by Gretchen956 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I personally think it's a pantry that pretty much every non-christian belief system gets tossed into. There are so many perceptions of paganism, and although I pretty much want to open this discussion to those who label themselves as such, anyone's thoughts are welcome. This topic can become a can of worms, hopefully it won't denigrate to that.
Thoughts?
Sherry
Sherry:
I personally think it's a pantry that pretty much every non-christian belief system gets tossed into.
Christian ones, too
I would suggest that most of what is branded "pagan" is nothing of the sort.
How would you define the word?
(I'm heading to bed so alas, I cannot reply just now - nite ).
The word "Pagan" comes from the Latin word meaning "countryside." The country bumpkins were not as sophisticated as the urban dwellers.
Today it is mainly applied to polytheistic religions. Jews, Christians and Muslims are all monotheists and are not Pagans.
I am an Atheist but I do refer to myself as a Pagan to emphasize that I am outside of the religious mainstream.
Those who know I am no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses ask if I celebrate Christmas now. I tell them I celebrate the Winter Solstice, the Pagan holiday Christmas is based on.
There is general agreement that the word "Pagan" comes from the Latin word "paganus." Unfortunately, there is no consensus on the precise meaning of the word in the fifth century CE and before. There are three main interpretations. 16 None has won general acceptance:
 | Most modern Pagan sources interpret the word to have meant "rustic," "hick," or "country bumpkin" -- a pejorative term. The implication was that Christians used the term to ridicule country folk who tenaciously held on to what the Christians considered old-fashioned, outmoded Pagan beliefs. Those in the country were much slower in adopting the new religion of Christianity than were the city folks. They still followed the Greek state religion, Roman state religion, Mithraism, various mystery religions, etc., long after those in urban areas had converted. |
| Some believe that in the early Roman Empire, "paganus" came to mean "civilian" as opposed to "military." Christians often called themselves "miles Christi" (Soldiers of Christ). Thus, the non-Christians became "pagani" -- non-soldiers or civilians. No denigration would be implied. |
| C. Mohrmann suggests that the general meaning was any "outsider," -- a neutral term -- and that the other meanings, "civilian" and "hick," were merely specialized uses of the term. 17 |
By the third century CE, its meaning evolved to include all non-Christians. Eventually, it became an evil term that implied the possibility of Satan worship. The latter two meanings are still in widespread use today.
There is no generally accepted, single, current definition for the word "Pagan." The word is among the terms that the newsgroup alt.usage.english, calls "skunk words." They have varied meanings to different people. The field of religion is rife with such words. consider: Christian, cult, hell, heaven, occult, Paganism, pluralism, salvation, Witch, Witchcraft, Unitarian Universalist, Voodoo, etc. Each has so many meanings that they often cause misunderstandings wherever they are used. Unfortunately, most people do not know this, and naturally assume that the meaning that they have been taught is universally accepted. A reader must often look at the context in which the word is used in order to guess at the intent of the writer.
Actually I'm familiar with the word origins and the dictionary definition, what I'm wondering is people's perceptions. For instance, I had a boss lady for awhile who was a devout born-again christian. She told a Jewish man that he was a pagan. I disagree with that, but a lot of people do believe that a pagan is EVERYone that is not christian.
I think, as I said, that it is a very broad term, and if you say, "I'm a pagan" it denotes different things to different people. I'm just interested in hearing some of them.
Sherry
A pagan is in the mind of the beholder.....just like the word "cult" is. It depends on who's speaking. All who subscribe to one true god considers all other gods and their followers as pagan.
Gumby
And a goodnight hug to you sherry
My mother is a JW and she says Pagan means man made and not constituded by God. I then reminded her that marriage is constituted by God as is birth but Anniversary's, wedding rings, honey moons are all pagan yet JW's celebrate them. Birthdays are considered pagan and are not celebrated. I do not understand. Isn't a special day for the couple as idolatrous as a special day for the birthday boy/girl? Bad examples of birthdays are not all that is in the bible. A good birthday is mentioned, Christs. The angels opened up, the trumpets sounded, the wise men gave gifts, hello!
Do you know that if you look in the back of the JW bible in the index there is no bold topic called Holidays or Disfellowshipping. I guess this would be where you have to turn to the Watchtower's index for the rest of what the bible must have accidentally left out. By my mother's very definition, the WT is pagan.
I associate "earth-religions" with Paganism (e.g. Mother Earth/Goddess worship, including Wicca, Druidism, etc.).
With all the knee-jerk "Christian" opinion on these kind of things, I wouldn't be looking for an accurate definition from that quarter.
pagan=people I don't like
Pete:
Would that be:
