I debated where to put this, but its more a vent then anythign so here it is.

Verse 53 is included in chapter 7. There is no change or comment.
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin nor more.

Today two women showed up at my door to "witness" to me. This infuriates me to no end. What right do you have to come to MY house to tell me what is right and wrong? I do not share the christian faith. I am a pagan, a witch. I do not believe in the devil. To name evil is to create it. Not to mention the devil is a creation of christians, he didn't even exist until they created him with in thier faith, and since my faith is older, how the hell can I worship him? I don't dance naked by the moonlight, with these stretch marks are you kidding me?? Don't fucking judge me what Holleywood and the Catholic church decided what my faith was for more converts and better ratings. Don't tell me you faith is the light and the way and the only way out there. Know what the hell you are talking about before you show up on my doorstep to tell me I am going to hell and you are here to save me. I don't need saving and niether do my children. Here a glimpse into MY faith and what I believe
I believe in gods and goddesses. If god created us in his image, I suppose there was a female part to him. Now doesn't that make sense? Well it does to me even if it doesn't to you. The world is nothing but balance look around you. There is no light with out dark, no winter with out summer, no joy with out pain, no male with out female. You must have balance or there is nothing. So yes I believe in a God and Goddess. Think of all the little gods like they are saints. Its the same set up, where do you think chrisitans go the idea from. Saint Bridget is actually an Irish goddess. They borrowed her. No biggie, she was a cool chick. I really don't mind so why do christians? I celebrate nature, the cycles of the earth and what the gods/goddesses created for us and for us to take care of. I believe death is not the end, it is part of the cycle. I don't believe in heaven and hell, I believe in rebirth. you must have birth to have death. We celebrate the living and the dead, we give honor to all. We don't worship, we honor. Why am I pagan? granted I am new to the faith but I belive Jesus was a great man with a great message. But I do not believe is was divine. I do not believe any man is divine inthe christian sense. I believe we are all divine. With out man you can not have god with god you can not have man. Refer to above mentioned balance. I do not judge other faiths. I believe all gods exists under all different names. the main message is the same. Forgive and love, make the world a better place. I repsect whatever path takes you to whatever god feels right to you. Your soul is your business and peace is everyone's desire. I dont' care which one you take, I am happy for you that you are happy. Why can't you be the same for me. *note I use the term you loosly. I am ranting.* I will admit most faith sadden me a great deal. the messages seem to be lost in humanities drive to be the right, to be the one true faith. Blood is spilled, armies are formed, death and hate follow in their wake. Passion becomes confused with revenge. Faith has become perverted into hate and discord. That makes me very sad. I can not respect that, but I respect faiths messages. I respect the views, I can not condone the actions. Faith that preach forgiveness and tolerence are the firth to judge and lash out. To claim you are going to hell. Oh that makes me so mad.
Do you know I can't wear my faith? That I fear for my daughter? I live in a country that is so civinced they are all right and I am so wrong that I would be literally burned at the stake if they could. A pentacle would outcast me and my children from everything from soccer to the PTA. Do you even know what the pentacle stands for? Its a sign of the goddess, the upside down pentacle doesn't stand for satan, its the sign of the God. It was perverted to outcast pagans. Learn before you preach people. I would be judged on false testemony and fear. Do you know what that feels like? I would think other faiths would be symathetic. They have all suffered the same. But now the roles are reversed. They do the persecuting. They do the judgement. And they show up my damn doorstep.
May he who is with out sin. Do not judge. It is not your place. You put your self above God, you take on HIS right. It is not your place any more then it is mine. Respect my home, respect my faith, respect me dammit. I teach my children tolerance and love. Respect and to not judge if you can help it. You never know the whole story so don't pretend you do. Repect nature, she is stronger then you. Honor your fellow man, the sun the moon and love all. Does that sound like devil worship to you? Learn before you judge. And stay the hell off my doorstep.

Very nice post and I agree whole heartedly. I get tired of Christians pushing their beliefs on everyone else. They should stop trying so hard to "save" other people and start trying to "save" themselves from their own hypocrisies!

(((((((((((BA))))))))))))))))

I hate it when people try to convince me I need to change my beliefs as well. I also hate it when people lump folks into a group based on what one person does.

