Odin’s Eye – 12 Nights of Yule

December 20, 2018December 20, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day. Also happy first day of Yuletide – Tonight is Mother’s Night which is a celebration to honor the goddesses Frigg, Freya and Disir. It marks the Winter Solstice eve. The official last day of the year in some Germanic and Celtic Traditions. Today we remind ourselves of the Virtues of Motherhood and Industriousness.

Introduction:

I had an awkward conversation at work about Christmas. Basically people wanted to do a secret Santa thing and to be honest I am way too broke for that right now. I basically said my religion is complicated. This post will drop on December 20th which is the first day of the twelve nights of Yule or Yuletide. This is a really complicated time for pagans in that different pagan traditions celebrate the end of the year in many ways. The Germanic, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian traditions all get mixed up here in the united States, but most of what you see as far a traditional ‘Christmas’ is actually Yuletide symbols and traditions from those pagan traditions, mixed with a story about a baby in Bethlehem and presto – Christmas.

That said this holiday had a long-standing tradition before Christianity arrived, which is about ultimately a Celebration of the Winter Solstice and the rebirth of the sun.

Faith:

My faith is complicated on this subject because to be quite honest one of the main reasons I say I am a pagan is so I can celebrate holidays with everyone else. I have no problem celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other holiday at this time of the year along with Yuletide with the pagans. I look for the commonalities of faith in this holiday and in large part it is about final ending and starting the New Year. It is a season of hope and joy regardless of tradition and so that I can join in with my fellow humans and celebrate the end of the year and the rebirth of the new one.

Religion:

The pagan traditions that survive at this time of year are quite extensive, from decorating trees, to the yule log to Christmas carols. Kissing under the mistletoe is a favorite of mine. The resurrection theme in Christmas is just as prevalent in the idea of the resurrection of the sun only Christians will talk about the future resurrection of the son of God. Gift giving predates Christianity as does holly and even fruit cake,

I find the fact that the whole twelve days of Christmas thing is actually a response to the twelve nights of yule. The actual tradition is very complicated but I found a good web page on Nordic Wiccan about it called The 12 Nights of Yule. Next year I may do a series about this holiday marking each of the twelve days as I find the whole thing fascinating. I am kind of new to this pagan thing, so I am still learning and the more I learn the more I enjoy the mythology behind it all.

Theology:

I suppose the real powers that be don’t mind us humans celebrating that which makes humanity great even in the middle of the darkest time of the year. Us northerners have four seasons and it gets darker and darker and then as winter continues it gets lighter and lighter and eventually the sun’s rebirth will cause life to return to us in Spring. The idea of rebirth is an old theological concept and it isn’t just found in Christianity or Paganism. Nearly all religions have a concept of rebirth. This idea of hope in darkness and joy in the midst of darkness is pretty common too.

Spirituality:

I am not sure how I feel about Christmas as an X-Christian other than the story is nice. one of the things I may start doing is looking at certain Biblical stories and pointing out why they are problematic and the whole Nativity story is really problematic. I also think that on a human level I can learn spiritually from any faith that genuinely tries to celebrate spirit of joy and hope. It is a family holiday and a time to remember some important things. I guess I like the fact it is a time of celebration from a standpoint of Yule rather than a single day.

Conclusion:

I like Yule and I like the concepts it is trying to both teach and uphold. I think if I had more time I would have liked to dig deeper into this for this year, but it will just have to be a time of wonder, joy and peace for me this year. As I go through next year, part of what I will be doing is researching all this. As a writer of fiction, I smell a lot of potential stories in all this. A time to enjoy my family and life.

So I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – Education Isn’t About Convincing People

December 16, 2018December 16, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods and goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves, and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here. We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it. Let’s be honest, offerings are not giving to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it. Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never see a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Opening Song: “Walk” – Pantera Cover by Breaking Benjamin with Disturb’s David as Lead Vocalist:

Found this gem of a cover song while researching another song. Love it.

