Modern Christian
baptism false - read "Embracing Jesus and the Goddess"
From: "jagbir singh" <www.adishakti.org@gmail.com>
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2004 7:44 am
Subject: Modern Christian baptism false - read
"Embracing Jesus and the Goddess"
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—- In
shriadishakti@yahoogroups.com,
"kyvolk" <kyvolk@y...> wrote:
>
> I was just wondering. Considering the ritual of
baptism in the
> catholic/christian churches is nothing more than a
pointless
> ritual, what was the role of john the baptist in the
bible and in
> real life at that time? Wasn't he the one who baptised
jesus? If
> so, then wouldn't jesus had spoken out about the
pointlessness of
> the ritual alledgedly preformed by john on jesus? Just
curious why
> this is such a prevelent thing in these religions and
if it isn't
> real, how did it find its way so solidly into these
religionsand
> in artists depictions of these events.
>
> Thankx
>
>
Carl McColman, author of "Embracing Jesus and the
Goddess"
Author's disclaimer: This does not "prove" Jesus would
be a Wiccan
if he were on Earth today, anymore than it could prove
he would be a
Democrat or a Republican. The ideas expressed here are
intended to
get you to think for your self and draw your own
conclusions—an
important thing to do, no matter what your beliefs or
what
organizations you belong to. As some wiseguy once
remarked, "I
think—therefore, I'm dangerous." Be dangerous: think
for yourself.
1. Jesus criticized the hypocrisy and legalism of the
religious
status quo, and chose to embrace an alternative
spiritual path.
Matthew 23:1-36. In Jesus' day, the religious
establishment included
the Pharisees and Sadducees, dominant factions in first
century
Judaism. Jesus' alternative path followed the radical
teachings of
his mentor, John the Baptist. Nowadays, in Europe and
the Americas
the status quo is mainly Christianity; the path of the
Goddess —
Wicca—is one of the most compelling of available
spiritual
alternatives. Many people who embrace Wicca have the
exact same
criticisms of Christianity that Jesus is said to have
had about the
religious establishment in his day. Hypocrisy, legalism,
blind
obedience of the rules to the point of ignoring
spiritual values
like love, trust, and freedom—these are the problems
Jesus
attacked in the official religion in his day, and that
many Wiccans
today see in the religious status quo of our time.
Perhaps Jesus,
were he here today, would join Wiccans in criticizing
mainstream
religion and trying to find an alternative way.
2. Jesus was a psychic healer. Luke 6:19; John 9:1-12.
Luke comments
that "all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for
power came out
from him and healed all of them." And John recounts how
Jesus made a
magic healing paste by mixing his saliva with soil from
our Mother,
the Earth. For Jesus, healing was a central part of his
spiritual
identity. Witches, likewise, rely on herbal wisdom,
natural foods,
and psychic practices like reiki to bring healing and
comfort to
themselves and their loved ones. Sadly, the Christian
religion
rarely encourages its followers to take responsibility
for their own
healing, but rather colludes with a medical
establishment that keeps
people passive in regard to their own wellness. Jesus
the healer has
much more in common with Wiccan healers than with
church-
going "patients."
3. Jesus acknowledged the divinity within each person.
John 10:34-36.
All he was doing was quoting the Psalms, but Jesus
emphasized
it: "You are gods." Throughout the Bible, Jesus uses
mystical
language to illustrate the essential unity between
humanity and
divinity. How sad that the church founded in his name
lost that
sense of human divinity, and has instead stressed the "fallenness"
and "separation" that keeps humanity alienated from the
divine.
Incidentally, this is an indirect affirmation of Goddess
spirituality, as well—for if we are gods, as Jesus
quoting the
scripture insists, then both men and women partake of
the godly
nature; implying therefore that God encompasses both the
masculine
and feminine dimension of life. So the "God" whom Jesus
worships
incorporates both the God and the Goddess as revered by
Wiccans.
4. Jesus lived close to nature. Matthew 8:20; Mark
1:12-13; 3:13;
Luke 4:42; John 18:1. Jesus took a vision quest in the
wilderness;
he loved to pray in the mountains, slept in gardens, and
made a
point of telling his followers that he had no house to
live in.
Frankly, it's hard to imagine him driving an SUV or
worshiping in an
air conditioned church. If Jesus were here today, I
suspect he'd
live in an ecologically sustainable intentional
community, and he'd
advocate a sacred duty to the Earth with the same zeal
which which
he advocated care for the poor and the downtrodden.
5. Jesus believed in magic. Matthew 7:7-11. Only he
called it prayer.
"How many of you, if your child asks for a fish, will
give them a
stone?" "If you ask for it in my name, it will be done."
Church-goers
often see magic as different from prayer, because prayer
is timid and
uncertain: "Not my will, but thine." By contrast, magic
assumes that
the Divine Spirit loves us and wants to bless us in
accordance with
our highest desires. When Jesus prayed, he prayed with
confidence,
not timidity. And he taught his followers to do the
same. Nowadays,
magic may have fancy window dressing (light this candle,
recite this
incantation, etc.) but it still comes down to the same
thing: making
a request for spiritual blessing. Jesus' vision of
prayer is like
Wicca's vision of magic: it's based on trust and love,
unlike the
prayer of church religion, which is based on fear,
self-criticism
and self-doubt.
6. Jesus could command the weather. Matthew 8:23-27.
Witches have a long-standing reputation for being able
to conjure up storms and
otherwise control the weather. Jesus, like any
accomplished
weather-witch, possessed a similar set of skills. He did
this both
actively (like when he calmed the storm out in the Sea
of Galilee)
and indirectly (as he was dying, he caused darkness to
reign in the
middle of the day).
