OK I found God, what next?

rocala said:
... For some years Christianity has been digging in to me as if I have sat on something sharp. I have read lots, have been to services and have had no answers, often quite the reverse. I cannot explain it, but it is strong ... So why this constant niggling?
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Well, there's a question I'm not sure this format is conducive to answering ...

The only think I can think of, is can you find a thread? Somewhere, or something, to begin with, and then trace that through the maze?

Something to tug on, and see what unravels?
 
rocala said:
accepting virgin births,
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Even if you do not have a faith in God, you somehow have to believe that the universe and life had to come into existence somehow. We are here to day asking all these questions.

In the Bible, it says Adam was created from the dust of the ground, so humanity starts from dust. The virgin birth starts with Mary, not from the dust of the ground.

The biggest miracle is the creation of the universe and life. God created water, I am sure he has the ability to walk on water, or hover on water, who knows how it happened. By comparison to creation, I would imagine walking on water is child's play.
 
rocala said:
This post has been a very long time in the making. Earlier today, @Thomas made a post in which he wrote " I'd say God is that which is the source and origin of all things, Itself not originated; the Creator, Itself uncreated ...Other terms are 'the One', 'the Absolute', and so forth." I kept reading this description, it meant something to me.

Many people it seems have experiences where they have to accept the existence of 'something else'. I myself have had three, All very different, all incredibly real, very gentle, yet totally convincing - they were very much, " I know", not "I think" moments.

My reading, TV viewing and internet browsing has discovered various accounts, such as a violent criminal alone in his cell to survivors of heart attacks and car crashes to those who 'died' during surgery. They all seem to have encountered something which is possibly that which Thomas describes.
The next thing is that all these people start attending church.

Maybe I have missed something but nobody has explained how having a mystical experience leads to Christianity including no doubt accepting virgin births, walking on water, resurrection, the Trinity, original sin and all the rest. I have tried, long and hard to make the required connections but so far, nothing.

What am I missing?
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I just found this discussion so I have to read more but as far as mystical experiences go they are found in all religions and even with those who are not in a religion. If you are Christian and go through this experience then you get a feeling of profound connection to something greater than yourself which in a Christian context would make you find connection with aspects of Christianity. If you are polytheistic like myself the same experience created a profound connection with the greater natural world and in my polytheistic context. In a study in Sweden people going out of the city to get away and into the countryside have had similar experiences which create a profound connection to the forest they are in. So they are very dependent on the context in which you experience them. So it is not that the experience is going to lead someone to Christianity but rather it connects whatever context you are in.

I don't think you are missing anything. It is interesting because there seems to be two types of experiences where one is the sensation of leaving the body or self into the greater world and another as a sensation of going inside oneself. It is also interesting how so many people loose the fear of death with these experiences. Many of the Greek mystery cults seemed to create rituals to have this occur as in the Elysian mystery rites.
 
Thank you everybody for your contributions. It is a mystery why something that has so many aspects that are incomprehensible to me, should exert such a pull., but pull it does and it has been pulling for seven years now, but I am still exactly where I was at the beginning.
If some answer or solution is out there, I now feel that it will either find me or it won't, regardless of my actions. I am now prepared accept that and see what happens.
 
I'm curious about modern Druidry but skeptical. So few shreds of Welsh mythology have survived the centuries of erasure by Romans and Christians that accurate reconstruction is impossible. So how does that work?
 
Bloodshot said:
I'm curious about modern Druidry but skeptical. So few shreds of Welsh mythology have survived the centuries of erasure by Romans and Christians that accurate reconstruction is impossible. So how does that work?
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That is an interesting story. There is the historical progression which has very interesting people and there is how it is done. The first thing to understand is Druidry is a relational primary religion which is true of all of the polytheistic religions compared to Christianity which is belief primary religion. Because there were no sacred texts or scrolls or controlled beliefs needed to continue the religion. The source of wisdom in Druidry comes from nature not from prophets telling you and writing down the words of a god.

Even when the Christians dominated Ireland, for instance, they genealogy and relationships to the land were tied into they myths if the Irish for instance. They had a mythohistory weaving kings into the myths similar to Greek mythohistory. Thus the myths were preserved to preserve the history of the people so that what elements are in there that are consistent with prechristian can be understood as they were relational to the land where as the Christian elements were belief based.

So those factors along with Comparative Mythology, religious anthropology, archeology, folklore, and the myths that were preserved have used to create a meaningful religion whose source of knowledge is nature and the land itself. There is so much more but If you have questions let me know. The relationship between the Scotts, Welsh, and Irish myths are fascinating.
 
Bear Wild said:
That is an interesting story. There is the historical progression which has very interesting people and there is how it is done. The first thing to understand is Druidry is a relational primary religion which is true of all of the polytheistic religions compared to Christianity which is belief primary religion. Because there were no sacred texts or scrolls or controlled beliefs needed to continue the religion. The source of wisdom in Druidry comes from nature not from prophets telling you and writing down the words of a god.

Even when the Christians dominated Ireland, for instance, they genealogy and relationships to the land were tied into they myths if the Irish for instance. They had a mythohistory weaving kings into the myths similar to Greek mythohistory. Thus the myths were preserved to preserve the history of the people so that what elements are in there that are consistent with prechristian can be understood as they were relational to the land where as the Christian elements were belief based.

So those factors along with Comparative Mythology, religious anthropology, archeology, folklore, and the myths that were preserved have used to create a meaningful religion whose source of knowledge is nature and the land itself. There is so much more but If you have questions let me know. The relationship between the Scotts, Welsh, and Irish myths are fascinating.
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Thank you :)

I like the pragmatic approach of "getting on with the neighbours" - the nature (and supernature) that overlaps directly with my life. "Animism" if you want to call it that. So I chat to birds, plants, weather etc regularly. Sometimes they are kind enough to pretend to listen!

Apart from paying respects to Arianrhod though, I try not to bother "higher powers", I imagine they're busy enough...
 
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