mary, Isis and the Triple Goddes--Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Oh yeah and I lve St. Joan, too.

[ViolinGoddess]

Does anyone honor other deities besides God? Maybe from another pantheon or even from the Christian pantheon? Do you feel it is wrong or that God feels it is wrong?

I love your icon! WHere did you get it? Can I use it?

Violin Goddess

[MariThorn]

I believe that God is Truth and that Truth has and still does reveal itself to mankind (insert your own pc beginning there) as civilization can comprehend it. Names are descriptions and words, when I call on Nuada it is the Gatherer of Clouds I seek help from. Do I believe that there is a Irish Celtic man with a silver hand that is coming spiritually to help me? No, not really I believe that the power of Truth embodied in the concept of a cloud gatherer is coming to help me. Same goes for any other deity. I truly believe they are all one in the same. The catechism even states that God is a Mystery and that we will never fully comprehend it. That God is Father and Mother in one. I don't think it really matters which form you worship.

Just my two cents :)

[miller junior]

Can a person be an atheist and still practice magick?

-mj,
curious

[Lady Valkyrie]

For me it's the Holy Trinity... Father God, Mother Goddess (the Holy Spirit), and their son Jesus. I do acknowledge the Angels, The Virgin Mary, Sophia, & Mary Magdelene. But my main focus is the Trinity.

[Lady Valkyrie]

Can a person be an atheist and still practice magick?

-mj,
curious

I believe so... the practice of magick is not a religion in my opinion and it doesn't require a diety to practice. Therefore it would be safe to say that yes even an athiest can indeed practice magick.

[JadeEmerald]

I agree with many of you in saying that God can never be explained. He/She is a true mystery. The Holy Trinity (God, The Holy Spirit, and Jesus) are all forms/aspects of the Divine....therefore, I don't think it's wrong to honor other pantheons. They are all different forms of the Divine too...just specific ways to think of God in another way. I think I confused myself. LOL!

[LordHelmet]

I would say that God should not be revered in the same way you would a god. They are entirely different things. A god is a limited being, perhaps a face on a concept.

To often God is treated as a limited being. To me, God isn't something that has a name for instance, that would be a diety. But then again that's more of a Kabilistic view then a christian one. At any rate I don't see the problem observing various dietys as dietys and God. There can be only one God.

There's no reason an athiest couldn't practise magick. You don't have to aknowledge any God or Gods to affect the universe through any of the other laws of physics, why would it be different for those concerning magick?

[Lovehound]

Outside of God and Yeshuah and Mother Mary, I also worship the Norse Gods.

[Anita]

I'm a hard polytheist and see each god and goddess as distinct powers.

I follow Yahweh, the father, the son and the holy spirit. I also follow Bast and Het-Heret (Hathor).

In Exodus 15, Yahweh's answer to Moses asking his name is usually translated as I am who I am. But the Hebrew, Elyeh Asher Elyeh, can also mean "I will be what I will be". I see the second translation as Yahweh saying I can have different relationships with different people. This is why he is ok with some people being polytheistic.

[LadyCelt]

Jesus said "Get behind me Satan! For it is written,'You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.'"


For me, even though I'm drawn to other deities, this is a big part of what stops me. I know in the Old Testament, it says no gods before God. And, I also consider idolatry to be more aobut statues and worshipping an image. But, when I found this, it seems hard for me to communicate with other gods.

[Faol-chù]

For me, even though I'm drawn to other deities, this is a big part of what stops me. I know in the Old Testament, it says no gods before God. And, I also consider idolatry to be more aobut statues and worshipping an image. But, when I found this, it seems hard for me to communicate with other gods.

I guess all of this begs the question (again) what, exactly, is a "god"?

Do you have any deceased loved ones that you continue to honor?
If so, are they 'gods'?

Do you honor the wind, or a thunderstorm, or a mountain? Are they 'gods'?

Does the fact that you may not consider any of these, personally, to be 'gods' stop you from honoring them?

I sort of think this whole word 'god' became largely 'shorthand' for 'entity I honor'.

Do you really think that every entity referred to in history as a 'god' was 'worshipped' as opposed to 'venerated' and/or 'honored'?
Is there a difference in your mind?


Maybe it's all just 'semantics'....:)

Just a thought...

[LadyCelt]

^^^^^ Its very confusing. But, I"m saying for me, its part of what stops me.

[Kira Catgirl]

I have to say that it's a definite confidence booster to see that some Christians feel a connection to a non-Christian deity without having a 'crisis of faith', so to speak. Or irritating any beings involved.

I've been personally having a (very) slow spiritual awakening of sorts for the past few years, and have felt some qualms about the growing feeling of Christianity being 'right' possibly conflicting with my connection to Isis. I haven't gotten a feeling from either end that it would, other than my menal worries, so seeing that others seem to be perfectly fine with it is a big help.