Poem: “The Time You Spent” by Joanna Fuchs

Just a little poem in honor of my graduation.

Meditation:

Song of Preparation: “Hammer to Fall” – Queen – Live:

Text: Education isn’t About Convincing People – Eben Pagan:

You can’t convince anyone of anything. You can only give them the right information so that they can convince themselves.

Sermon:

A quote from someone named Pagan.

I wish I could say I have convinced people of something different from what they already believed. Belief is unfortunately a powerful force that keeps us from change at times. It is without a doubt easier to give information to people and then let them stew on it and let them learn based on what you have given them.

I don’t if at the heart of it all is education. Whether formal or informal, we learn and we try to pass it on. But people have to convince themselves or they will not really change.

I know for me the whole faith question was one of listening to the other side, but it was my own examination of my former education that I discovered holes and flaws. I began to inform myself and study the critics of my faith and discovered that some criticism was legitimate. Painfully legitimate.

So, I found myself with a new conclusion, one I came up with myself. That we ultimately choose our religion and faith based on who we are, not on the truth. We embrace the faith we want to because we want to embrace it. We simply learn and change ourselves because of what we learn. Don’t expect others to be any different from you in this regard. Just give the information you know and then let them figure it out, or not themselves.

Closing Song: “Somebody to Love” – Queen:

Because it is Queen.

Parting Thought:

Nope, you at times have to educate yourself.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

Odin’s Eye – Why I Am a Pagan (and What I Mean by That)

December 13, 2018December 13, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day

Introduction:

I suppose a definition is in order. Pagan can be used as both a noun and an adjective and has multiple definitions and means which may or may not apply to everyone who calls themselves a pagan. Pagan or paganism can imply some, most or all of the following:

One observing a polytheistic belief system
A member of spiritual, cultural or religious community that worships nature – neopagan
One who is not a Christian, Jew or Muslim (negative)
Irreligious or hedonistic person
Uncivilized

None of these definitions really work for me I would prefer to understand it with my own definition that kind of reflects a broader definition of pagan:

One who defines their own spirituality and comes to understand that spirituality from the world around them.

Yep, that is me. I mean I don’t really have any belief in special revelation anymore but I do believe that people might have some sound ideas about how the divine works but that is the natural revelation of reason not the divine doing something directly to reveal themselves.

Faith:

When you faith basically consists of believing there is something or someone out there but you don’t believe that we will ever know who or they are. When you believe that the only real means we have to engage the world is yourself, then you begin to have faith only in yourself. to do the things you need to do. If I am going to come to understand the divine reality, then it is going to have to be me that does it. It doesn’t mean that conversation, reading and the opinions of others are not part of that. What it means is like I know that I am the only responsible moral agent for what I do, I also am the only real moral agent in what I believe. The reality is that for every human being there is a faith in something.

Religion:

I don’t completely dismiss religion, I just know what it really is. It men and women’s collective opinions about the divine. I don’t dismiss sacred writing as they might have so accurate observations about what god may be like, I just know they are all the works of men and women and the divine probably has little to do with it. There is a kind of natural revelation as people talk, discuss and write about god but that is all it is. For me the jury is still out of what value religion actually has and it isn’t coming back with an innocent verdict. One thing is for sure for me is that all of that is nothing more than a few more voices in the whole of the discussion for me now.

Theology:

The thing about theology based on natural revelation is that verification of what you discover using reason is not always possible. You start sentences about the divine with ‘If,,,” a lot. The one thing being a pagan means is a lack of being dogmatic about what you believe. Your theology is very open to change and the changes can be quite dynamic. You are open to these changes and in fact I feel a good pagan should embrace them and meditate and think on them. It’s a journey of discovery not a place to make a last stand and die on a hill that may not be worth anything in the end.

