Questioning God

[Celtic Tiger]

Re: Questioning God

Don't feel ashamed; nothing to be ashamed of!

[thoraxepi]

Re: Questioning God

Well then. Spells are an entirely different subject.

In my humble opinion, spells do not always work and if they do work, they may not work how you want. (Wiccans are not the only spellcasters.)
Some believe gods are able to assist in magical workings, but there is no connection between spells and any field of science.

[Maria de Luna]

Re: Questioning God

I think I understand what you are trying to ask, and I am going to do my best to try and answer. I think spells do not always "work" and I know that they do not always do what you intended them to. Part of what makes them work is your belief that they will work. Some people talk to a god or goddess in order to assist the spell, many people use fancy words or poems to assist with the spell, alot of that has to do with the fact that they have done it and it works for them. If you are a Christian and want to cast a spell, which is ok, but you ask for assistance from a god you dont believe in, you already don't believe it will work because you don't believe what you are asking. I hope that helps!

[Anaconda]

Re: Questioning God

Let's start...
I am on a journey to find the reason "why god create all things, on what purpose?"


So god created all things, but on what purpose?
do god need a faithful servants ?
do god need offering ?
do god need our thanks ( by worshipping ) just because we are all created by god ?
I don't even ask to be created.

Why did the gods create? Why am I here? Because you are, and because they did. Perhaps it's in their nature to create our multi-verse with an open door so that we can ask questions. Perhaps nothing was created and everything is just a figment of your own conciousness. Perhaps they created an engine designed for confusion, pain and misery designed to forever feed their insatiable hungers and that engine is the world in which we live in. Perhaps one pantheon is the correct way, perhaps all pantheons are the correct gods to be praised, perhaps nothing is the correct way. Perhaps the truth of creation is that we are insatiable cannibal rapists who have managed to create a paradigm to submerge those tendencies and we call that paradigm religion. Perhaps it was to thwart OverLord Xenu. Perhaps there is no answer at all.

My point is that there are a thousand different answers, some frighteningly nihilistic, others boringly relative, and others so esoteric that they don't seem like answers at all. Humanity, in it's myriad waves of existence on this tiny blue and brown ball floating in the stream of existence, has spent much of it's time trying to understand the answer (if there is one). That search for an answer often turns into a gnawing obsession that you HAVE to know, that you MUST know, that everything will make SENSE when you know. That's the biggest problem I seen in this entire line of questions, this need to impose an anthrocentric paradigm of sense to the fantastically vast expanse of existence. It's like a dot trying to comprehend the essence of Sphere-ness. Should the dot get it, it ceases to be a dot and progresses further...or it unhinges and removes itself. Either way, you become divorced from whatever life you had previously and sojourn further out beyond humanity.

Which brings me to a question I have for you. Suppose you find out, barring your ascension past humanity or your total erasure, the purpose for which the gods created all of existence. The reason is so pure and sublime that everything else mankind has ever written about religion or lack thereof becomes like the sound of mewling kittens trying to drown out the roar of a tornado. What do you do? What do you do with your life? Does it change? You have found it, the anti-life equation and you are still here on this mortal coil. Others will probably write you off as hopelessly out of touch or insane or cannot understand you. What do you do next with this knowledge. Sure you may have the understanding of the purpose of creation, but does that automatically make you able to understand your fellow man in all of their problems, grievances, hopes, dreams, lusts, and pride? What about the rest of the natural world as well? What is your next step? How does it help you live the life you have right now?

Something to think about.

[Dez]

Re: Questioning God

Welcome to the forum!

Adding another perspective to the fire: I believe that if there is a creator god, that being has nothing to do with our day-to-day lives, and, especially if supremely perfect and good (as the christian god is often defined), would be alien and unknowable.

The gods that I revere? They belong to the natural system the same way we do. Some are manifestations of the natural world, a way to interact with it that brings a feeling of closeness and grounding in a way that our human brains can understand because of the way they have evolved. Whether they are real or not is not important; the important part is what the feelings they generate encourage us to do. Others seem to me to be very Jungian. A sum total of a group of ideas that have taken on a life of their own over more then 10,000 years, growing, meshing, adapting, and changing in a way very similar to mortal living things, and creating many pantheons over the face of the earth that share common themes, and even groupings of gods that have similar stories and themes of human existence that they touch on. To revere these beings isn't to think that they are all-powerful, but to tap into thousands of years of power and wisdom. To do that, to build a relationship, takes guts and gratitude, just like building a relationship with a family member, neighbor, or mentor. That is why there are prayers and offerings.

Personally, I think they are a part of us, and that we, as a species, are more interconnected then we usually are willing to admit. Ask even a small child, like my six year old daughter, to tell a story, and you will see the same gods and heroes appear. The hero's journey, the trickster, the god-king, the priestess, and the wise old man, and a host of others all make their appearance. The individuality of particular beings is what has been fine-tuned in a particular culture and age.

I am a newb when it comes to spells...but it seems to me that the biggest mistake people make is thinking that they're changing something outside of themselves. "If I do this spell, I'll have this thing I want fall into my lap." No. Nine times out of ten, it seems to me that what someone is doing is changing the way they interact with the rest of the universe, which, in turn, changes the results they get. This is why the tools don't matter, this is why what, exactly, is being done matters less then the thought, will, and intent behind it. Others might see it differently...most of my experience so far with magic has been with Norse beings like Freya and Angrboda. Angrboda, in particular, seems to treat magic as simply a "nudge" behind a good plan; if you want help, you come with a formal plan, down to what can go wrong and how you will handle it if it does, and then she will help you figure out what to do to get there. If that plan sucks, , you didn't really do your homework before going to her, or if you're wanting goodies to fall out of the sky, she will say as much, and it will be a very humbling experience.