Need Help!

[rosebud]

Hello, well I finally told my parents and family that I have decided to be a wiccan and well they said whatever I need to feel happy that they will back me up 100 percent but they keep wanting me to go to this Christian Church and last week I said no and they wouldn't talk to me and it made me feel bad. So I was just wondering if I just go to church with them but still be a wiccan I mean I don't consider myself a Christian but it makes them happy when I go with them. I don't know what to do. Well thanks for listening. If you want you can send me some info about what I should do. Thanks, Love y'all!

[loopy]

If you don't have any stong obligations to going to church, and it'll make your parents happy, I don't see why you couldn't go. :) There've been lots of posts here by Wiccans and Pagans who have attended church and just silently substituted Gods in their mind, or prayed to their own while everyone else was praying to theirs. And others just like to go for the "feel" of it-- I remember loving the music, though I didn't go too often.

Anyway, if your parents are behind you, they probably understand that it's not going to convert you or anything. No harm in going. :) No one can change your religious beliefs but you. :):)

[Technopagan]

I was brought up in a catholic enviroment and even though I have been a Pagan for quite some time now, a couple of Christmas's ago I whent to church on christmas day because it felt like the right thing to do, It didn't mean I had become a christian again it just felt like the right place to go to commune with the gods.

It will probably be difficult at first trying to come to consolidate your new Pagn views with your Christian upbringing especialy if you are expected to attend church regulaly, but whether you are in a Church on Sunday,a temple , mosq or Stonehenge at the Autum Equinox, send your thoughts to the Deity you are comfortable with and do the same in your coven or hearth or where ever you choose if you are solitary.

Your parents probably think your new belief just a phase and if you keep going to church you will grow out of it, however if it is not a phase attending church untill your parents are ready to accept this will be much more benificial than fighting them now and turning them against your new beliefs

Your christian upbringing is part of you, it will always shape your views (even if it's only in a small way) If you accept this instead of rebelling against it (which many Pagans don't) it will help you cultivate your own belief's rather than be a monkey on your back.

[Old Witch]

When my Chistian friends get married, have funerals, whatever, I go and think about my own goddesses. I don't think any deity will mind.

[Illuminatus]

This is obviously a trap.

The first step to getting out of a trap is realizing that there is a trap. First step done.

If I were you, I'd go along with them. As long as they don't know that you know it's a trap, you have the advantage, and there is no reason to dissuade them of this notion.

They'll try to corner you at some point, in a circle of friends, where you will all sit in chairs and they will take turns berating you. So avoid circles of chairs. Coffee too, that's a bad sign. Beware your friends, because you don't know who they might have gotten to. Don't let on that you are wary though, play the part of the innocent prey until the moment comes to make your move!

If you do feel for some reason that you are being moved against, let instinct be your guide. It's probably right. Always keep the nearest exit in mind, and the best way to get to it, and for the love of the Goddess don't wear heels, you'll never get anywhere running in those inside or outside. If you feel cornered, use one of your smoke-bombs, and in the ensuing confusion make good your escape. Cackling wildly, while not required, is also a plus. If it comes down to hand-to-hand combat, your goal is to distract with a scratch or a kick, the key thing is to keep moving, as long as you are moving there is hope for escape! If you feel a hand on your face, bite!

These are the tennants by which I have lived my entire life, and they have served me very well up till now. I have to go now, I think my regional manager is trying to sneak up on me.

- Illuminatus!

[Flaire-FireStar]

Rosebud, I know what you're going through.. My mom (ehm) makes me go to church every Sunday with her. I don't especially want to go, but it's what makes her happy if I go. (I refused to go for the past 2 and a half years).... 8O8O8O
Just if people there try to convert you or something, be tough and stay strong in what you believe.. I found that's what Christians almost always aim to do - convert people...

Illuminatus- That's a good philosophy.. :D Mine's 'always look over your shoulder and don't get to close' .. Sure it keeps people at a distance, but if it works.... :thumbsup:

[Adri-Talia]

I think you being non-Christian should not stop you from going to church one bit at all. Just like one would visit Middle Eastern Mosques, or Buddhist temples, or Egyptian Isian Shrines even though they don't belong to any of those religions... it's a good experience to simply experience.

It can do no harm, only good in going... Except maybe if they know you're a worshipper of their non-christian God and set up a sacraficial stoning of you in his honour... hey, anything's possible! :lol:

In case any Christians are peaking at this know that that was a joke, I repeat, a joke of the funny humourous meant-to-make-you-laugh kind you know?

[Flaire-FireStar]

Yeah... :D
The thing that gets me with Christians is that they have a hard time accepting it when someone doesn't believe in their god. They make this huge ol' speech thing and try to convert you. I dunno, I'd just have a hard time living like that. ^^

[MammaStar]

Originally posted by Illuminatus
This is obviously a trap.

The first step to getting out of a trap is realizing that there is a trap. First step done.

If I were you, I'd go along with them. As long as they don't know that you know it's a trap, you have the advantage, and there is no reason to dissuade them of this notion.

They'll try to corner you at some point, in a circle of friends, where you will all sit in chairs and they will take turns berating you. So avoid circles of chairs. Coffee too, that's a bad sign. Beware your friends, because you don't know who they might have gotten to. Don't let on that you are wary though, play the part of the innocent prey until the moment comes to make your move!

If you do feel for some reason that you are being moved against, let instinct be your guide. It's probably right. Always keep the nearest exit in mind, and the best way to get to it, and for the love of the Goddess don't wear heels, you'll never get anywhere running in those inside or outside. If you feel cornered, use one of your smoke-bombs, and in the ensuing confusion make good your escape. Cackling wildly, while not required, is also a plus. If it comes down to hand-to-hand combat, your goal is to distract with a scratch or a kick, the key thing is to keep moving, as long as you are moving there is hope for escape! If you feel a hand on your face, bite!

These are the tennants by which I have lived my entire life, and they have served me very well up till now. I have to go now, I think my regional manager is trying to sneak up on me.

- Illuminatus!


:rotfl:

[SphinYote]

..... and for the love of the Goddess don't wear heels, you'll never get anywhere running in those inside or outside......!

At least, don't wear heels that you can't cick off right away. However, they could come in as handy weapons...or you could wear them on your ears and pretend to be possessed....:D

Most everyone here has had good advice that I can't really add to...but I couldn't resist responding...:)