Spirituality:

This means a great deal of spirituality as a pagan for me is to be open and relaxed. My deist pagan self tells me that I can be open to let the god of the universe; if they exist, to reveal themselves to me in the world around me. My humanist pagan self can see the ‘divine spark’ in each human being and let that tell me a little about the divine as well. My spirituality is based more on living the Nine Noble Virtues of Asatru than it is rituals and creeds. They simply represent a good code to live by in my opinion and ultimately it is my spirituality and no one else’s so I have to guide me to truth as much as possible accepting the guidance of others when it fits. I am The Grey Wayfarer and that is an identity I want to keep the rest of my life.

Conclusion:

We are coming on the pagan celebrations of Yule. Part of my spirituality is the celebration of holidays and some of the divine being revealed in them as I celebrate them. Mostly through the concepts of family and values such as hope and joy. This brings us to the end of the year. What a year it has been!!! Good, bad and ugly it has been a year I will not soon forget. I want to keep walking though, I believe that the best things are still yet to be discovered are around the next bend in the path, over the next hill or across the next valley of life. So I commit myself to the journey.

So I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – Doubt but Not Denial

December 9, 2018December 9, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day:

Announcements:

Opening Song: Eminem – Not Afraid

With Eminem for me it really depends on the song whether I like him or not. I like this one because it is very much a comeback song and I need a comeback song. In any case, the song has its musical moments that I like.

Poem:

Solitude – Lord Byron

To sit on rocks, to muse o’er flood and fell,
To slowly trace the forest’s shady scene,
Where things that own not man’s dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne’er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock that never needs a fold;
Alone o’er steeps and foaming falls to lean;
This is not solitude, ’tis but to hold
Converse with Nature’s charms, and view her stores unrolled.

But midst the crowd, the hurry, the shock of men,
To hear, to see, to feel and to possess,
And roam alone, the world’s tired denizen,
With none who bless us, none whom we can bless;
Minions of splendor shrinking from distress!
None that, with kindred consciousness endued,
If we were not, would seem to smile the less
Of all the flattered, followed, sought and sued;
This is to be alone; this, this is solitude!

It wouldn’t be fitting not to have Lord Byron Poem when I am also quoting him for my text this week. Solitude is something I am acquainted with and something at times I desire. He hints at what it means to be alone and it is not solitude with nature but to be among our fellow-men and not feeling anything. Without connection to something we feel alone, even in a crowd. Boy do I get that.

Meditation:

Song of Preparation: Disturbed – Prayer

Don’t normally pray, but this isn’t really a prayer but a reflection on loss and doubt in God. I understand this better now more than ever.

Text:

There is something pagan in me that I cannot shake off. In short, I deny nothing but doubt everything.

Sermon:

I find that the hardest thing personally to grasp at times is my turn from Christianity. Not because I don’t think it was right decision or wasn’t in the end reasonable but the constant reminders this time of year of a holiday I no longer celebrate the Christian side of. I got my oil changed and the guy asked me if it was OK to wish me a ‘Merry Christmas’ instead of ‘Happy Holidays’. Do what you want to do. I am not offended. It does however remind me of something that I no longer hold sacred. It’s not about the Mass to Christ anymore to me. It’s about family and Yule.

I, like Lord Byron, have always had a bit of the pagan in me. I have enjoyed this quote by Byron for long time because it makes sense to me. This tug of war between the side of me that wants to place my faith fully in something and be open to all possibilities and the other side of me who is the hardened skeptic that doubts everything. It however is a tension I have come to think is beneficial. What I want “to believe in is the world the promised it would be, not the tawdry, fouled-up mess it is.”

I suspect this pagan part of me will always be there and I don’t regret that because it means I will hopefully find a way to walk this world that enjoys the wonders of it and yet, seeks the truth of it. No matter how ugly the reality may be I remain both hopeful and a skeptic.

