Opinion/Topic of Discussion: Am I right?

[KickButtMama]

I was raised in a Fundamentalist Born Again Christian household. One of the things I most disagreed with is the idea that "I'm right and everyone else was wrong." Aside from the fact that religious beliefs pre-dated the birth of Christ (and therefore Christianity), I just didn't want to be selfish enough to say what I believed to be true could be the only truth....

But if you think about faith all the way through, it raises interesting issues...does SOMEONE have to be right? Let's face it, a Christian idea of the afterlife doesn't agree with mine....do you think they'll get a rude awakening, or do you think everyone is right in their own way...or do you think it matters so very much?

I got the idea for this discussion from another group I'm in, and just wanted to see what my fellow pagans thought!

[KickButtMama]

I personally believe everyone is right. Ever see the movie "What Dreams May Come" ? With Robin Williams? In it everyone had their own 'heaven' and 'hell' was what each person made it was well....so I can have my afterlife filled with ancestral spirits and communicating animals, and my grandparents can have their pearly gates.

[Morgain]

I subscribe to the notion that "all God's are one God" and that the name really doesn't matter.... if there is a highter power then we are probably all praying to that same power, just using different names/images. So, in a way we are all right, yet all wrong.... and no one really KNOWs what awaits... so you go with what helps you get thru the day. I stand by the science of it, energy can not be destroyed, so our life-force/energy has to go somewhere.... I just hope it's a nice place when I get there!! ;o) 

[SharkladyMom]

I was also raised as a Christian and had a hard time being raised to believe that that was the only way. Everyone is right. The Horned God and the Goddess of Fertility have been around a long time and, I believe, transformed to fit most other religions. I don't think that being the "right" religion really matters that much. If you live your life respectful of nature and humanity it doesn't matter if you are religious or not.

[KickButtMama]

Quoting SharkladyMom:

The Horned God and the Goddess of Fertility have been around a long time and, I believe, transformed to fit most other religions.

Now I'm not arguing with you (remember I'm Pagan too), but in the interest of discussion and thought, isn't this statement the same as saying you're right? If you're saying you're definition of Deity is correct, that everyone else just calls these same deities by a different name, then isn't that the same?

I'm not sure. I think where the definition lies, is where the discrepencies can come it. Personally I believe the afterlife is big enough for the Christians to have their pearly gates, and for me to have my Summerlands.

But I know some question - in the case of one who believes in an afterlife and those that are aetheist, is one of them wrong? Or is the belief that life ends at death enough for that person's spirit to just, end...because they believed it to be so.....

Personally that's what I believe. So much of my faith is based around intent, and the concept that what you believe you make so.

[purplekoi24]

 

Quoting Morgain:

I subscribe to the notion that "all God's are one God" and that the name really doesn't matter.... if there is a highter power then we are probably all praying to that same power, just using different names/images. So, in a way we are all right, yet all wrong.... and no one really KNOWs what awaits... so you go with what helps you get thru the day. I stand by the science of it, energy can not be destroyed, so our life-force/energy has to go somewhere.... I just hope it's a nice place when I get there!! ;o) 

I agree with this.

Basically this is the way I answered this question in my Philosophy class last semester...no one has the 411 on what happens when one dies & I rely on the science/energy philosophy of it.

I was raised UPC/Apostolic...they both believe that anyone who does not believe like them will not go to their heaven, the kicker is that the apostolic believe that the upc will not make it because they do not live as strict as they do. They believe that Jewish people will only make it because their book says that they are the chosen people & are not suppose to be messed with.

They go to restaurants on Sunday after church & pity people because even though they just got out of their churches, they are not living they right way & are just wasting their time.