Go to A New Church
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- Go to Ritual in Church
Blessed Be . . . .
You are correct, Spitfire. I joke with my friends (Christian and Pagan friends, BTW) that if I had to become Christian, I would choose to become a Catholic for the very reasons you mentioned! 
Blessings,
Archie
posted by
archiew
on February 11, 2004 at 9:07 PM
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Archiew, I agree with your comment to Ren3-
and just another comment to add: Don't you find it funny how so many church leaders and religious people look at us witches as devil worshipers? They immediately attack our rituals. (cause, of course most don't bother to learn about us) How are witches pictured? Let's see, with a broomstick, a couldron, candles, incense, pointy hat and robe. Now, putting aside the broomstick and couldron, did I just describe a witch or a priest??????
B.B. to you and interesting post.
posted by
SpitFire70
on February 11, 2004 at 5:06 PM
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Thank you, Freerain . . .
For some most interesting comments which added a great deal to this blog.
posted by
archiew
on February 7, 2004 at 7:48 AM
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Meaning of Rituals
are often forgotten and are done by rote, which means without thought. As a Christian, I participated in the rituals my church offered and believed they were "good" for me, they reaffirmed my relationship to the laws of the diety I worshipped, that without the rituals, I was failing to be obedient and in danger of loosing my ties to those "laws" and the order they commanded in my life. This created a fear in me in relation to my next life so I was compelled to attend church, participate as I was commanded to do, support the doctrines provided that defined life and how to live it.
The rituals all are designed to bring the believer back to the ancient reasons and ways of doing and thinking. Often times, these rituals were irrelevant to my life outside the church. The views I was supporting were not the views I saw as meaningful in the lives of people today. I didn't want to live in fear anylonger, the messages of failure and its consequences were disabling for me and were in contrast to what I saw and felt outside of church, a contradition. It wasn't until I had stayed away from the rituals, read and studied scripture for myself, did I really understand what the rituals were all about.
Communion became a representation of cannibalism. Crucifixion a symbol of death and futility, submission to authority. Prayer a point of negotiation for my wants and needs, seeking them from an unseen entity and an action of passivity, on my part, to do anything to provide those needs and wants on my own-- "God's will be done." Baptism, at any age, the acceptance of corruption of human nature and the adoption of unrealistic expectations of overcoming or restricting the natural human soul in favor of a mantle of godly perfection. Salvation a form of scape-goating so that when I couldn't live up to the unreal expectations of the church or of God's laws, someone else would pay my spiritual debt. Singing hymns was usually the only bright spot until I started hearing the lyrics and really understanding their meaning. Singing praises to a "king" was contradictory to my strong feelings of democracy and independence.
For those who need boundaries, rituals provide them. For those who want to stay within the comfortable enclosure of faith and keep out changes in the world that make that faith irrelevant or unrealistic, rituals are there to make it so. We pass on the rituals to our children so they are embedded with the same language imposed or adopted by us, perpetuating the product our particulare religion produces. Fear is at the root of this perpetuation we pass on to our children. Without it, freedom to think and decide for ones self the value of religious experience and ritual participation would be a product of reason and compatibility with ones values would be at the center of faith. A new faith would emerge (or the old faith would transcend its ancient rituals and meanings) becomeing more relavant to the times people live in and the knowledge people have aquired over the centuries. Those who want to hold on to the ancient ways and rituals and meanings are fundalmentalists. They don't want any change and believe that change is not compatible with God, an instrument of a deceiver. The higher the fervor of the fundalmentalist, the greater the change that is taking place. Fundalmentalism fails in the end--but often times, not without a great deal of suffering by the people who welcome change and transcendency.
FR
posted by
freerain
on February 5, 2004 at 9:55 AM
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that's just off the wall!
posted by
homegirl
on February 4, 2004 at 3:33 PM
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Not Weird, Ariala
Just a thinking human being who enjoys using intelligence rather than rote.
posted by
archiew
on February 2, 2004 at 9:07 PM
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Amen, Ren3!
That is one of the reason's I am a Solitary Witch. I worship alone and design my rituals to be different, but still maintain the symbolic meanings important to my worship.
posted by
archiew
on February 2, 2004 at 9:06 PM
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I don't like ritual either. Maybe church leaders should begin to think in terms of providing a worship service for those who
don't like ritual. There may be a whole lot more of us than anyone imagines. My biggest gripe against pastors is that none of them understand the concept of "thinking outside the box" in terms of providing spiritual enlightenment for those people who DO NOT, for whatever reason, fit in a tiny little pre-designed category.
posted by
Passionflower
on February 2, 2004 at 9:04 PM
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I don't like ritual...guess I'm weird
posted by
Ariala
on February 2, 2004 at 8:51 PM
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