Closing Song: Skyrim – The Song of the Dragonborn

Yeah, I know it is a song about a fictional character for a video game – The Dragonborn. Except the song is epic and the lyrics with the singers are also epic. A good way to build up our courage for the week ahead.

Parting Thought:

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – No Service Today

December 2, 2018December 2, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day

Sorry today there will be so service. The problem is time and my mind is needed elsewhere at the moment. Once classes are done I will be back at it next week.

As an aside, while i was in the ministry i would often fantasize about what it would be like to just skip as service. Just do what everyone else did when they didn’t feel like going to church – stay home and not go. So happy skip day.

Just consider it an inclement weather day for yourselves.

As for inspiration, George Carlin for you today:

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – That Which No Longer Serves Me

November 25, 2018November 25, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day:

Announcements:

Opening Song: Shinedown – Monsters:

I suppose there is a progression to the music today. The start of it is an understanding that the monsters that live in all of us are very real. I love the chorus of this song:

‘Cause my monsters are real, and they’re trained how to kill
And there’s no comin’ back and they just laugh at how I feel
And these monsters can fly, and they’ll never say die
And there’s no goin’ back, if I get trapped I’ll never heal
Yeah, my monsters are real

The emotions that are the monsters, as our text says, doubt, fear sorrow, confusion and anger. Monsters that sleep but can be awakened at any moment with disastrous consequences. Other people may fool people and hurt everyone with their lies and falsehoods, but the real danger is the monsters lurking within us all.

Poem: “The Fire of Fury” by Ed Raby, Sr.

“The Fire of Fury”

A flame burns within me

It is one that I cannot see

It is fueled by my fury.

My motivation,

My anger,

My salvation,

My destruction

My enlightenment

Fire, Light, Anger, Illumination

The Fire of Fury will light my way

Or it will consume me

Ed Raby, Sr. – November 24, 2018

I had the title of his poem for quite some time and a feeling of what I wanted to express. I used it for the subtitle of my Rogue Wizard series at its current state but it kept being the title for a poem too. As I was preparing the Pagan Pulpit for this week, the words began to form. Poets understand what I mean. I think it speaks for itself.

Meditation:

Song of Preparation: Disturbed – Indestructible:

It is no secret I like Disturbed. I plan on sitting back after school is over and listening to every one of their albums and songs. I just haven’t had the time to give listening to music the proper time it deserves and this is one band I want to some attention to in-depth. The progression of today’s songs continues with learning to take the negativity and toxicity of certain emotions and transforming them into that which makes us indestructible.

Text:

“Release all that no longer serves you: “I cast away all doubts, fears, sorrows, confusions, anger to the wind. I release any toxicity that weakens my spirit.” – The White Witch Parlour

Sermon:

Yeah, I am using a quote from a white witch site. That said when I was a Pentecostal, I swear I heard this same quote from the more Charismatic Movement oriented believers. It’s amazing how mysticism can change the form it has, but the words and concepts are simply the same.

There is something to be said for the idea of releasing that which no longer serves us when it comes to emotions. Emotions are raw material. Parts of them are useful and other parts are chaff that needs to be given to the wind. The real challenge of dealing with these emotions is learning how to harvest them. Learning what needs to be released as toxic and unproductive while keeping the parts of them that lead to constructive and healthy action.

The most pronounced example of this I can think of is something that happened this week to me. I wrote on Tuesday a post: The Rabyd Skald – The Grey and The Wayfarer (Part 3) – Confessions. The process of working through the three issues presented in that post was refining moment for me. I was working through the emotions and found that I changed in my feelings toward all these situations. The toxic elements of the emotions are less and the good parts that motivate and bring positive change are now more present. I know what to do about all of them and I am more at peace about that.

The quote today is a personal one that perhaps we all need to say from time to time. Doubt can lead to inquiry into truth. Fear can lead to courage. Sorrow to joy. Confusion to enlightenment. Anger to Motivation. Once you have let go of the toxic part of these emotions, the positive constructive elements are what makes you more of who you are and who you need to be.