For instance, if someone who has a mental illness commits a crime, it gets turned into "all mentally ill people." If someone who is gay is promiscuous, many people think all gay people behave that way. There are good, bad, tactful, blunt, tolerant, narrow-minded, etc., people in every "group."

People are people and they all deserve respect.

Huggles,
Lace

I should be replying to this post as my job but i cant sorry....personal issues

(((Sami))) you don't have to respond. It was just a vent

((((((((((((BA))))))))))))))))) I'm sorry you got all riled up.

I happen to be brought up as Catholic. Maybe when I was younger things were different in how we were taught. But as I have grown up, I find there are some things I do not agree with and for me that is okay. I believe that no matter who you are, everyone has a faith or doesn't. To me, every person has a right to worship thier own ways and to me, my God would accept that. At least we believe in something. I never shove my religion at people. And I too do not appreciate being questioned at my door about my faith. I read my own bible and don't need to read theirs too. Whether Judahism, Buddists, Jahovas, Pagans, we all have our concepts of right and wrong, good and bad, life and death and whether or not we believe in an after life.

I don't blame you for being upset. Me, I'm to nice. I stand there and listen to them talk and tell them I'm a Catholic and they still ask me questions as if what I just said went in one ear and out the other. I'm not looking to change my faith and I'm not looking to change others. As long as you're happy with how you live your life then that is what counts.



Aisha

(((((((((((((((((BA))))))))))))))))))
When I was a kid, I was dragged to church every time the door opened. In that church, it was all hell, fire, brimstone, and damnation. No matter what you did, it wasn't gonna be good enough and you were going down. Which, I imagine, is why I turned away from the church for so long. And yes, it was a Christian church, but if you were not their TYPE of Christian, you were damned anyway.

Now, I got dragged back to church again by my mom not too long ago. This is the same type of church, but with a totally different message. This church doesn't preach damnation, they talk about love and forgiveness. They talk about people striving to be more like Jesus.... less damning, less judging, more helpful and tolerant. It's so different it may as well be a different religion.

I agree with you.... I don't try to ram my religion down ppl's throats. I'll talk about it, but I respect your right to disagree with me. After all, wasn't this country based on freedom of religon, among other things?

Another interesting thing to note.... 'back in the day' when the early Christians were trying to convert pagans, suddenly the pagan gods became demons. Some churches were built on what was already considered holy land by other faiths, hoping to draw people in.

Woohooo, hellfire !

As a child I was catholic. I went to church for first communion, funerals and weddings. From a soceity stand point, it was the thing to do.

Upon meeting my ex-wife, who was a born again Christian along with her parents, i took the opertunity to learn. Do i consider myself " born again"? No.

I'm not here to shout out that ...HEY! Its what thier religion tells them to do......lol....in truth, it is.

I don't carry around my soap box telling people what they should believe in. Do I have my faith in Jesus? Yes. Do i respect other religions? Yes! In a cognitive distortion example..."All or Nothing thinking" It rings so true with religion. Its as if people put on blinders to other peoples beliefs.

The Pastor who used to be at the church down the street one sunday mentioned " I'm new to this town. I have had a warm welcome here." "Reading the King James version of the bible it asks you to reach out to others." In doing so I ( the Pastor) went door to door telling people that I'm new in town and would love to have the pleasure of seeing them on Sunday if they so chose." "In all honesty, I've never had so many doors slammed in my face." After hearing this little story, I couldn't help but laugh. As he put it, his door knocking days ended very quickly.

Do i care what other peoples religion is? No. Thats up to them. I don't care if your God/Goddess is a rock, a tree or a ghost. If it suits your needs, more power to you! What if I or you have faith in the wrong God? lol
That would just suck, eh? Is there a hell? Sure,we live in it...lol People misjudge other faiths thru lack of knowledge, just as Blue Angel has said. I can judge a person from the middle east because of morons like Bin Ladin. Nor can I judge Christianity by way of David Koresh and his ways in Waco 15 some-odd years ago.

