Various Pagans: Were you formerly Christian? What made you think bible-god doesn't exist but your god(s) do?

Answer 1

I was raised Christian; it never made any sense to me.

I am an atheist. I am pagan. To me the God/dess(es) are symbolic -- personifications of natural phenomenon.

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Answer 2

Well, the simplest of answers would be, the same reason Christians believe their deity is real, but disbelieve in others. However, that's not exactly accurate.

I don't disbelieve in the Christian God. I think he exists - I just don't believe the claims that are made about him. (The whole omnipotent, omnibenevolent, etc. routine.) Looking back at the OT, there's a lot of things ascribed to God that, quite simply, I don't want anything to do with. Hardening people's hearts so he can wipe out the firstborn of an entire nation, while still claiming to embody love? ::shakes head:: Sorry, but no. Even if the NT is all about him turning over a new leaf, there's still too much for me to have a relationship with him.

That's not to say that my gods are perfect - far from it. But they own up to that, admit their shortcomings - and, as far as I can tell, never advocated wholesale slaughter of innocents. Seemed like a good deal to me, so I attempted to communicate with them - and got a response. That response seems good enough proof for me.

Answer 3

I only say that I'm Pagan to keep other Religions off my tail. They tend to leave you alone when you say that your Pagan. I actually consider Gods to be a form of human made projections that control the masses into behaving in a duplicate fashion. For me, the God of the old testiment, proclaims what the people were like then, by what their God was like.

Most people changed the traits of God as they evolved, but are stuck on past archtype behaviors as well, due to the laws of Religion that says that there is only one true God. So, humanity evolves but God doesn't. INteresting thing with that.

Now, I don't know many other Pagans. The few that I do know are not inclined to join up in groups of like "mindedness". There is really no such thing. Just certain aspects of interest that are the same.

I don't worship Gods. Being fully aware of our projection mechinism, I look closer to home. I look to nature.

and yes, I was formally Christian.

Answer 4

I don't think that Pagans feel that their gods exist while none others do. Many just feel that the god of the bible is a fiction due to his anger, jealousy and infantile need for worship and blood...or they simply choose not to worship him for those same reasons. There are many that do believe in only one God, but they have chosen a different path than Christianity to him. All rivers lead to the sea.

Then there are pagans that believe that "All Gods are one God and all Goddesses are one Goddess. " That each different god and goddess are just different aspects of the one god and goddess.

Then there are Pagan Atheists, like me, who believe that the Gods and Goddesses are mere archtypes and symbols.

I left Christianity due to Christianity and study of the Bible alone. I was without any faith for a long time. I found Paganism to be a belief structure that would assist me in having a balanced life, serving others, full of joy without the unrelenting dogma.

Be careful of your presuppositions that all Pagans are cookie cutter versions of each other.

Answer 5

I'm with Medusa. I don't believe any deities exist. They are symbols and metaphors for a kind of spiritual energy. I only invoke them as representaions of certain thoughts or focus. But I don't think any of them are actually real.

I was Christian once, or at least, I went to Sunday school and church. I left very early because I believed in Love, and the deity of the Bible was completely, hideously evil. I still believed in a God for a long time, until I became enamoured of a more abstract spiritual concept that I like much better, the Tao.

Answer 6

My family was raised Catholic, Luthern and Protestant....i know, heck of a combination!
I now consider myself pagan, basically this means that i practice my spirituality at a very basic level. I believe that God is Everything or God is Nothing.!!!
And the only problem that i have with any form of christianity, is that they do not respect the religous beliefs of others!
As for the God question....I believe that there is only one ultimate God...but several paths to get there.
There fore i do not dismiss the existence of the Christian God, per say, but i choose a different path to god that works for me!
Blessed Be!

Answer 7

I've never practiced Christianity. I grew up polytheistic. I know many people who believe in Christianity and I've never had any resentments against it---nor do I have any resentments against other religions that I've never practiced like Buddhism, Hinduism, or Taoism. I have always believed that many gods exist, known and unknown, but I don't worship them all. I simply honor my own deities and respect the rights of others to do the same.

Answer 8

Yes I was formally Christian. Its not that I don't believe their God exists. I don't believe Jesus was divine which was a major deal breaker. :) I also don't choose to honor them for the reason that I don't agree with a lot of the teachings. I don't believe in taking human life for the reason of beliefs, I don't believe there had to be a blood sacrifice to make my Gods love me or forgive me and I don't believe in the subduction of women.
People think that Pagans believe that their Gods physically exist and some of them do believe that. Some of them,like me, believe they are simply an aspect of the Divines, sort of like Saints. I HONOR I don't worship.

Answer 9

I think Bible-God may exist, but that's neither here nor there. There are many Gods who I don't even know about that have no bearing on my life. I simply don't think that one (or Allah) deserve my worship. They are mean, self-serving, and capricious, and mean, self-serving, capricious people use and promote them in order to hurt other people. I'm glad they aren't the only Gods out there.

Answer 10

I was an atheist before I was a Pagan.