The cult of Christianity

I know that Christianity can’t by definition be a cult, although this is what the dictionary has to say about it:

1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.

3. the object of such devotion.

4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.

5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.

6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

7. the members of such a religion or sect.

8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.

So it does fit pretty well within this definition until you get to #6. It gets a little fuzzy, who is to say what is “unorthodox” or “false” ? Wow, according to the dictionary, there is somebody out there who can tell us which religious groups are “false” I’m guessing because they know the only true way. I know I’m being dramatic here, but everything seems to be twisted to the Christian beliefs. Even something as simple as a dictionary definition. How has this happened? Even our money has “In god we trust” blazon across it. What if I don’t trust that god? Even on the TV show Bones the other night our religion is treated like it’s some kind of joke. Bones is supposed to be Atheist and is confronting a Christian about God being make believe. To bolster her claim she tells him “After all, nobody believes in Odin or Zeus anymore” Gee, don’t think that had anything to do with 1500 years of Christian persecution do ya missy?

My point is, when did Christianity become the gage that all others would be judged by? How is it the accepted norm? Out of the billions of people in the world only a third of them are Christian, a full two thirds are not! Yet, Christianity is the norm. I think it is the most viral of all cults. Someone tell me what makes it not a cult. They start indoctrinating children from childhood and basically preach that it is their duty to show everyone the light. It makes me sick. Their “light” includes tales of child abuse, disregard for life that is not human, degrading women, human sacrifice, genocide, slavery, etc... the list goes on. Yet numerous other peaceful religions are labeled as sinners that must be saved.

I had to think back to my youth, why did I keep going to church and following a religion that in my heart I knew was wrong. Well, it was for the same reason cult followers don’t get out when things don’t feel right. I was afraid. Afraid to stand up to my parents and confront them with my problems with the church, Afraid of being labeled as an evil sinner, afraid of being smited by god. That is what you are taught. If you don’t believe in the biblical teachings you are angering god. The very act of questioning the teachings is a sin. You are set up for failure right from the start. You are in fact born a sinner! How about that. So someone remind me how this isn’t a cult again.

Now, compare my motivations from the past to my motivations now. In the past I was given 10 commandments of “thou shalt not” this and that. You had to plan your life around these, they were god’s will. Of course they didn’t include things like “tho shalt not enslave thy fellow man” but that is another story. I tap danced around these trying not to anger god. Of course there are a few I broke, all of us have. Some like not working on the sabbath seem almost impossible to follow, if you even know what day the sabbath is. My motivation for not breaking them? Why gods wrath of course! Now, compare that to now. My reasons for not breaking the commandments? Ha, trick question, there are no commandments. Instead there are noble virtues that you try to live your life by and then not doing bad things will follow naturally. That is a much more logical system than just giving you a list of things not to do.

Think of raising a child. You could teach you child about the dangers of fire, but also show them why fire is useful. They will learn fire is hot, fire can hurt you. But fire can also cook your food, heat your water, etc... The child will be armed with the knowledge they need to understand why they shouldn’t touch the burner on the stove. Or you could just say “Tho shalt not touch the stove”

So what kind of group expects you to blindly follow without question? Sounds like a cult to me. Christianity is the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. I find cult to be a nasty word anyway. Why must we label peoples beliefs this way. If it works for you, you should be allowed to practice without the moral majority calling your belief system a cult. If we are going to call something a cult though, lets at least try to make sure we don’t fit the description of the label we are using for others.

Dream of a Mead Hall!

Ah my dreams of building a mead hall. Actually, it would be more of a gathering place. A place of worship if you will. I’m not sure how to approach the idea. It could easily be thought of as an modern Asatru community center of sorts. I’m thinking it would be free of all modern conveniences however. No running water, electricity, etc... kind of like an oversize back woods cabin. I first would need to secure the land. I also would like the setting to be as rustic as possible. Something in the woods with enough of a clearing for the hall. We would then need to enlist some help from somebody with skill in log framing. I have diagrams on the construction of viking great halls but to use them we would need someone who knows how to work logs in such a large structure. I think the whole community that would use the site should be involved in it’s construction. It would become a living part of who we are. Can you think of a better place to hold bloats or yearly rituals? Or just to hang out and tap a keg of ale!

I don’t think this sounds like too crazy of an idea. If we wanted to take the religious angle, perhaps it could fall under the definition of a house of worship. Could we start a non-profit entity to raise funds for the land acquisition or building cost? We could also use the grounds and building for festivals, craft shows, just like modern Christian churches do.

This is all just bouncing around ideas. I feel driven to do this one day though. It may have to come out of my own pocket. If you build it they will come ;-)

Just a neat spiritual moment.

This was just something I had to share. As most people who know me know, I'm I pretty grounded realist. I don't buy into magic, miracles, ghost, things I can't feel or touch, etc... I am however spiritual. I just haven't had anything like a god appearing before me ever happen. I have had some strange things happen, but nothing that I'm sure couldn't be explained by something tangible. So it's really cool when something freaky happens to me. Even if this could be explained, it's still a neat happening!

Ok, so yesterday is one of my rest days. I workout every other day so I use my rest days to work around the house, sometimes maybe go for a motorcycle ride. Yesterday however I was feeling a little beat up from work and mentally exhausted. So I chose to meditate and do a little short blot. I have a nice little corner of the house to hide. So I set up my spot, light a candle, get out my blot bowl. All I had to offer was a heather ale, the only one I had. So I sit for a while and tell the gods all I have is that ale, but it is a good ale and hope they like it as much as I do. I fill my horn, take a drink and then pour the rest in the bowl. I then tell them I'm not there to ask for anything, just need to relax. I then find myself just chatting. I bitch about work for a bit and as most people who are realist do I put in the old "I just wish I had a sign that someone is listening" Inside I can feel they are though.

