{"id":401,"date":"2009-10-22T13:37:44","date_gmt":"2009-10-22T13:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2009\/10\/real-christians-a-pagan-perspective.html"},"modified":"2009-10-22T13:37:44","modified_gmt":"2009-10-22T13:37:44","slug":"real-christians-a-pagan-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/10\/real-christians-a-pagan-perspective.html","title":{"rendered":"Real Christians – A Pagan Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question of
\nwho is or is not a “real Christian” has come up in this blog.  <\/span>It’s my own fault, for I’ve tried to
\ndistinguish between Christianity and the devil worship that masquerades under
\nits name in the religious right. 
\n<\/span>Since people calling themselves Christians have been fighting, and on
\nmany occasions, killing one another for almost 2000 years, why get involved?
 <\/p>\n


\nPartly it is
\nfrom frustration.  <\/span>Every time I
\npointed out something bad done in the name of Christianity, other Christians
\nhave refused to rake responsibility, saying it was not done by “real”
\nChristians.  <\/span>Sort of like Marxists
\nsaying Lenin and Stalin were not “real” Marxists.  <\/span>On the other hand, very good things have been done by
\nChristians.  <\/span>Is it simply the case
\nthat good and bad people are everywhere, which I believe to be true, or is
\nsomething else going on as well?<\/p>\n

Partly also it’s
\nfrom my having had real spiritual experiences with a Christian flavor.  <\/span>(I wrote about it in Pagans and
\nChristians<\/i>.)  <\/span>How do I, as a Pagan, make sense of that\/<\/p>\n

<\/span>As a Pagan, I
\nfocus my spiritual practice on Spirit as immanent, not transcendent, and my
\nanswer will reflect that starting pont. 
\n<\/span>I take as probably true that where the world’s religions tend to agree
\nthey will be more reliable about spiritual basics than where they
\ndisagree.  <\/span>This is because we are
\nprone to error and are all afflicted with myopia.  Among fallible beings with thousands of years to work it out, areas of agreement on these matters will probably be among the most reliable.  Especially when it does not reinforce secular power relations.<\/p>\n

Pretty obviously
\nSpirit loves variety, and I am not giving another version of the “we are all on
\nthe same path from different sides of the mountain” argument.  <\/span>But I doubt contradicting widespread
\ninsights is a part of that variety. It is simple error.  <\/span>The Aztecs were wrong to tear out
\nhearts and the Catholics and Protestants were wrong to burn witches.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Many of Jesus’
\nteachings gain additional weight because they harmonize with what I regard as
\ncore insights in teachings from a great many of the world’s religions.  <\/span>Valuing kindness and generosity, seeing
\nour personal concerns in a larger light than me-not-thee, respect and
\nveneration of the Sacred, and humility in the face of mystery are all but
\nuniversal.  <\/span>That part of Jesus’
\nmessage it seems to me is spiritually true and valuable.<\/p>\n

Scholars like
\nlawyers love to tease apart shades of meaning, and even reverse their seeming
\nsense.  <\/span>One gets tenure and one
\ngets money for doing so.  <\/span>But for
\npractitioners these insights are pretty obvious for most practical purposes.   <\/span>And I suspect it s an almost
\nuniversal human judgment that anyone evidencing these qualities will be regarded
\nas a good person.  <\/span>One we are glad
\nto know.<\/p>\n

So for me, the
\ndividing line between “real Christians” and the Sauronic frauds masquerading as
\nsuch is whether Jesus’ teachings are primary, with his reported death and
\nresurrection underlining<\/u> them, whatever else they might do, or whether
\nhis life is largely ignored, and attention is mostly on his reported death and
\nresurrection.  <\/span>One focuses on life,
\nthe other is a death cult.<\/p>\n

It seems the
\nmore the latter view holds the more war, killing, violence, hatred,
\nself-righteousness, and hypocrisy become features not flaws in what
\nemerges.  <\/span>Fighting ‘Satan’ becomes
\nmore important than attending to Jesus’ message, or his message is
\nreinterpreted so as to downplay most of what he said.  <\/span>And as we should know, in war it is all too easy for any
\nmeasure against the ‘enemy’ can be rationalized.  <\/i><\/span>Especially <\/i>if that enemy is “Satanic.”  <\/span>In the process they become more and
\nmore like those they once opposed, as we see in our own country regarding
\nthe religious right’s stance towards torture, aggressive war, and indefinite incarceration without trial – all
\nfeatures that as a child I was taught held for totalitarian regimes but not
\nus.  <\/span>All of which are endorsed by
\nSauronic devil worship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question of who is or is not a “real Christian” has come up in this blog.  It’s my own fault, for I’ve tried to distinguish between Christianity and the devil worship that masquerades under its name in the religious right.  Since people calling themselves Christians have been fighting, and on many occasions, killing one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interfaith","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nReal Christians - A Pagan Perspective - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/10\/real-christians-a-pagan-perspective.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Real Christians - 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