Frequently Asked Questions

   Collated by Rhiannon NosTylluan

These are a list of questions we were sent by readers a few issues ago that they would like to ask people of other faiths in their community but have never done so. Some of the questions were very specific in regards to the communities they were from - such as this one - but we felt they were still ones that should be asked, just in a more generic fashion.

The respondents were asking these of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic groups (the Abrahamic faiths), as well as ones for "other faiths" in general and a few for people of the Hindu and Buddhist systems. We took all the questions sent in, tidied them up and tried to "generalise" them and then started asking them of people we knew. Over the next few months we will continue asking Christians, Jews, Moslems (including hopefully some Sufis and Ba'hais), Buddhists, Hindus, and a couple of Chinese Traditionalists.

We wanted to try and create an offering for our readers of what those "others" actually think. Not the ones who get on tv and look or act wierd, but what the real, everyday, just like us, people think. A significant issue for many Pagans is that they have "escaped" a wierdo faith. So many are ex-fundie (as different to Fundamentalist) and this taints their ability to look at Christians (in particular since that is our largest group of "past faith") without bias. There is a lot of fear, prejudice, and anger on both sides and we feel that having the contrast of reasoned and thoughful responses to the general extremist nastiness they've experienced may help them to heal and let go their anger.

This issue we are featuring a few responses - the rest can be found via this link. If you ask your friends of other faiths these or other questions and would like to share the responses, please email us.