I was at my ex wives house a few months ago, she lives on the 3rd floor. I answered the door to find a handfull of "Holy Jumpers" Ummm, nice threads Dude! I looked to thier hand and saw the little pamphlets containing all that " omg you're doomed info" . With a kind smile I said " you climbed 3 flights of stairs for this?" "Ummm, whats that" he asked SLAM! Yup, get the hell out of this house! Did I say that? No, but the message was clear. Piss off! Churches have big steeples...umm, if your looking for faith or support.....DING! Just open your eyes. I don't need a knock on my door to remind me where I might be going because of what they believe in.

My belief is like that of other peoples faiths. Respect, forgiveness, kindness,support, understanding. The don't teach hatread, revenge etc. People teach that. Respect.....ummm privacy comes to mind...SEE: get off my doorstep!

To me church is about teaching morals. Some faiths like to use threating ways to get what they want. Is there a hell? I truely don't care. I lead my life the best i can, helping others along the way.

If someones faith says I'm going to Hell because i dont share thier faith....oh well. How can I go to THIER faiths 'hell" if I dont follow that faith?

Pagan? Most modern Pagan sources interpret the word to have meant "rustic," "hick," or "country bumpkin" -- a pejorative term. The implication was that Christians used the term to ridicule country folk who tenaciously held on to what the Christians considered old-fashioned, outmoded Pagan beliefs. Those in the country were much slower in adopting the new religion of Christianity than were the city folks. They still followed the Greek state religion, Roman state religion, Mithraism, various mystery religions, etc., long after those in urban areas had converted.

Pagan? It was people a long time ago who did'nt decide to ump on the christion bus...lol They chose to continue THIER faith. Good for them. As time went on, the word pagan was understood by many to mean they were devil worshippers. Umm, did they miss the bus?

I can't judge anyone but myself. I can't judge another persons religion. instead I choose to respect it. Freedom of religion. Gotta love it!

Blue Angel, I don't blame you for getting upset.

Funny how religion can get people ruffled up so easy. Its like talking politics. Yuck...lol We have troops overseas because of an ever impending holy war. Misconceptions of each other. Sad.

Ok, I'm shuttin up...lol

(((((((((((((((((Blue Angel))))))))))))))))

I struggle with this. The man I consider my adopted father is a Franciscan Friar, and one of my best friends in a fundamentalist Baptist. And yet, I despise religion and what it has done to me and other people. I am weary of watching religion destroy and tear down good, wonderful people.

Blaise Pascal said that men never do evil quite so joyously as when they do it in the name of religion. I think the world would be a much nicer place without religion.

Teej

I don't think it is the religion itself causing the issue. I think that the world would be better off without all the hatemongering religious fanatics who only choose to hear which part of the Bible (or other holy book of their faith) THEY want to hear.

My family used to have these bozos coming to the door. One day he decided he was going to invite them in. My dad spent the next couple of hours proving that their theories and mythologies were completely against the bible and against what the common individual believe in. I have to admit it was one of the funniest things in the world. For every comment they made, he countered...

Its amazing, since that time, our doorbell has never rung with these doorknobs.

I totally agree with your rant and think people in today's society need to learn to be more receptive and respectful of other people's beliefs.

And you know that is the thing. I dont hate christians by the way. Its a beautiful faith when followed full of love and understanding and forgivness. I suppose what upset me is its been so twisted by some faiths, just like a lot of faiths, by fanatics so determined to change the world to thier point of view that they ignore everything presented to them as possible truth, ie new gospels ect. And I don't like people in my space. LOL that is a quirk of mine. Its MY space, stay out of it. I never invited ppl to my house as a kid even. I just don't like ppl in my space! And it frusterated me when ppl show up at me door to condemn me. I don't my kids to see this. I try to teach my daughter a bit of all religions. It hink its important for her to find her own way and most traditions of witchcraft encourage you to learn about all religions and to respect them. Its fursterates me to no end when people invade the one place I strive to make safe to my kids with words and tones that will scare them. Its not fair to them or to me. And I know they are doing what they think is right and I try so hard to respect that, but its drives me nuts!!!! And it makes me mad.

This is a big issue around me lately, or it was.

In my group of friends there is one Christian who is down to earth about her religion, she knows she makes mistakes and she’s nonjudgmental and she doesn't try to convert me. I love her and I’m happy she has her religion; it’s what keeps her going.

