What to tell 'em?

[widukind]

Hey all,

In my spare time I chat now and then in various chat rooms. When in religion chat rooms, people who I'm commenting to (I never bash, don't get me wrong) ask me what I believe.

Then basically I tell them that I believe in multiple Gods, not one, and reincarnation. They then ask me questions like "Why are there multiple Gods" and "What do those Gods do?"

How on earth should I answer that kind of question? What would you say?

[Danustouch]

Hmm...while I think this might be better suited to Theology and Philosophy forum, as it's not just a "Druid" issue (meaning many paths also encounter the same problem), I would say that you should just answer from your own personal beliefs and Ideology. In other words, just say what is in your heart. I don't think that there is one specific answer to all these "Why" questions, I think it's highly individualized. So if you are forced to answer these questions, you should answer them from your own perspective, not speaking for everyone who follows a poly or pantheistic path. What reasons do YOU have for following the path that you follow, and believing the things that you do?

[Myst]

Just what you believe.

Mine would be;

'We work with something we call All, which is a supreme divinity that includes polar opposites like masculinity and femininity. All has different faces, and different names, and other Gods are these faces. They each represent energies or personalities we wish to manifest in our life. For instance we might call on Athena to bring us wisdom, or Aphrodite for love, and so on'

[Twig]

Personally I have a bit of contact with a christian at work and, that was one of the first questions he asked. My reply went something like this.

"I worship the same God you do Tom. The "Gods and Goddesses" I talk of are all parts of the ONE. I think of them as specialists in their own field. Each and every one are extensions yet an integral part of the whole.

Oooops, gotta get back to work. More later!

Peace
Twig
:ghost:

[widukind]

Actually, this reminds me of comment I once gave in a Christian chatroom. I meant no harm by it, but only few could laugh at it.

The topic was, of course, about how righteous and mighty the One God was and how we should repent and confess our sins or go to hell, you know, the basics.
I asked people why they were so sure other gods were false. They told me their story and I replied the following:

"The Norse used to revere (among others) a God named Loki. He was the pranker of the gods, could take the form of any man or woman, and liked to deceive.
What if Loki truly exists and he has taken the form of your Jahweh, the muslims' Allah, etc. He would then have whispered into people's ears that he was the only God, the One God, would he not? He could have told you about other Gods, and how they were false. He could have invented Satan too. How would you feel if that were true?"

That shut 'em up about how I had to convert back to Christianity for a while, but I don't think they liked me for it. Then again, I wasn't really proud of having to do that, but I couldn't take it any longer.

Anyway, on topic, I'm surprised how little people know of paganism and druids. PErhaps its a Belgian thing, it could be.