Struggling

[Earthy]

Let me start off by saying that I do believe in God.

I was a christian for many years,then I found paganism.It gave me the freedom i yearned,the trouble is it gave me so much freedom with my beliefs that I found myself floundering.
I need God.
Due to study though i am confused by the whole pagan/christian holidays.Who celebrated it first?
I know the Bible has been mistranslated and now i don't know what is of God and what is of man
I believe in God but I don't believe in the devil
I believe in heaven but don't believe in hell.
I believe Jesus died for my sins,but I don't believe it should be forever spoken about to make us feel bad.
I believe in a God of love but not one of fear.
How do you bring christianity and paganism together? I struggle to-i feel I have to be one or the other but cannot be both.

I feel like I'm being torn in different directions,and don't know where to turn.

[LadyBeth]

i could've written your post. so i'm subbin.

[Raven Reed]

I don't know if it is at all helpful, but the Unitarian Universalists, while not specifically following an exclusive Christian path, do explore that path significantly. There is also a Pagan constituency involved in many UU churches, through CUUPS or the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, so you wouldn't be looked down on by any means for having such leanings.

You might find some like minded people there, and there is a strong emphasis on finding the path that is right for you, so soul searching is certainly encouraged. I don't know if you have one near you, or if you are even interested, just thought I would throw it out there.

I also spend a great deal of time trying to reconcile sometimes very different viewpoints. I flip-flop, and occasionally give up all together... At the moment I am kind of agnostipagan, but that is subject to change without notice. :hugz:


Let me start off by saying that I do believe in God.

I was a christian for many years,then I found paganism.It gave me the freedom i yearned,the trouble is it gave me so much freedom with my beliefs that I found myself floundering.
I need God.
Due to study though i am confused by the whole pagan/christian holidays.Who celebrated it first?
I know the Bible has been mistranslated and now i don't know what is of God and what is of man
I believe in God but I don't believe in the devil
I believe in heaven but don't believe in hell.
I believe Jesus died for my sins,but I don't believe it should be forever spoken about to make us feel bad.
I believe in a God of love but not one of fear.
How do you bring christianity and paganism together? I struggle to-i feel I have to be one or the other but cannot be both.

I feel like I'm being torn in different directions,and don't know where to turn.

[Cloaked Raven]

First of all, :hugz: Earthy. I know what it's like, I was at that point in my life six years ago myself.

My background is Christianity... I have been a Christian all of my life and still feel drawn to Christ's teachings to this day.

I believe in a loving, gentle God, not the vengeful one that is told to so many people in churches on a weekly basis. I don't believe that God only exists between four walls, He is everywhere and will hear a prayer no matter where someone is.

I had a lot of the same questions when I started down the path that I'm currently on. I felt like I couldn't combine both Christianity and Paganism... They seemed like two very different sides of the same coin... There were parallels between them but the differences are what really worried me. I felt like leaving Christianity would be wrong for me, yet just being a very liberal Christian didn't feel like it was enough... There was something missing from my path and incorporating Pagan elements felt right for me. So I started researching on my own and found the right path for me... Christian Witchcraft.

I took things one step at a time... I didn't jump into being a Christian Witch right away, I started very slowly. The first step was setting up an altar, adding Christian elements to it (a picture of the Virgin Mary, a cross pendant, that kind of thing)... Then I made Holy Water as a way to initiate myself into doing rituals. I started anointing and lighting candles while I said prayers for those who needed them.... After that, I started researching other elements that interested me... Things like celebrating the Sabbats and other more Pagan elements.

Eventually my path evolved... I went from making Holy Water and lighting candles for friends to celebrating the Sabbats, sending energy if I can and performing various spells... I even make my own homemade incense specifically for my rituals, to add an even more personal note to them.

How I now combine Christianity with paganism is very simple... I perform rituals and such in a more Pagan way but I dedicate them to the Christian Holy Trinity. My altar is a combination of Christian and Pagan components... I have all four elements represented (earth, air, fire and water) along with pictures of the Virgin Mary, crosses and books on both Christian Witchcraft and Earth Magick. My mortar and pestle are there, along with containers of various homemade incenses, Holy water (that I made myself), my copper incense censure that my husband gave me years ago, so many things that are personal and are related to my path.

I do hope you find a path that is right for you... After all, being at a spiritual crossroads is not only confusing, it can keep a person awake at night from trying to figure out which path is right for them.

I hope this helps. Blessings and love to you as you continue along your journey. :hugz:

[Nesta]

Let me start off by saying that I do believe in God.

I was a christian for many years,then I found paganism.It gave me the freedom i yearned,the trouble is it gave me so much freedom with my beliefs that I found myself floundering.
I need God.
Due to study though i am confused by the whole pagan/christian holidays.Who celebrated it first?
I know the Bible has been mistranslated and now i don't know what is of God and what is of man
I believe in God but I don't believe in the devil
I believe in heaven but don't believe in hell.
I believe Jesus died for my sins,but I don't believe it should be forever spoken about to make us feel bad.
I believe in a God of love but not one of fear.
How do you bring christianity and paganism together? I struggle to-i feel I have to be one or the other but cannot be both.

I feel like I'm being torn in different directions,and don't know where to turn.

Earthy you have my sympathy, I was like that up until recently (concerning 2 pagan paths) and it was so confusing/upsetting/frustrating.

In the end I decided to give myself all the time I needed to work things out. I thought about it, meditated, talked to my god and goddess and to different people. It only took about 3 years in the end which I think is great.

Since I've reached some conclusions about who and what I am I've come to believe that the whole issue was a very necessary part of my path. All of my questions were ones that only I could answer. I had to really, really examine myself in so many ways.

I can say that it was a great challenge and so worth it. I feel the benefit of it in so many ways.

Best wishes to you on your path. Keep trying your best and things will come out alright for you.