Closing Song: Halestorm – Amen:

Ultimately its your shit to deal with. Not anyone else’s. And that ultimately is a good thing. Can I get an Amen?

Parting Thought:

Have a great week.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

Odin’s Eye – A Pagan Thanksgiving

November 22, 2018November 22, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day – Happy Thanksgiving!!!

If someone were to ask me if I could still celebrate Thanksgiving as a non-Christian, I would probably respond – “You still think Thanksgiving is a Christian holiday? That’s cute.” The thing is that when you study holidays in general you see a couple of things. Nearly all cultures and religions have a celebration of thanksgiving to whatever powers are worshiped at the harvest time. All of them. The other thing you see is when a country or culture accepts Christianity, Christians basically repackage the pagan holidays and re-symbolize them for themselves. In short, Christians have stolen or blended with holidays from all different traditions since Christianity was founded as the early Jewish Christians still celebrated Jewish holidays. Mostly what you see today is Christians have stolen various holiday traditions from paganism and blended them with their own. It’s why some pagans get mad about the whole thing.

Personally, I am taking a different tack this Thanksgiving. I am a deist and I will probably whisper a prayer (something I rarely do anymore) of pure thanksgiving to whatever powers are really out there, if any. But to be honest there are thanks that could be given to many people for that celebration and for the prosperity I receive. So my list of thanks goes to people this year.

I thank my wife for being a forgiving soul who loves me despite all the things that have happened between us. I haven’t been a very good husband this year, but she deserves wife of the year honors. Thank you baby. I love you more than ever before.
I thank my Mother for being so generous to us in the past decades for housing us an sheltering us. She has put up with a lot and still loves us.
I thank my kids for being good kids. You have all followed your hearts and have learned to love with power. All of you have expressed your love for me this last year and I can’t tell you how much that means to me. Thank you.
I thank my grand kids for being kids. For showing how there can be pure joy in the world for the simple things of life. For showing me that no matter what the news says, I can see hope in your eyes.
I thank my fellow students at school and my professors. The learning environment over the years has been awesome. That is mostly due to you.
I thank my coworkers. You have given me comradeship that I do value. It’s nice to work with you, laugh with you and just share this working experience with you. You make the burdens of it lighter.
As I look at my feast, I thank the farmers, ranchers and all the people who make it possible. To the people who plant, grow, raise, harvest, process and transport all of it – Thank you.
For everyone who keeps the heat and lights on, provides the basics of life and the luxuries. Thank you.
I thank the watchers of the wall. While I think many of the so-called threats to the nation are the politicians made up are garbage done for political ploys, I know there are real threats out there that you guard against. Thank you.
To my friends, to the ones I have left anyway. Thanks for sticking with me. I haven’t made it easy this year I know. I appreciate the real friends who didn’t bolt at the first sign of trouble.

Yeah, I am going to thank people this year. Thank you all.

In Thanksgiving,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – Stan Lee – Being a Writer

November 18, 2018November 18, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day:

Announcements:

Seems like every time I turn around here some great icon I love has died and this week its a man who probably inspired my imagination more than any other during his life. Mostly because he has been around from the beginning. Spider-Man was to be my favorite comic character for his human struggles, snappy sarcastic wit and he was just plain cool. But I also found myself reading Stan’s editorial comments in his comic books and discovered a man who was inspiring in his imagination and advice to writers and aspiring comic book artists. This session of the Pagan Pulpit salutes Marvel Comics’ heart and soul – Stan Lee (1922-2018) – RIP.

Opening Song: Spider Man Theme Song 1960s

A song from my childhood and one that celebrates probably the best comic character of all time. It may be a cheesy song from the 1960s but that was normal back then. In any case, my Saturday morning cartoons were dotted with comic book super heroes and Spidey was one of them. Stan’s ultimate genius was a character that was real as a person but super as a hero.

