That perfect world is just a little too far away...

            In a perfect world, we could express our faith, say our prayers aloud, without fear of someone else becoming offended. So long as it is understood that this is our path, our experience and it may not necessarily be the same for you, what is the harm?

            Last week a high school senior ripped up his school board approved speech and recited the Lord’s Prayer at his graduation. I’m including a link if you haven’t seen it yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et26zMZL0Po  

            When I first heard about it, it was from people on my Facebook posting about it, commending this young man for being brave enough to do this. *snorts* Honestly, as someone of a non-Christian path, I wasn’t sure how to react. And then my liberal arts education kicked in and my thought was, hell, let this kid do what he wants so long as he’s not condemning others for not making the same choice. My college was enriched by the liberal arts but at the same time, it was originally a Baptist college, and even though I don’t think that is official anymore, there is prayer everywhere. Professors open up class with it, at big meetings with the entire college people pray, and God in the Christian capacity is really everywhere. I went to school there for three and a half years and it never really bothered me. There was maybe a couple of times where someone directly came up to me and asked if I had accepted Jesus Christ into my life, and she was not associated with the college.

            As a little insert, this woman came up to our dinner table on two separate occasions and both times, we all just smiled politely and said yes, so she would move on. No muss, no fuss. She was an older lady and maybe it was far too complacent to handle it the way we did, but I really can’t say.

            Now, since it’s only recently that I’m not trying to keep my faith quiet anymore, I have no experience with being rejected because of it. A close friend of mine who attended the same college got it, on more than one occasion, and often from a fellow student. The “supervisors” stood by and said nothing, if I remember correctly, since it was at a group gathering on campus. She would probably feel a little differently about this entire thing.

            The biggest question in regards to this kid from South Carolina is what if he’d been Pagan and done the same thing? What if he’d been Muslim? Or Jewish? Would it have been such a happy thing in his hometown, or would it have raised controversy and even more anger for CNN to cover?

            In a perfect world, if this kid had been Pagan and done the same thing, he would have gotten the same approval from the audience, even if they were all Christian. He would have gotten the same approval just because he expressed his faith at a time of celebration. But we do not live in a perfect world.

            Was the kid wrong? Should he have kept his mouth shut? No. But then again, neither should those of us who live on the other side of the tracks. Silence changes nothing, and though we don’t live in a perfect world, that doesn’t mean we can’t try to make it better. That requires speaking out and maybe praying your own way every once in a while.

Oh Goddess,

I am your daughter as you are my mother,

Great Moon Mother,

Let your light shine and bless my path through the night.

Blessed be.

           

End of the World as We Know It! Pack a Bag Darlin!

            I’ve debated on how to approach this, and postponed writing a review on Goodreads because of that. Now I’ve decided I’m going to do the hipster thing and blog about it. The book in question is Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. If you’re unfamiliar with that title, I’m sharing the link to the Goodreads description.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27523.Left_Behind?ac=1

This description doesn’t come out and say it, but this is a very Christian novel. Your first question might be something along the lines of, you’re Pagan, why are you reading about how Christians think the world is going to end? I’m going to explain that, my pretties.

            Since I first toed the line by putting my religion up on Facebook for all to see, my mother and I have been at odds about the entire thing. It’s a subject we tend to avoid most of the time. The day that these books were brought up, we were actually having a semi-decent conversation about religion, which is a rarity in and of itself. She asked me to read the book for her and since we were having such a good conversation, for us anyway, I agreed.

            I told my mom upfront that I’ve already been down the “what if I’m wrong and I end up in hell” road. Growing up in the Bible belt will do that to you, but I let go of that fear a long time ago. I don’t want to follow a faith out of fear and I’m not going to. So I read this “novel of the earth’s last days.” And I didn’t hate it. Really. If I wanted to get into the series, I could really come to care for the main characters. I could get into the story. It’s fascinating in one respect. Not to mention, it’s an easy read.  

Even though the book had an underlying theme of spread the faith, tell people about Christ, there was also the understanding that people have to come to it in their own time. You can’t push the issue or you drive them away. I can respect that. One thing that I’ve never been able to stand is feeling like religion is being shoved down my throat, but that’s not what I got from this book. There’s a difference between telling and trying to force it on someone and thankfully, this book fell on the right side of that line.

            In the right context, it’s nice to explore other ideas about the world, or in this case how it will meet its end. To me, the beauty of a liberal arts education is teaching you to explore other ideas without feeling like your own are threatened. Unfortunately for religion, people don’t like to question. I think it makes them uncomfortable and I will admit, it takes a lot of confidence in your own faith to be able to look at another objectively.

            This past weekend, while in a Xbox Live party (Wrac, you’re about to get a shout out), a friend of ours said something about why we’re so fascinated by end of the world theories/stories. I believe he said something about because we really don’t like each other, but more than that, we just want a fresh start. And in the Left Behind context, there will be a fresh start, after the seven years of virtual hell on earth. After that, and all the trials that come with, it’s said there will be the one thousand year reign of Christ on Earth. See, to me, that’s fascinating. And my mom and I both were wondering, well, what happens after the one thousand years? To the gods (or in this case, God), one thousand years is really not that much time. We speculated that the cycle will start all over again. I’m not that well versed in Norse mythology, but isn’t Ragnarok a similar idea? It’s all a cycle of birth and death, redemption and damnation. I think the Celts liked that idea as well.

            Every ending is a new beginning. Who wouldn’t want to believe in that?

            So in short, Left Behind was not a bad read. It’s not a series I’m utterly captivated by, but it’s something different from my usual reading material. That’s always good. And it’s even better to explore other ideas. Though, even after reading it, I’m still Pagan. I still feel a connection to the Goddess and so long as I feel that connection, I’m staying on my path. It gives me strength and it gives me peace, especially in times of hardship. I’m one of the hippies on the train of we’re all worshipping the same thing, we just connect to it differently. The rest is just details.