FAQ for November-December 2005 What is the divine? Can one lose one's way to the divine on a permanent basis? How do you explain the dichotomy between actions of apparent hatred, anger, and violence by many of your faith and Jesus's message of love and compassion?            What is the divine? Christians have tried to define that for years. For me, the divine is not something to be limited by words. God, as I call the divine, is so much larger than myself. God is completely foreign to me, but in an effort to become more accessable He became human. To me, God is the original multiple personality disorder. Because He was remote, His chosen people grew away from Him. In an effort to bring them closer, He dispatched a bit of Himself to dwell in the world, visible as a human, and then after the set time, He dispatched another portion to make our awareness more in tune with him--the Holy Spirit. For me, the Holy Spirit is the energy I can see in everything. It shines like a white mist. The more aware something is of the Holy Spirit, the more color the mist shines with. The clearer the mist, the more colored the mist, the more the being is aware of God and they are closer to Him and more in tune with His desires. Sometimes I can hear a voice or music running through it, acting as a guide, and tugging me in the direction I need to go. Some people needed to see and touch God to know He exists, others are aware of the Holy Spirit, and others simply need the rules set forth by the largest portion of the conciousness that is God. If one is of a Judeo-christian background this is how God chose to reveal Himself. Megan The divine is God. He is everything that is good and wonderous. He fills everyone and everything. When we love or care - that is God. When we hate - that is the denial of God. MVJ There is one God who presents 3 faces to humans-God the father, God the son (Jesus, Messiah), and God the Spirit (the divine that lives in those who have accepted Christ) JF The divine is the spiritual world, that which is eternal, in my understanding of it. God is divine because he is not created, but is the Creator, and has always existed. Shannon    Can one lose one's way to the divine on a permanent basis? Once touched by God, He never leaves you. I have seen people turn away from God, yet still live according to the way's He instructed us to live. They treat people honorably, and they live their lives well. Just because they lose connection to the original grounding of their faith doesn't mean they lose God. They just loose touch. They may not even feel any connection, but I believe subconciously they remain tied to the divine through the little traditions that they keep through out the year and their lives. Megan I think so. I don't think it has anything to do with religion. I know people of other faiths and also atheists who are filled with what I see as God. They may deny the existence of or validity of my God, but the way they live shows they are filled with divinity. Yes they struggle at times to be always good and moral. But the fact they struggle says it all. Then I know others, including Christians, who seem to me to have lost that connection. They see only the bad, speak only about themselves, judge others all the time, and generally don't spread the love that is God. If they don't find their way back - and some don't - then I think they lose their way permanently. We all know some very nasty old people (as well as young ones). But I think it is also the failing of those around them. A nasty person isn't pleasant to be around - but not making an effort is affirming that that person has no worth. And that is wrong. If God loves everyone, then we should try to do so to. And we should seek out those who are most lost. Not to preach at, but to share the burden. Do the shopping for a shut-in. Listen without judgement to the complaints and then do something nice for them. Show them the face of God in our actions. If they do not return to/become Christian it is not a failure. The only failure is if they cannot return to a life of Love. MVJ I hope not for that would be beyond horrible. I hope that God, being all-loving, is always there, ready to help us to find Him. Ready to forgive and take us home. Elizabeth Yes - by making salvation conditional. It is not our choice as to how to what God is and what God wants. None of us knows for certain. We can only read His Word and decide for ourselves what it means. Prayer and listening to God are ways to do this. Interpreting His Word in terms of our own prejudices is not. If the Bible seems to support a prejudicial or non-accepting stance of other people, then in all likelihood that is a human interpretation. Jesus accepted all people but rejected their sin - the way to salvation is through Him. That means we must accept all, rejecting only the sin. And the only sin we can reject is that which is clearly defined within the Word of God. Louise I don't believe so. I do believe it is possible to run from God-I have attempted to (explored paganism, even). He came after me. I do believe that if a Christian continues to run in spite of God's pursuit, He can get to the point that he is hardened and basically useless to God and himself. (please excuse the generic use of he-it's just simpler). He is still saved. JF I believe you can lose your way. I believe that a person who thinks that humans are the ultimate source of their own morality denies the divine presence, and puts herself out of God's light by her arrogance. If it is consistent, I think it would be permanent, because she is not in balance with the spiritual world. Shannon    How do you explain the dichotomy between actions of apparent hatred, anger, and violence by many of your faith and Jesus's message of love and compassion? Jesus taught, according to the Bible, that His followers should turn the other cheek. He showed compassion to those who believed differently, and was polite even when when mocked. The one time He lost His temper was when people blatantly disrespected a place set aside as a sanctified place for the honor and to aid in the worship of the people's God. Even when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Simon Peter struck off the ear of the High Priests servant. Jesus reprimanded him for it. While there is a time and place to stand up (such as Jesus' hissy fit at the temple), we need to look to the example set for us to figure out when that is. Those that just lash out in anger, hatred, and violence are not actually taking the step back they need to because they don't care enough to fix the problem--just enough to perpetuate it. Respecting the divine, respecting what is set aside for the divine, and standing up for others--that is right. That is what Jesus did. Just as the example that He set, we also should not judge others. Those that do judge others, look down upon them, discriminate against them, hate them, that is not right. It doesn't matter if someone is of a different faith, people are people. Those that forget that forget what it is to be Christian. Jesus came to save the world, not condem it. Megan It's a complex thing. My judgemental human nature tells me they aren't real Christians. But that's not my call to make. Only God knows if they are really Christian - if they have given themselves over to him. So, no I can't explain it. MVJ It depends on what you are defining as hatred. If believing that only those who accept Christ will go to Heaven is your definition of hatred, I strongly disagree. I don't want anyone to go to Hell, but I can't change that by wanting it. I can only tell people the truth and act in a loving way so that they will think I have something worth having. If you are referring to the Fred Phelps brand of evangelism, however, while I can not speak to the state of his heart (or those of his followers) I can say that such behavior is not supportable by scripture without some serious twisting. If you are talking about the Crusades, that's another kettle of fish altogether-the actions of those who led were not based on any biblical thinking I can even get my mind around, and those who followed were, well, following. They weren't even allowed to read the Bible, so that they could be told whatever the religious leaders wanted them to hear. That's not Christianity as I know it. JF Firstly, Jesus was also known to be angry, to have violent outbursts, and to hate that which was not just. My personal feelings depend on the context, since there is such a thing as righteous anger and hating the sin, but not the sinner. When I feel negative emotions that are not consistent with how God wants us to behave, I imagine it is because we are not God, in short. We are born on this earth frail and subject to the worldly elements everything from trying to deal with the weather, to trying to establish our own communities, to trying to make the lives of our family profitable. Those feelings, those earthly feelings, can get in the way of the spiritual message of God, and the practical method that Jesus tried to get us to envelop. The world is not a perfect world, because the free will we have been given also means that people are free to choose their own path over that of God's. Over time, conflicts between people have caused us to develop in our nature a selfishness, one that can override the original way God wanted for us. Jesus came to remind us of that original message, but it's a battle between our long developed nature, and the spiritual life that we should be living. Shannon

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