Poem:

This poem went viral when Stan wrote it. He released it about two years ago. It speaks for itself. Stan was a pretty standard poet. His words however were anything but normal or standard.

Meditation:

Song of Preparation: X-Men Opening Theme

More cartoon stuff but from my teen age to early twenties (yes, I read comics and watched super hero cartoons well into adulthood). The X-Men were favorites of mine with the underlying tone of them being a call against racism. Stan Lee had a way of letting his characters not only be real, but also they addressed tough issues and the X-Men and its mutants were one of those groups that addressed a hard social issue. Particularly what society does with those that are perceived to be monsters or outcasts.

Text:

“The only advice anyone can give is, if you want to be a writer. keep writing. And read all you can, read everything.”

Sermon:

Writing is one of my passions of course. People who talk about writing get my attention. In truth one of my early instructors was Stan Lee. Not just through reading his comics but he would have an editorial at the beginning of every comic I read specifically to that group or character. I loved every moment of reading those. I mean my friends would read comics but I think I was the only one in my group of friends reading the editorial notes and thinking about how the comics were produced. The one message that came through is that everything started with a great story.

This is still true. We have digitized just about everything, but the imagination that casts the original story is still in the writer. It wasn’t the super powers that caught my attention, it was the characters and the story they were in and Stan Lee recognized this. That’s why his characters and stories survived while many other comics died and disappeared. No matter how cool your graphics, if the story sucks or the people can’t relate to the characters, people will not read it.

You have to be real when you write. Stan had this thing for the real. His most famous quote about this is that when it came to comic books he felt they were like boobs. They might look great on a computer, but he would rather have them in his hand. I concur with this observation and I still feel the same way bout books and other things I read. I like to sit in a chair and read them and I feel they should sit in my hand as real objects that books, comic books or magazines. I also feel the same about boobs as well. Some things have more reality than others. The more senses you use the more real things seem.

The advice Stan gives to writers is two-fold – 1) Never stop writing. Keep doing it. 2) Read everything you can. Not unique perhaps but when you hear enough successful writers say this you begin to realize it is probably true. As I am now considering writing as a career path, the advice seems more applicable. It’s advice I will take to heart for the rest of my life.

Closing Song: Avengers – Earth’s Mightiest Heroes – Theme Song:

If the X-Men took on racism, just about every issue along with that one, the Avengers addressed. One of my favorite groups because the cast of characters was constantly revolving and changing, It introduced me to a lot of characters and character development and as a writer I love that.

Stan Lee, you cannot know how many of us loved your work. You were more than a comic book artist or entertainer. You were a person who inspired many of us to believe that a better humanity was possible. That no matter how dark the evil might be, heroes would rise up from the human race and fight it. It was this notion that kept many of us from going off the deep end. Your work inspired my imagination and for that I will always be grateful.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

Odin’s Eye – Objections to Christianity – Part 2 – Sin: An Imaginary Man-Made Problem

November 15, 2018May 21, 2019 / Ed Raby Sr / 1 Comment

Happy Thor’s Day

Introduction:

My loss of faith really started here. I can actually go back to a message I was preaching on sin and salvation through Christ and the fact this quote from Dan Barker from Losing Faith in Faith ( a book I still want to read) was rolling around in my head. I was trying to think of something that would make his assertion wrong. I got up preached the message and sat down. I can site this moment as the time my crisis of faith began. I realized he was right.

I realized there is no proof that sin rationally exists. I only believed that because that was what I was told by a preacher and read it in the Bible. Unless the Bible was truly inspired, then I had no natural or logical proof that there was this thing called sin, a sinful nature or my actions were righteous or sinful. God Himself had never come down and told me I was a sinner, that was men either in the form of preachers or the men who wrote the Bible. Over time, I began to realize that sin has the same problem as the inspiration of the Bible – the Bible asserts it but never proves it.