Well Amber (another friend) was with a guy for a year and in that year she was having sex, doing drugs, drinking, stealing, everything.. And then when they broke up she turned Christian all of a sudden. That’s when things got bad. She stopped talking to me at one point and saying I was going to hell and that I was committing so many sins and what not. To make a long story short, she went through this whole "better than thou" Super-Christian stage for about 6-8months and now she's with a woman and back having sex, and doing drugs!!

This really pisses me off..... I tried to be so supporting of her finding a new way to live and being Christian, we had our ups and downs because she tried to ram her religion down my throat.... and I was really like, well she’s trying to change her ways, I’m happy for her, and now she goes and turns GAY!!! What?!?? How the hell can u preach to me after committing so many "sins" then going Christian and now being gay?!?! How the hell does that work?

That is one thing I can not stand.... I do not like when people try to change my beliefs. I don’t mind listening and conversing and discussing what we believe, but when you try to change me and who I am by putting me down and telling me I'm going to hell that's where the line is crossed.

I try to do my best at everything I do in life, I’m sincere, honest, trustworthy, loving, caring, non judgmental, nice, respectful, all the good traits that I can be, I may fall short sometimes, but I try to be all of those things all of the time. I do believe there is a God but I do not put myself in any “group” or “religion”. I believe that we should all have our own beliefs, but that there should not necessarily be a “religion”. We should all worship or carry out our faith and beliefs on our own and not come together and ‘gang up’ on others who don’t have the same faith. If you had one person who believes one thing and someone else who believes another thing, there would be no problems, they’d let each other be. But when you have a group formed together they tend to gang up and carry things WAY too far.

I just wish everyone could mind their own business. I don’t mind that other people don’t believe the same thing I do, so why do they care so much that I don’t share their faith?!?! Why can’t we all just do our own thing?!?? And what really gets me is that you know damn well that the ones who try to cram their religion down our throats aren’t saints, they aren’t perfect, but they’re putting us down because we aren’t either. They tell us we’re going to hell because of our ways and our imperfections, well, then by all means that means they’re going to hell as well right, because the Bible says NO ONE IS PERFECT!!!

Why are they worrying so much about how we live our life, shouldn’t they be working on improving their own lives? In the end, its not up to the whole ‘religion’ that one might put themselves in… its up to that person and their God. That’s what it all comes down to. You and your soul and your actions, and your God. So everyone else CAN and NEEDS to bug out, I don’t feel I should have to explain myself to anyone, I will explain myself and my beliefs to my God, when the time comes, and until then its no one else’s business, as long as I try to live my life right and try to do no harm to anyone.

Sorry this was so long, and sorry if it doesn’t quite make sense, it is 3:30 in the morning, but I wanted to respond to this.

(((((((((((((((((((( BA )))))))))))))))))))))))) Sorry you got so upset, I would have to. I live out in the country, on 43acres, so I haven’t had that kind of interaction yet.


Love,
~*~ Tears ~*~

LOL I wish I had 43 acres sometimes. It doesn't happen often, and to be fair these people where more or less pretty nice, not TOO fire and brimestone. Its just offends me to invade a safe place of mine and degrade me.

Religion is just a word. People do evil for all kinds of reasons, and sometimes they call it "religion" to cover their guilt. Their evil does not change God's love one bit. Which is something that both the Friar and the Holy Roller Baptist would tell you.

PS: Why don't cannibals boil Franciscans?

Answer: Because they're Friars!

People do hateful horrible things in the name of God/Gods/Goddess/Allah/Muhamad(sp) but it doesn't change the MESSAGE behind those gods. Listen, love, respect, and in general do your part to make the world a better place. I just wish the populace in general would realize its not which God you work in the name of, not what day you worship or who you worship, its what you DO with that faith, what your bring to the world in the way of kindness and love that is important. Its not about whose right or wrong, its about who is good, stong, loves. God doesn't make bad things happen and since I don't believe in satan, I don't think he does either. People do. And ALL those people have stories. Even Hitler liked dogs. BTW thank you everyone who posted for being respectful and open minded about the topics discussed. I am really proud of everyone.