I'm tempted to go into a longwinded description of my current views on God and gods and spiritual entities of all sorts, but I think that may be better suited elsewhere. So, I shall refrain for now.

[Bella Canolli]

I think that one needs to define what it means to worship, what it means to honor, what means to revere and what it means to simple pray to.

Love is a great thing, there is plenty to go around- to give and recieve. If your hearts is filled with love and joy towards a specific diety, how can love be wrong?

Just my 2 cents.

[SapphireMoon]

MM,
Hi, I have a couple of questions & I think they may fit here. This might have already been posted but being new & one of these questions is bugging me non stop I decided to post.

I was christian for 36 years & the past 3 years a witch but I cant seem to let go completely of my amazing experiences with Jesus & the christian God nor can I let go of my amazing experiences of being a witch, using other Gods too.

What is the Christian Witchcraft view on the Devil?

When I was christian I just could not believe in the devil. I had no personal experience to confirm his existance. I had personal experiences for demons/nasties but not the devil but I also did have personal experiences of Jesus & the Christian God. Now being a Witch I still cant seem to believe in the devil.

Next question how do you incorporate the other Gods & Goddesses into your life being you still hold a Christian view? I mean how do you let go of the guilt of doing wrong that you have been ("brainwashed")taught to believe?


SapphireMoon

[Lovehound]

Jesus said "Get behind me Satan! For it is written,'You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.'"


For me, even though I'm drawn to other deities, this is a big part of what stops me. I know in the Old Testament, it says no gods before God. And, I also consider idolatry to be more aobut statues and worshipping an image. But, when I found this, it seems hard for me to communicate with other gods.


I think, from my readings of various Bible scholars such as John Dominic Crossan and Marcus J. Borg, that what this statement of Jesus is warning people about is serving "the world" or "empire" and "greed" - consider what kind of life Jesus was dealing with, what with Roman occupation of Judea and all the implications thereof.

I think that verse would give us pause to ask "what do I serve - do I serve money and my job and fashion and all these temporal things, or do I serve that which is etermal and edifying, things like compassion and truth and whatnot?"

Do we have the book, chapter and verse that came from? I think it needs to be read in a whole context, not just taken as an isolated verse on its own. That's called "proof-texting" and is generally understood among Bible scholars to be poor Bible scholarship. Proof-texting is taking one verse out of its context and using it to serve a specific (usually worldly) agenda. Evangelists and conservative Christians do this quite frequently; most people who grew up Roman Catholic (or any other form of Catholic, really, such as Greek and Russian Orthodox, Anglican, etc) would not engage in proof-texting.

Bible scholarship takes a lot of work and study and effort. I recommend the works of:

John Dear
M. Basil Pennington
Marcus J. Borg
John Dominic Crossan

I even would say it's a very good idea to get a copy of the Catholic Catechism and go through it very carefully. I have found that it enhances and deepens one's overall spiritual experience, be it Christian or pagan.

[Lovehound]

I guess all of this begs the question (again) what, exactly, is a "god"?

Do you have any deceased loved ones that you continue to honor?
If so, are they 'gods'?

Do you honor the wind, or a thunderstorm, or a mountain? Are they 'gods'?

Does the fact that you may not consider any of these, personally, to be 'gods' stop you from honoring them?

I sort of think this whole word 'god' became largely 'shorthand' for 'entity I honor'.

Do you really think that every entity referred to in history as a 'god' was 'worshipped' as opposed to 'venerated' and/or 'honored'?
Is there a difference in your mind?


Maybe it's all just 'semantics'....:)

Just a thought...

Did not Jesu himself say, in quoting a passage of scripture, "It is not written, 'Ye are gods?'"

He sure did. John 10: 34 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=10&verse=34&version=31&context=verse)

Puts a whole new twist on things, does it not?

[latin_baller]

Does anyone honor other deities besides God? Maybe from another pantheon or even from the Christian pantheon? Do you feel it is wrong or that God feels it is wrong?

Most of those I honor are all from within the Byzantine Catholic faith but they are my chosen deities. I do not feel guilty about it. I have plenty of statues of Egyptian gods and goddesses in my house. I still honor Anubis. I was once a Kemetic and even though I have since changed spiritualy my connection with Anubis does not.

I do not believe that it should matter. I see it this way...as long as I know who God is and what God has done for me I can be free to communicate with other deities. I am polythestic when it come to this...so bare with me. If it was wrong to communicate and honor other deities would you not know about Gods feelings on a much larger scale then guilt. I do not believe God is as vengeful as most make it out to be. We are surrounded by man-made dogma and beliefs and we must spiritually find our way to the divine.

When i say god i always mean Amun.