Tthe Wiccans, you will say, do not have faith in God. Yet by their own theology, they certainly do. Those who call them Satan-worshippers are entirely wrong. They do not worship Satan, or even believe that Satan exists. Instead, they worship a Goddess and a God whom they understand as manifestations of a higher and unknown Deity.
Now, if you are a Christian, this will sound familiar to you, and it should. In the Bible we find the following: Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.'" (Acts 17:22-23)
The Wiccans worship the Unknown God, as manifested to them in the form of a Goddess and a God. Therefore, our Bible tells us they worship the same God we do; and if they do not know this, we should know it!
2007-08-20 18:46:00 · 16 answers · asked by Terry 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I wish some adults would be as open minded as this young person!~A~
2007-08-20 19:24:52 · answer #1 · answered by *~Ariel Brigalow Moondust~* 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As a Wiccan, I do not believe my gods are manifestations of the god of the Christians. Contrary to a previous answer, I also do not believe all gods are one god. From my experience and study, that is a mewer, more eclectic Wiccan view that Traditionals keep a distance from.
The idea that any person worships a being other than the ones they pray to rubs me the wrong way. Even if God has many manifestations, the point of those manifestations is that they are different. If you worship one of those manifestations, THAT is the object, regardless of what may or may not exist beyond it. These sorts of claims essentially claim that Wiccans don't actually know who they worship.
I also would not describe the object of WIccan worship to be an "Unknown God." The point of Wicca is to worship gods that are most definitely known, ones that you interact with and have a tangible relation with. Our gods are present and most definitely knowable.
2007-08-21 06:47:47 · answer #2 · answered by Nightwind 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I am not sure I agree with this student 100%. To most of us Wiccans the Divine isn't an external entity (unlike most other religions) but instead we are all a part of the true Divine made manifest. The sum of the whole is the Divine. I remember hearing one Christian on here saying that we worship the creation not the creator, but to most of us, the "creation" is the creator.
I do agree that we are not Satan worshipers, and that we don't even believe in or give power to the notion of the Christian anti-God. But then again Christianity has a somewhat limited view of polarity. Most Christian only see polarity as Good vs. Evil, but Wicca sees polarity as Male and Female, Light and Dark (not Good and Evil mind you), Sprialing up to spritiuality and Sprialing down to manifestation, or even to borrow from others Yin and Yang. We believe that both sides of polarity must exist and should exist to bring life.
Blessed Be )O(
2007-08-21 00:34:24 · answer #3 · answered by Stephen 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Act:17:22-23, refers(If you study the Greeks) to when *Alexander the Great overtook Palestine,(OT) and instead of dismantling the Jews, he embraced them, and let some reside in Alexandria, and the rest of Greece. (Hence it explains why there were synagogues there when Paul arrived in Athens) I've always maintained that the Greeks had God in their camp all along. They just didn't know it.
And I really don't see this in wiccans. Wicca seems to fit Nature worship more appropriately.
2007-08-21 02:48:16 · answer #4 · answered by Da Mick 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I find the statement to be pretty close to it, from a Wiccan perspective
The Divine is the Unknown, the Formless one who is all forms, nameless and all names.
In Wicca we begin to understand the nature of the Divine through it's manifestations of the Goddess and the God. We who are serious about Wicca know who it is, and what it is we worship.
****************************************************
Nightwind,
I've been a Wiccan for a good many years now, over 20. I was initiated an Alexandrian.
When I speak of Wiccans I am usually referring to initiated Wiccans. Now, if there are initiated Wiccans that disagree with me, I'll bow to their wisdom.
2007-08-21 04:55:51 · answer #5 · answered by Black Dragon 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Terry: The Holy Bible - (God's "instruction book" to us humans concerning the things belonging to Him), tells us, that no one can attain to salvation accept through Jesus Christ.
What you have stated, as a representation from a "Theology student", is none other than a piece of bad theology ! The apostle Paul's speech on Mars Hill to the Greek men at Athens, addresses their ignorance in that they were worshipping a whole host of gods. Paul was directing them to the fact, that there is only one God. Note: within your quote: " Therefore, the ONE [denoting monoistic make -up], whom you worship without knowing" [connoting: the Greek men's ignorance]. God is One God - and demands that His worshippers, worship Him in both, spirit and TRUTH !!! "NO" those, who follow the practice of Wiccan do NOT "worship" the Christian God of the Holy Bible.
2007-08-20 19:10:55 · answer #6 · answered by guraqt2me 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
they could incredibly instruct approximately religions, very comparable to a non-English speaker can instruct English. they are going to easily could desire to artwork harder at it. As a strategies a preaching is going, it could be incredibly stupid for them to evangelise approximately something they have not got faith in themselves. so a strategies because it being hassle-free--maximum atheist theologians could be stumbled on in the theology departments of universities. they don't look to be often a majority, in spite of the undeniable fact that. Edit: If the professor teaches ethics, i'm able to confirm the place he could desire to be an atheist. Ethics falls decrease than philosophy, not theology. Theology has ethics in it, notwithstanding it is not completely centred on them.
2016-10-16 07:43:46 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Muslims worship the same God as the Christians, too! As do the Jews. And many sects of Gnosticism. But they all believe very different things about the nature of that God--and they can't all be right.
2007-08-20 18:55:29 · answer #8 · answered by SDW 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
That's pretty good. Jesus also taught the unknown god ("Father-Mother in heaven"). Of course, that didn't make it into the NT because it was considered a heresy and anyone caught reading it or believing it was executed by the Church, but that's just what the earliest christians were teaching.
2007-08-20 18:55:26 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Interesting :)
thank you for sharing.
It is a widely accepted wiccan belief that All Gods are the one God, but same for the Goddess.
2007-08-20 19:07:39 · answer #10 · answered by Bobby 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
ok with the 1st part. have 'a bit of trouble' with the 2nd. just what can happen when one makes their own conclusions. :p
according to his writing (if he wrote the 2nd part) I might as well run to convert back to Christianity and poof- the unknown god would just mean the end of pre-Christian Pagan religions. hope you will understand my reasoning. :) Can't wait for all the thumbs down :p
2007-08-20 19:01:42 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