Paganism and religious beliefs

[Ghostwheel Z]

Paganism and religious beliefs

Like most people on this forum (at least I think so), I was raised Jewish. My parents were fairly secular--sometimes we went once a week to the synagogue, I had a proper aliya when I had my bar mitzvah, and we celebrated the high holidays, my parents usually having to drag me to the synagogue because I found it so boring. Only recently have I discovered a number of things about the Jewish faith--that the god that Jews worship is in fact a war-god of desert origin who kills off his people every generation to satisy his own bloodlust, and in return promising them that their race would live on, even if a large number died. Is this right, or would complete bull? I tried to do some independant research, but unfortunately the Internet is fraught with propoganda designed to surgically insert into the mind of the viewer what the author wanted the viewer to believe. I have always believed that there is one great divinity who is the ultimate duality/combination of all the possible qualities that there are--greed and generosity, sadness and happiness, rage and calm, and yes, even male and female. And within this larger divinity, every facet is what the pagans call a "god", and the wiccans try to divide this great divinity into a "god" and a "goddess". I fully expect one day, when I am ready to receive it, that both a female and a male aspect of this divinity will "choose" me to be their priest, and spread the message of their facet out into the world--or whatever I choose to do with it. And so I reach the crux of my problem; now that I think I know what I think I believe, how do I hold on to my heritage, culture, and traditions? How do I celebrate Passover when it's in celebration of a facet of the divinity that I don't agree with? And the same with all the other holidays. Then, the only reason I might go to synagogue is to sing the songs I enjoy from the book (I enjoy singing very much), or to make my parents happy, something that is rather important to me. Should I continue praying to something that I don't want to pray to to make them feel better, because when they (my parents) feel better I feel better? Should I pretend to be praying? I don't think I ever really concentrate on the words anyway, but should I now concentrate on not meaning them? Should I (or even can I) even feel proud to be a Jew when he god Jews worship is a bloodthirsty war-god who's percepts I don't believe in? Anyway, I just wanted a new perspective on the subject from people who've had to deal with it for years... how do you guys deal with believing in wicca/paganism/whatever, and holding onto your heritage and religious traditions at the same time?

 

[s a l v a t i o n]

well

First,there is this forum: http://www.tapuz.co.il/tapuzforum/main/forumpage.asp?id=337 .which deals only with paganism About your question,I never heard of the jewish god as a bloodthirsty god,but maybe others did. Anyhow,when I discovered my own truth about the god and the goddess ,It was difficult for me too to keep on showing my jewish mask around when with in me I knew It is false.But I also understood that shouting out to ppl they are wrong or blind,or any other scandel just to strength who you are,Isn`t quite the right thing to do.When I`m around the Shabat table on Kidush,I hear the prayers but they dont move me at all because I`m not part of them.I say Amen in order to pay my respect to those who surround me,but nothing more.It`s like a nice homey (and tasty) show.nothing more I dont give It a lot of thinking or priority

 

[כוכב ה שחר]

My view on the subject

I view the jewish god as one of many in the great semitic pantheons. In ancient pagan pantheons there was also a place for gods of war - war was, and is, a part of life. Whether these are wars between nations and people or personal struggles from within. My take on polytheism is what we call "Hard Polytheism" - which views the different gods as seperate eintities, and this way I have no problem in accepting the jewish god as one more god. Furthermore, the jewish god is mainly a tribal god - the god of my ancestors. I show him respect, as I respect any god. I do not have to accept, and I really don't, the way that other religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - worship him. As for holidays - on each holiday I remind myself the meanings of the holiday itself - agricultural meanings (most jewish holidays come from the time Israel was a agricultural society) and also tribal meanings - Passover is on one side a holiday of the begining spring and on the other a celebration of freedom - national and personal. I like the differnet holiday songs - but singing them doesn't mean believing in them. So no problem there. I have no quarell with judaism. I hold some of the traditions as to honor my ancestors, but nothing more.

 

[כוכב ה שחר]

There were also some

debates on the subject in the forum "Paganism is Israel", one of them started over the passover There was another discussion there about Judaism and Paganism and on reconciling them, but I can't find it now. I'll find it later.

 

[כוכב ה שחר]

Paganism *in* Israel

ofcourse. My bad.