Going back to my pulpit moment, I sat there thinking and my faith started to unravel. I sat there thinking: “I make a living by telling people they are sinners so they will feel guilty, then they accept the ‘gospel’ and feel better. Out of gratitude they throw money in the basket and pay me. WTF.” It was a bad moment for me and one that led to my eventual downfall over two years later.

Faith:

If you are a believer you take the existence of sin as purely a matter of faith. Basically, if you believe that sin exists, you do it for the same reasons you believe the Bible is inspired. You have faith it is true – you hope and believe it is true, but you do not have a proof or a rational argument to say it is true. The Bible writers assume sin is real and a problem. They never prove it, and the believer is left to take that sin exists as a reality and that God has solved it. You believe all that without rational evidence. It is purely a matter of faith.

Religion:

I now think that sin is a man-made concept. It probably originally. like so many things might have had a good intention. To keep people from making bad decisions given the cultural context. I mean sex without birth control and modern medicine can lead to deadly diseases and unwanted pregnancies. So you tell people not to have sex except with people they are committed to and get married to so the child will be legitimate. The practical side of this is the lessened risk of STDs and unwanted pregnancies. It is a wise course of action.

When just showing the wisdom of this to others doesn’t work, you throw in the wrath of God to bring about a more forceful form of persuasion – tell them it’s a sin against God and He will bring down his wrath on the one who sins. This is where you make up the concept that sexual sin is an affront to God and he will send you to hell if you don’t repent of it and stop doing it. It is ultimately a fear tactic that uses guilt to prevent certain behaviors.

The dark side of this gets worse though as people genuinely think they’re taking the side of God when the punish sinners. The real problem with sin is that some people think they have risen above the concept of it. They feel qualified to judge others using their religious beliefs. It gets worse because the said concept can be held by people in power who wish to impose their views on people to create a ‘righteous society’. To force others to follow your moral code of some behaviors being sin and thus outlawed. The problem is the difficulty using reason to prove something is a sin. It’s not self-evident.

Theology:

I don’t believe in sin as a theological concept anymore. I think in large part it is a bad one because all it does is produce guilt and then in a guilt-ridden state people can be manipulated. I haven’t looked at this fully but I have a theory a large part of religious people have a poor self-concept and that is because they have a large amount of guilt associated with their ‘sins’. This leads them to think they are bad or even evil people and the cycle of self-destruction begins. You spend a lot of time putting on masks at that point to protect yourself from the social wrath of being a sinner while at the same time being wracked with guilt because you can’t seem to escape your sin. If it sounds like I have been there – yep. I would say a lot of my initial causes of depression came from this struggle.

My theology about mankind has certainly changed since I discarded man as a sinner. I don’t think of myself as a sinner but simply a human being. I am not all-powerful, all-knowing or all-present; so I am going to make mistakes and there is really nothing I can do about it. I have needs that are normal. Wants that are normal. I have my reason and wisdom to guide me. I am not perfect and I make mistakes and have errors in judgment, but that doesn’t mean I am a sinner, just human. To me, life is no longer about overcoming sin and removing it from my life. Rather, it is about discovering the virtue in me and causing it to grow. And there is a virtue in who I am as a human being if I look for it and develop it. It about growing into the best human being I can be.

Spirituality:

This is why spiritually speaking I spend more time meditating on the Nine Noble Virtues as a way to learn where I need to grow. I am not trying to get rid of sin out of my life, praying that God is gracious, etc. I have come to see some things as normal and human, not sinful. My goal now is to build character, not remove sin because I think sin is a made up imaginary concept. I meditate on the good things, not the bad things. I grow the good in me, rather than trying to deny my humanity by calling it sinful. I find it makes me much happier and far more at ease in this world.

Conclusion:

After concluding that the Bible is a human book with no proof of inspiration and the sin is a concept made up by the writers of the Bible. There are only two things left on my four objections to Christianity. The first is the other imaginary thing the Bible creates which is the solution to sin being Salvation in Christ and finally, the god of the Bible seems to have very suspect standards of justice.

