I was talking with someone recently who doesn't have "much use for Christianity," and I made a passing comment about Angels. Her response was, "I wouldn't know I don't believe in Angels." I was perplexed by this statement. The reason why I was (and am) perplexed is because this person believes in faeries, dragons, nymphs, satyrs, and all other sorts of mythical and mystical beings. I have absolutely nothing wrong with mythical beings, and think their existence (at least on some plane of existence) is just as plausible as the existence of angels. I wonder what is the heart of her rejection of angels? I've tried to find out, but I don't think the "real" reason is presented. All I get is, "I don't believe in the Christian God, and I don't believe God needs messengers."
Does the rejection of one mythical being somehow validate one's belief in their own set of mythical beings? I'm not a Muslim, but if I accept that Angels CAN be real then I should at least acknowledge that Jinn can also be real. The existence of Jinn do not, in any way, invalidate my beliefs -- nor does the existence of angels, faeries, dragons, nymphs, and satyrs.
The heart of my post is my confusion, and even "hurt," over people I know who reject Christianity (especially my Gnostic variety) even on a philosophical and theological level. If "thought" can manifest into being, through an egregore then what about the collective egregore of the Christian tradition? It would seem that such an egregore would be fairly substantial, and rejecting that egregore doesn't make it any less substantial.
In the end it simply seems that people will hate and reject what they will without any logical reason for doing so.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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6 comments:
Hi David,
I've been reading your blog occasionally for the last couple months, but am coming out of lurk mode to agree with you on this.
Lots of pagan folk I've run into either don't believe in angels at all (while still believing in a wide assortment of other invisible beings) or believe angels might exist but exhibit attitudes of disdain/dislike about angels, insisting that angels are Judeo-Christian and therefore have absolutely nothing to do with them personally, as they are pagan.
Best,
Margie
Margie:
Thanks for posting! I posted what I did for exactly the same reason you indicated. Where is the logic? You cannot use one line of reasoning to justify something and then use the same line of reasoning to say, "Oh, that doesn't exist." It truly baffles me!
David
I think that often the reason is simply a distaste for Christianity and all it contains -- based, perhaps, on prior personal bad experiences.
Sometimes it's just a simplistic knee-jerk, non-thinking, "group mind" kind of thing -- Pagans = good, Christians = bad -- originally based, perhaps, on bad experiences of a friend or someone they find trustworthy.
Hopefully attitudes like this will change as the individual matures and begins to think for themselves, instead of just taking on the attitude of the group they're with or the books they've read.
I think that often the reason is simply a distaste for Christianity and all it contains -- based, perhaps, on prior personal bad experiences.
Certainly this is a very important reason for people's behavior. I find myself struggling with this as well. I have bad history with "Jehovah's Witnesses," mainly from my first failed marriage. But even with all of the bad experiences with JWs I have to acknowledge that there were some good people I met and that their teachings while being foreign to me are not the most absurd things I've witnessed in this world.
I think everyone has some sort of baggage. Its just important to recognize the baggage for what it is, and (as you say) mature.
It might interest you to know that a variety of mythical beings, including dragons, the phoenix and various other mythical sun-birds, and the winged anthropomorphic depictions of sun gods that later evolved into angels. . . were inspired by this spectacular celestial phenomenon.
Come to think of it. . .
Dare I say "Seeing IS believing"? ;-)
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