7. Jesus had a profound relationship with the elements.
Matthew
14:22-26; Luke 3:16; Luke 8:22-25; John 9:6. Jesus could
walk on
water; he could command the wind; he baptized with fire,
and he used
the soil of the Earth to make healing pastes. His
spirituality was
primal and grounded in the power of the elements.
Modern-day
Christianity is abstract, sterile, and anti-septic—it
is a
religion of books, words, and mental concepts. But
Jesus, like most
modern-day Wiccans, found vitality in the energies of
the natural
world.
8. Like a shaman, Jesus could channel spirits. Mark
9:2-8. One of the
most profound stories in the Bible is that of the
transfiguration,
when Jesus conjured the spirits of Moses and Elijah. To
his
followers, this demonstrated Jesus' authority as a
spiritual leader.
Later on, Jesus tells his followers that they will do
greater works
than his (John 14:12); ironically, though, Christianity
does not
permit its followers to invoke or conjure spirits. But
invocation of
benevolent spirits has been a part of shamanic
spirituality since
the dawn of humankind, and modern-day Witches follow in
this
shamanistic tradition when they Draw Down the Moon and
the Sun,
calling the spirit of Goddess and God into their
Circles.
9. Jesus was comfortable with sensuality and eroticism.
Luke 7:36-50.
One night, while dining at a respectable home, Jesus
received a
sensuous foot washing from a woman, who used oil and her
hair to
wipe the teacher's feet. The host and the other guests
were
scandalized, but Jesus saw it as a perfectly lovely
_expression of
affection and hospitality. In fact, when comments were
made to
Jesus, he responded by saying basically, "What's your
problem?"
Alas, the religion that bears his name has evolved into
an
erotically-repressed spirituality, more like Jesus'
uptight host
than Jesus himself. Paganism and Wicca, meanwhile, are
spiritual
systems that celebrate sensuality, sexuality, and the
basic goodness
of pleasure. Jesus, who got criticized for being a
pleasure lover
himself (Matthew 11:19), would no doubt be at home in
Wicca's
celebration of the goodness of nature and the body.
10. In his own way, Jesus practiced the Wiccan Rede.
Matthew 5:21-22;
Matthew 22:33; John 8:32. The core ethical principle in
Wicca is the
Rede: "If you harm none, do what you will." There's two
components to
this teaching: non-harm, and freedom. It's a basic
principle; you
have spiritual freedom, but not to the point of harming
your self or
others. Compare this to several of Jesus' teachings.
Matthew tells
us that Jesus was so committed to the principle of
non-harm that he
regarded the intent to do violence as bad as violence
itself.
Meanwhile, John quotes Jesus as saying "Truth sets you
free." But
what is the truth that sets us free? The truth of love,
trust,
healing, and divine grace; in other words, the universal
truths that
can be found in any spiritual path. The opposite of harm
is
love. "Harm none" is another way of saying "Love your
neighbor as
yourself."
11. In his own way, Jesus advocated Perfect Love and
Perfect Trust.
Matthew 5:48; Luke 6:32-36; Luke 12:22-34. John quotes
Jesus as
saying "Do not let your hearts be troubled" and "love
one another as
I have loved you." Throughout the Gospels, Jesus says
"Do not be
afraid." He suggests his disciples "become like little
children" —
in other words, be trusting and open-hearted. It's such
a simple
message, and today Wicca embodies the spirit of perfect
love and
trust; indeed, traditional covens require the phrase
"Perfect Love
and Perfect Trust" as a password to gain entry into
circle.
Christianity, meanwhile, preaches a message based on
perfect anger
and perfect fear: God is wrathful, and unless a person
is fearfully
obedient, he or she will be tortured for eternity.
That's the
opposite of what Jesus stood for. Love and trust leads
to healing
and liberation, whereas fear of judgment leads to
depression and
spiritual passivity.
12. His enemies accused Jesus of being under the
influence of demons.
John 8:48; John 10:20. It's an old tactic. When the
people who have
religious power want to dismiss their critics, they
accuse the
critics of being demonically possessed. That's what the
Pharisees
said about Jesus, and nowadays that's what the religious
right says
about Wicca. Jesus was someone who loved the average
person on the
street, but had little patience for religious bigotry
and self-
righteousness. No doubt Jesus would feel he has more in
common with
Wiccans than with the fundamentalists who attack them.
13. Jesus was killed, unfairly, for his "blasphemy."
Mark 14:63-64.
Thankfully, Wiccans nowadays don't get burned at the
stake. But tens
of thousands of people—mostly women—did get killed
in Europe
for the "crime" of Witchcraft. Even if these people
weren't Witches,
the fact remains: they were brutally murdered for
religious reasons.
Well—so was Jesus. Modern day Wicca looks to the
victims of the
Witch burnings as heroes of the Goddess faith, just like
Christians
see in Jesus their own spiritual hero. Jesus, meanwhile,
was the
kind of man who would rather side against the killers
and the
executioners. Given the fact that, throughout history,
far more
Christians have killed Witches than vice versa, it's
easy to see
Jesus embracing the Goddess, working to heal her
children, and
calling those who bear his name to repent of their
violence.
^^^
Copyright 2001 by Carl McColman. This document is
provided to the
Internet community free of charge and for the purpose of
sparking
debate, discussion, and free thought. Permission is
hereby granted to
copy the material on this page, as long as the author is
credited and
the URL (http://www.wellreadwitch.com/jcwitch.htm)
is included. Thank you, and blessed be!
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