As far as I recall, they're just ordinary, fun-loving, motorcycle enthusiasts.
Posted on 02/20/2008 11:03:10 AM PST by NYer
“Paganism” is a term fraught with all sorts of connotations.
It originally meant something like “country dweller,” “rustic” or even “hick.” That’s because (contrary to popular myth) Christianity did not spread among the Hee Haw-watchers of antiquity, but among the city dwellers and urban folk.
The very last people to receive the faith were the rural folk who clung to the worship of the old gods and the customs of their ancestors long after Christianity had become thoroughly established in the cities.
So the term originally referred only to “country folk.”
However, because the country folk were devoted to the various gods of the Gentiles, it came to mean something else: a worshipper of non-Christian deities.
And as those deities receded into the past and became conflated with the demons of both revelation and of the medieval imagination, “pagan” came to take on a much darker significance.
It became fraught with imagery of devils, horned gods, and all manner of wild witchery (which paganism was sometimes, in fact, fraught with). To call somebody a “pagan” in this sense was no longer to describe where they lived, but to say something desperately dark about their soul.
Finally, in these latter days, “pagan” has taken yet another turn and is now used in some circles as a compliment. Among a growing number of people, “pagan” now means “post-Christian religionist who is attempting to rescue reverence for Nature from the hands of evil Judeo-Christian earth rapists.”
The notion behind this version of “pagan” is that there was once a magical far-off time when humans dwelt in harmony with Mother Earth, everybody was comfortable with their various Jungian archetypes, and all was well as we worshipped the “gods” and “goddesses” who both expressed the beauty of Nature and got us in touch with our inmost selves (and lots of libido, to boot).
Who needs all that stuff about sin, dying to self and the need for redemption? The great blunder of the human race was when the old gods were swept away by the evil Judeo-Christian God. We have to return to our natural state of innocence with the gods (and especially the goddesses) of Nature that reigned before God mucked everything up. Then we will find the happiness we are all seeking.
The first thing to note about paganism, is the last thing that I note: It is seeking something. Paganism is, according to G.K. Chesterton, a search. Chesterton had a very high regard for pre-Christian paganism. He famously said that paganism was the attempt to reach God through the imagination. He declared, “Paganism was the largest thing in the world and Christianity was larger; and everything else has been comparatively small.” The thing it is seeking is the thing we all seek: the thing St. Thomas Aquinas says we can’t not seek — happiness.
But that brings us to our second point: namely that paganism takes two basic forms — pre-Christian and post-Christian.
Pre-Christian paganism was, says philosopher Peter Kreeft, a virgin. Post-Christian paganism is, he adds, a divorcee. And that matters enormously because there are two basic reasons people ask questions: to find something out and to keep from finding something out.
Pre-Christian paganism was (for the most part) an attempt to find God. It was (as we shall see in our next discussion) often alloyed with all sorts of error and hampered by original sin. But the fundamental goal was a search for God. As such, it was ordered toward reality, though much hampered in the pursuit by the effects of sin.
Post-Christian paganism is, first and foremost, a search for an escape from God. It is a hunt for the blessings of heaven without the trouble of submitting to heaven. As such, it is ordered toward unreality, though much hampered in the pursuit by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Now it should be noted here that merely living in the 21st century does not automatically make you a post-Christian pagan. It is quite possible for pre-Christian pagans to exist in this day and age. I well remember a woman I worked with who was spurred by Joan Osborne’s song with the refrain “What if God was one of us?” to remark: “Wouldn’t that be a cool idea for a story?”
“What?” I queried.
“Well, suppose God became a human being. Wouldn’t that be a great idea for a story?”
I remarked, “Yeah! You could call it ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ or something.”
She had no clue that this was what Christianity taught. It was, even at this date, news. And she was amazed.
But others are, in Chesterton’s phrase, “weary of hearing what they have never yet heard.” These divorcee post-Christians are looking, not for God, but for something — anything — else.
Understanding that is the essential first step. Next time, we will discuss the next step.
Interesting.
As far as I recall, they're just ordinary, fun-loving, motorcycle enthusiasts.
bttt
. . . (which paganism was sometimes, in fact, fraught with) . . .
Certain aspects of paganism didn't need 'demonizing'. Whatever that means -- it's become a buzz word devoid of meaning, like 'racist'.
But you don't have to read far in Tacitus, Suetonius, Euripides or Homer to find the desperately evil aspects of paganism. Never mind the early Church fathers and all the hideous persecutions under the Roman Empire, this is information from the pagans themselves.
And the larger point of this article -- that pre-Christian paganism was a virgin while post-Christian paganism is a divorcee' -- is an excellent point that explains a great deal of the unhappiness that I see among my 'pagan' (Wiccan and Norse-pagan) friends.
paint over it as much as you want. History is merely repeating itself. Only the actors have changed. You had a good run.
There are many problems with that theory. First and foremost of course that it isn't true - it doesn't hold water. History does not repeat itself, ever. The lessons one can learn from events in history, however, are always the same. That's because there is an objective Truth and an objective Right. When events in history wander too far from Truth and Right, the actors suffer the inevitable consequences.
The pre-Christian Pagans in substantial part were working towards Truth and Right, but hampered by the dark forces that acted within the Pagan culture. The post-Christian Pagans, as well as the secularists, are fleeing from it as fast as they can run. . . . and never seem to stop to think what they may be running towards.
What that objective Truth and Right is, you will have to discover for yourself, and I pray that you will.
One day anthropologists will discuss it. They may even interpret some things right.
One Holy Catholic Apostolic????? Something to think about.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. I stand with the Doctors of the Church, who are a good deal more learned and more intelligent than anyone I know, myself included.
it still requires you to be right. If you are not you simply stand holding an empty bag wondering why no one follows you.
See this article just posted on Pope Benedict's upcoming visit, and a retrospective of Pope John Paul II's visit to Toronto.
I found particularly interesting the comments of nonbelieving and hard line liberal columnists regarding their surprise at the thousands of joyous young people who showed up to see Pope John Paul the Great.
By their fruits ye shall know them.
You think you do others think otherwise hence they are finding their own way. In the end you have there choices to keep them; change their minds, address what they want or force them to stay through coercion.
The pagans of old probably felt the same way hence my original post to this thread.
Areopagus — usually translated as “Mars Hill” although “Mars Heath” would be a better translation.
(Germanic-derived “heathen” = Greco/Roman-derived “pagan”)
There ya go! Aren’t languages a wonderful thing?
In Catholicism you will find answers to life’s most troubling questions: Why am I here? Who made me? What must I believe? How must I act? All these can be answered to your satisfaction, if only you will open yourself to God’s grace, turn to the Church he established, and follow his plan for you (John 7:17).
AN UNBROKEN HISTORY
Jesus said his Church would be "the light of the world." He then noted that "a city set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matt. 5:14). This means his Church is a visible organization. It must have characteristics that clearly identify it and that distinguish it from other churches. Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return.
Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.)
Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history.
Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy, and the churches that send out door-to-door missionaries are young compared to the Catholic Church. Many of these churches began as recently as the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. Some even began during your own lifetime. None of them can claim to be the Church Jesus established.
The Catholic Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin. It must be more than a merely human organization, especially considering that its human members— even some of its leaders—have been unwise, corrupt, or prone to heresy.
Any merely human organization with such members would have collapsed early on. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with a billion members: one sixth of the human race), and that is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.
What is a pagan?
Barack Hussein Obama
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