Lesson 1

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2004-08-23 16:56:26

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LESSON 1: BASIC DEFINITIONS/COMPARATIVE RELIGION
Posted by [Lady Twist]

Hello class, please get comfortable. First, as our class is going to be about a greatly misunderstood subject, item one on our class agenda is defining paganism and showing the difference between being a pagan and being a christian/jewish/muslim/satanist. Don't worry if you're asking about the different types of pagans; those will be explained later in the lesson, after I've explained the different ideologies that pagans can have (probably about lesson 3 or 4, though don't quote me on it). Please write to me with any questions. Here are your definitions:

PAGAN: One who does not acknowledge the christian, jewish or muslim God as an omnipotent or omnicient being, particulary one who follows a polytheistic theology. (though, as we wilil discuss later, this is not always the case).

SPIRITUALISM: A belief that departed spirits hold intercourse with mortals during abnormal mental states, as in trances, or the like, commonly manifested through a person of special susceptibility, called a medium

SATANISM: There are at least two known varieties of satanism;
ANTON LAVEYAN SATANISTS: Those who believe that within themselves are all of the powers of the divine, and so believe that the worship of a higher power is redundant; also usually spiritualistic.
SATANISTS: Those who believe in Satan as the christian God's opposite and worship the diety as such.

GNOSTICISM: The doctrines of certain pre-Christian, Jewish, and early Christian sects that valued the revealed knowledge of God and of the origin and end of the human race as a means to attain redemption for the spiritual element in humans and that distinguished the Demiurge from the unknowable Divine Being.

WICCA: A pagan group of unified beliefs who holds that there is an intictual duality to everything, as represented by the dual God and Goddess, who are consorts, and who follow the Wiccan Rede, which they believe in as their divine law.

JUDAISM: The monotheistic religion of the Jews, tracing its origins to Abraham and having its spiritual and ethical principles embodied chiefly in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Talmud.

CHRISTIANITY: The religion of those who follow the lessons, precepts and laws lain down by Jesus Christ, as written in the bible; also, those who believe that Jesus does for their sins to clear the way to Heaven for those who accept him as God's son.

ISLAM: A religion characterized by the acceptance of the doctrine of submission to God and to Muhammad as the chief and last prophet of God; while still accepting Jesus as a prophets, they do not believe there has yet been a Messiah.

I know this is probably very basic information, I thought it was best to get this out of way first. The next lesson should be availabe soon. Class dismissed.

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Pagan-Class

2004-09-16 [Mordigen]: I am a huge nit-picker, so I am going to nit-pick the page to hell and back because that's just how I am, so please don't take it personally ^_^ :: pagan has nothing to do with the muslim/jewish/christian gods and whether one does or doesn't believe in them -- there are several jewish, muslim and christian based religions becoming more and more wellknown that ARE pagan, so that statement is not true -- and you cannot be pagan and not follow a polytheistic religion/philosophy. the term "pagan" has become very misconcieved in modern times as a seperate religion itself -- pagan is not a noun, it is an adjective, no one is a "pagan" per se, they follow a pagan *religion* :: adjective

2004-09-16 [Mordigen]: (cont...) ther term pagan is directly derrived from christian /jewish/muslim belief, and is specifically defined as one who worships more than one god, there for you cannot be a pagan without following a polytheistic religion/philosophy --- today the term pagan as become sort of slang for the occult or metaphysical relgigions and beliefs, but to present it as that is completely inaccurate and will only confuse people who are coming to this wiki to learn, and even though we all do use it as slang in that manner (yes even me) you should still present all sides of it, and make it clear as to what a Pagan actually is and differenciate between the term itself and how we use it today.

2004-09-16 [Mordigen]: Spirtiualism --- you have the general occult defenision of it posted, but to clear it up between our philosophy and general terms, in a general aspect spiritualism is simply one who believes in one being spiritual, and take it hand in hand with faith in their person religion.

2004-09-16 [Mordigen]: Stanism:: there are at least 10 dif. variations of stanism that I can name of and all of them are completely different, so get with me privately about that one because I can't write it all here

2004-09-16 [Mordigen]: you defined ONE sect of wicca in your definition, i know plenty of sects that do not follow that specific definition you gave but are in fact still wicca, so you should broaden that definition a bit --- IE: a modern-aged pagan religion derrived from occult & traditional witchcraft, consisting of many different sects and traditions.

2004-09-16 [Delladreing]: *smiles* not pick away, this is not my lesson, it was posted by Lady Twist and i wasnt about to remove it without her permission

2004-09-16 [Mordigen]: heh, well like i said, i'm a nitpicker, i can't help it, and I'm a big fan of being broad and covering all aspects as to not confuse people in things like this, so like i said, nothing personal just me nit picking

2004-09-16 [Delladreing]: lol fair enough im sorta the same but its just not good manners to take down another teachers work without thier permission so i left it up

2004-09-16 [Mordigen]: true true

2004-09-16 [Delladreing]: i tried to make sure lesson 2 was as accurate as possible though, im finicky that way i supose

2005-04-19 [Eternal Vagabond]: did you know the real meaning of pagan? before all these other definition got attached to it, it was a latin word meaning "rustic country dweller"

2005-04-20 [Delladreing]: *nods* i knew that :) but it seems the previous teacher neglected to say that up there

2005-05-05 [Roccoriel]: Actually, the world "pagan" comes from the Romans, it literally means "village dweller" THis makesa sense from a historical standpoint as once the Roman empire became christian those people still living outside the large cities and on the frontiers are what we know today as pagans. It was more or less a derogatory term for people not living in cities.

2005-05-05 [Delladreing]: *sigh* I should take Lady Twists old Lesson down and redo it should it?

2005-05-05 [Roccoriel]: Perhaps...just revise it really to include the historical aspects as well. Also, a wonderful book I might recommend is "God Against the Gods" by Jonathan Kirch.

2005-05-05 [Delladreing]: Hmm I'll start on it after my finals end then. And thank you I will look into that.

2005-05-05 [Roccoriel]: No problem.

2005-05-05 [Delladreing]: :) if anyone has any suggestions as to what they think should replce or be added to this lesson feel free to message me, it wont be updated for about a month or so, but yes i will try and add in as much as i can.

2006-06-11 [Wulf Skjaldr]: Maybe you could leave her lesson and simply interpose notations beneath certain things that need clarification?

2006-06-11 [Delladreing]: might be an idea :)

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