Subj : [1/7] FYI Fwed advice To : RACHEL L. AKERS From : TODD HENSON Date : Sun Mar 25 2001 09:15 pm > Gidday Sean, > > SD> ... You must be in a different "circle" than I am here.... > > Honestly I don't know what circle he takes part in. He's critising my comments > about X-ians being attack by others from their own faith (eg the Catholics by > some X-ain non-catholic sects) & yet he's done the same thing in a earlier > post... & just so I can't be accused of misquoting... > > TWIT> Various CATHOLIC traditions have their roots in > TWIT> paganism, but not those of Christianity. > > I fail to understand why all the X-ian faiths who can be historically conected > with the Catholics (acknowledging some non Western-european ones don't) waste > so much energy attacking the faith. The claim was made that Christian rituals had their origin in paganism. That is not an accurate claim, because the people who make such claims are usually ignorant of Christianity, and don;t understand the different bewteen Catholicism and actual Biblical Christianity. Catholicism is the product that emerged when the Roman state merged with the churches in Rome by declaring Christianity the state religion. Once Roman Christianity took that step, it started on a road that diverged from the Biblical religion that they are based off of. Various non-Christian elements were adopted as the Roman church became less like a spiritual brotherhood, and more like the Imperial govt it became one with. Pagan elements were adopted, and heavy-handed measures were seen as acceptable so that order could be maintained - a view that is more like an empire and less like the spiritual brotherhoods that Christ founded. So there are relevant differences that bear mentioning. Failure to acknowledge these crucial items amounts to a voluntary wallowing in continued ignorance regarding this subject. > SD> ... it's a human trait, perhaps, but it's heavily influenced by > SD> one's belief system, whatever it may be. But, in my experience, > SD> it's a majority of the Judeo-Christian followers that exhibit > SD> this rotten trait. > > I think part of the "problem" is that the majority of faiths originating in the > middle east have been strongly influenced by the babalonian dualist approach. > The concept of either "good" or "evil" is the prime example. In an "Us or Them" > situation, the "Us" must be "good" therefore the "Them" must be "evil". It's a > problem cultures experimenting in open multiculturalism have to deal with. & > Unfortunately even though I know many pagans who are able to step outside this > culturally imposed dualist approach, other's are unable That's a pretty simplistic way of looking at it. True, much of life is grey, but grey is a measure between two very real poles of black and white. If we do not acknowledge the black and the white, then grey doesn't exist either. Truth becomes a meaningless word. And when the boundaries between truth and untruth disappear, then the same happens to the difference between right and wrong. Then, true chaos happens. > One of my lecturers is currently talking about theories about power & is > esentually talking about the European's "If I'm right then you must be wrong" > approach compared to the Orient's (_very_ briefly) "Lets see why we see things > differently". & Just for argument sake she's tossed in what she's ID as a > Buddhist based eclectic "what ever" approach... Well, is muder wrong? "Whatever"... > It just supports my long term belief that the contempory (in this case I mean > of the past 500 years) European dualism (either based on X-ian beliefs or from > older origins) can be blamed for many current historically based (can you say > "White man's burden"??) problems. It's also a main reason why I'm looking for > my pre-X-ian ethnic roots. People willing to rape the truth and use any means available to subjugate others is the blame. --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5 * Origin: BBS Networks @ www.bbsnets.com 808-839-5016 (1:10/345) .