Truestory~
You may have been in God's waiting room, but I've never gotten that invitation. Perhaps it's lost in the cosmic mail system?
Jesus came to earth...TWO THOUSAND YEARS ago. That horse has never clip-clopped his way past my landscape, so I've never heard it from the horses mouth. I looked for a horse, and found one - but it's a different color than the one you believe in. The record you speak of, which I assume you mean the bible, is so convoluted, twisted, chopped apart & put back together, and translated from translated translations that I don't see how anyone can understand that thing, really. I mean, sure, you can interpret it to the best of your ability, but you can't be sure 100% if that's even right or not.
So, no, truestory, I disagree with you. That horse has NEVER spoken to me, I have NOT received that information from anyone that wasn't a regular ol' human. When I say "straight from the horses mouth", I mean "STRAIGHT", not through some book that's been raped over and over through the centuries.
"no information" - well, see above. The information that I have is not consistent, nor trustworthy. Trying to wade through the bible is worse than reading the IRS tax law documentation!!!
And, yes, I do have a real basis for making my decision. The planet under our feet is about as real and solid as it gets. The path I follow happens to be one of the oldest paths there are, beaten down by many good feet way before your savior was placed on a cross. These are incidental to the reason I chose witchcraft, however. In fact, I can't really say that I am the one that chose witchcraft, it seems to be that witchcraft reached out and found me. I developed my own, independant view on how the world works. I began to feel like I was on the cusp of some kind of spiritual discovery. I meditated, and thought, and pondered what it could be. I couldn't figure it out, it was nothing I had ever come accross, anywhere. I lit a candle and asked for the powers that be to show me the path I was on. (Great opportunity, by the way, for your horse to tap me on the shoulder - but it didn't) I continued to light this candle, and would try to focus my awareness outwards, trying to sense...anything. And then I stumbled upon witchcraft, and just about melted when I did. It felt like I was home, I had found my niche, my place, my path. And this is something that seems to be common to the pagan experience. I have read my story over and over from many others that have found this same path.
You say you have had contact with your God, well I too have had contact, with my Goddess. No screaming demons flying at my head, She appeared to me in a dream, and was kind enough to speak to me that night. I didn't neccessarily like what I heard from Her (She gave me a bit of a lecture, actually), but I could not mistake Who I was speaking to. The power and love from Her was unmistakable. I have met the Mother of my soul, and She is very, very real.
Jesus/God, on the other hand, was mute, even when I opened the spiritual doors and invited anyone carrying the truth inside. This indicates to me that either he/they don't exist, or they don't care to speak to me. Either way, I feel no loss. I have the embrace of the Earth to warm me, I need nothing more.
And before I start waxing poetic about the beauty and light, love and power...lalalalala...
Nope, Truestory, you can't just say "whichever food is..." You gotta pick just one or the other, without any more information than that. You see, I am asking you to make the same choice Christians are asking me to make. I don't have the faith in the supposedly well documented
offer of salvation, nor direct communication with the diety you speak so highly of. I have lots of people, pointing to two different plates of food and telling me which one THEY think is the right one.
Maybe I can broaden the analogy a bit, let me go ahead and give you more information; there's a placard next to the blue food, and it says something. The handwriting is blurry and shakey, and there's some words mixed in you don't know what they even mean. But it seems to indicate that the blue food is the good one. Most of the people trying to convince you one way or the other are pointing at the blue food. But there's still no way to know 100% which is which. You have to guess, and hope you guessed right.
Do you go for blue, or green? I couldn't decide, so I went out and grew my own damn food.
As it turns out, the food I grow nourishes me perfectly, I feel no need to go back into that room with the plates of colored goo and try to play a tricky guessing game. I'm sorry, this is sounding kinda mean, I'm not trying to be. I'm just trying to make you see how I percieve your religion, and how I percieve my own.
Your religion might fit you perfectly, truestory, whether you changed to fit the faith, or the faith just happened to fit right the first time..whatever. Your religion doesn't fit me, however, and I don't think it ever will. Anytime Jesus or the Holy Spirit wants to drop by my place for some tea, they're more than welcome to stop on by, but until they do, I will follow the loving Mother that took the time to give me guidance and love, that speaks to me in so many ways. She will always be there for me, I have no doubt.
Heh, heh, on a sidleline, and it might either shock you or just interest you, but I do have a Catholic Rosary as part of my altar.
It is the one my mother used to pray for me when I was hospitalized as a babe. She poured love and hope into it during those scarey years, then gave it to me when I got married. For 3 1/2 years, I just left it in my jewelry box, I didn't know what to do with it. It seemed sacreligious to hang it up or something (since I don't believe the little guy on the cross was anything but a man), so there it lay. Recently, I realized that it's not the symbol ON the rosary that matters, it's the symbol of the rosary - as a loving spiritual gift from my mother - that matters. So I hung it up above my altar, as a reminder of the love I also have right here on Earth. I am lucky, lucky, lucky enough to have two mothers that love me - a mother of my flesh, and a mother of my soul.
What more could anyone ask for?