Anyway, I sit there for a little longer and then blow out the candle. I'm sitting on the floor gathering up my things when all of the sudden I just get overwhelmed with this sense of wellbeing. It's kind of hard to explain, I just felt like a million bucks. Then I stood up, and mind you I am in a closed room, and am hit with a light breeze coming from nowhere and it is full of the scent of fresh flowers! It smelled like I was standing in a field full of wildflowers! Oh, and trust me, I looked around the room to see if maybe my wife had hidden a air freshener somewhere. She hadn't. It was gone as fast as it appeared. Talk about getting cold chills.

Needless to say, I'm still pretty high from the whole thing.

Book of Runes - Ralph Blum

This book caught a lot of flak on one of the Asatru list serves I am on. I was so curious about the bashing it was getting I had to run out and buy a copy to read for myself. I'll just repost my reply to the list here.

Ok, I'll throw in my two cents. After hearing all of the bashing of Ralph Blum's book I ran out and bought his book of Runes. I just had to read it and see what all of the fuss is about. I am an educated man and as far as Asatru goes I am quite conservative. I don't believe much in magic or spells although I don't discount the idea of divine influence. So that being said, what did I think of his book?

I can't say I didn't enjoy reading it. Ralph is obviously a very spiritual man who draws from more areas of study than just Norse beliefs. So it is only natural that his views will part from the views of strict followers of Norse teachings. He references the I Ching numerous times, I don't ever recall that being of Norse origin nor does Ralph imply it is. It just shows he draws from a varied belief network. He also references more Christian ideals than I am comfortable with when dealing with subjects such as rune lore. In honesty though, there was a time when the two were surely mixed. The Lord of the Rings quotes that pepper the book also don't help if you are trying to take his book as a true reference. Nothing wrong with it I guess but if I was writing a book of medieval history I doubt I would load it full of Dungeons and Dragons references. Just seems to cheapen it a bit.

The book as a whole was of nice quality and despite the flaws very inspirational I think. Ralph seems like a guy who honestly believes in what he preaches and the actual meat of the book wasn't too terribly off base. If I was to categorize his book I think it would be a book of using the runes as a tool written by someone who is a general spiritualist, not a devote follower of Asatru.

So although I didn't agree with a lot of his views, I did enjoy reading it. I always welcome other's views, even if I don't agree. I do believe that is part of our teachings no?

and that just about wraps that up ;-)

Is God real?

Boy how I love a theological debate. I’ve often wondered if you could prove god(or gods in our case) is real. Most people would say the existence of miracles is proof, but that is really a flimsy thing to rely on. I’m not saying they don’t exist, maybe they do, but to rely on one as proof of something? I’ll give you a couple examples. I have a door at the end of my hallway that will on occasion open by itself. Nice and slow, with nobody near it, while you are watching. My house is big and over 105 years old, it fits the idea of what a “haunted house” should be. I’ve also had bouts of strange knocking on the walls and another door in the hallway. A person who is prone to believe in ghost would have all the ammo they need to “prove” my house is haunted. That is if they didn’t believe in structural engineering. See the door at the end of the hall sticks and doesn’t catch when you shut it. When anyone over 200 pounds walks down the hallway the stress on the floor causes the frame of the door to flex just enough to release the door and because the house is crooked the door swings open. The knocking? A loose window and another sticky door that basically does the same thing the previously mentioned one does. All my ghost have been found out ;-) So my point is, nothing really magical has happened at all. Yet I still have some friends who claim my house is haunted. It’s all in perception.

So, most of the time I think proof of god(s) mostly lies in gut feelings. Anything outside of that is either someone trying to prove god to themselves or convince others. Perhaps it is beyond our understanding to imagine that there is nothing outside of us? When we die, that’s it, game over, there is nothing else. I don’t believe that but it is of course possible. The whole god(s) created everything theory kind of falls apart when you ask one simple question, who created god? Hmmm, the whole chicken or the egg thing. Are we the chicken, or the egg I wonder. Say you buy into the idea of one god over many. Why? Well because he told you so, or at least someone says he told them to tell you. So now you are not even relying on miraculous first hand proof, you are relying on what someone else has passed on to you. In my haunted house situation you are now not even coming over to have a look for yourself but relying on what someone who has been here told you. Worse, someone who ignored the facts and just stuck with a “that dang place is haunted, I seens them!” So you get the point. If we presume god is real, how do we know he is telling us the truth? Perhaps we have all been mislead. In the case of our theology there are many gods, they are a race of their own. Actually, even among the gods there are different races. I believe the bible confirms that more than one god exist. It even states that their god is a jealous god. I don’t want to misquote anything, but you could at least admit the possibility that the god as portrayed in the bible could be misleading all of his followers. I guess what I am saying is to take all of the things people tell you, including me, about religion with a grain of salt.

Everyone believes their god(s) to be real if they in fact follow a god(s). Their reasons for this are their own. They could of had a miracle that provided them all the proof they need. Perhaps their god(s) talked to them. They just may have a gut feeling. Our teachings say the gods would be honored to answer any question asked of them, they actually respect that. Other religions say who are you to question god. Either way, what ever answers you may find are your own. If you are relying on any kind of “proof” , well one persons proof may not be another’s. I will tell you all the proof I need is gut feeling. In the end I feel that is the best proof of all because I don’t need to prove anything. So yes, for me the gods are real.