You will have to hang on a while though as next week I will talk about how I can as a Deist, Humanist Pagan celebrate Thanksgiving. The week after that I will talk about Why I am a Humanist. Then I will get to my third theological objection to Christianity on the first Thursday of December. The remaining schedule for Odin’s Eye for the year looks like this:

November 22 – Why I Celebrate Thanksgiving (as a Deist, Humanist Pagan).

November 29 – Why I Am a Humanist

December 6 – Objections to Christianity – Part 3 – Salvation through Christ – An Imaginary Man Made Solution.

December 13 – Why I Am A Pagan

December 21 – Yule

December 28 – Objections to Christianity – Part 4 – The Justice of the God (Hell)

Then it will be on to the New Year.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

The Pagan Pulpit – Havamal 77 – Thoughts on Mortality

November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 / Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

Probably and additional announcement is that the Pagan pulpit will be more and more taking on a more personal touch – mine. I really am kind of combining a lot of things here from an old blog that I liked. It will be my musings on things from music to poems and other things. My thoughts will be front and center and they are about my weekly journey. If by sharing these things with you, you are helped a little in your own journey than that is bonus and a joy to me.

Opening Song: Metallica – Creeping Death (Live Seattle 1989)

One of my favorite Metallica songs. The final plague on the Egyptians turned into a metal song. Awesome.

Poem:

“Awaiting the Valkyrie”

The war of life will someday claim my soul.

May I live a life worthy of song.

Broken and wounded I may be,

But my heart longs to see the Valkyrie

To take me to a place of the honored dead.

Whose stories forever ring throughout the ages

The soul at last at peace

Celebrated and immortal.

– Ed Raby, Sr. – October 30, 2018

This poem probably speaks to the occasional long that we all have for things to be over. When my end comes, I would like to be remembered well.

Meditation:

People ask me all the time why I like stories. Well because all stories resonate with my own. It’s what makes our existence common; that we all are a story.

Song of Preparation:

This isn’t my favorite Three Door’s Song, but it definitely hits the heart of all of us in what we want and how we feel about those closest to us that have passed into the unknown.

Text: Havamal 77

“Your cattle shall die; your kindred shall die; you yourself shall
die; one thing I know which never dies: the judgment on each one dead.”

Sermon:

Coming off Halloween there is always that element where one thinks about death. I mean we have skulls and bones everywhere. The undead walk from zombies to vampires to mummies. Our popular mythology is laced with characters that overcome and cheat death. In religion, the afterlife is a common thread.

When I was a Christian, the view I often had been that heaven or some afterlife was necessary to give life meaning and purpose. Perhaps this is one truth that many religions hit on, as death seems to take away everything. Ecclesiastes is a great book for pointing this out but the conclusion is a bit of logical leap as the only meaning to life it gives is to fear God and do what he tells you. I don’t think that works for me anymore or for perhaps a lot of you.

The painful truth is that death might genuinely be the end of it all for each of us or that the afterlife is nothing like we expect. That’s the problem, it really is an unknown.

So how to find purpose and meaning to life with the reality of death ever before you? There have been many theories and perhaps this is why we are incurably religious as a species. We don’t like the thought that we will end. We want to continue and so we hope that something is on the other side of death. But in the end I think Marcus Aurelius hit it on the head. We should live a good life. If God, the gods or whatever are just, they will look at the virtues you have lived by not how devoted you were. If they are not just, then we should not want to serve them anyway. If there isn’t any gods or afterlife; then well, we have the memories in the hearts of those we loved as our final thoughts.

Of course you are left to yourself as to which virtues make up your good life. For me the Nine Noble Virtues of Asatru form a good solid list and one that, regardless of who I meet and what religion they may or may not have, can be respected. The Havamal reminds us that the one thing that does not die is the judgement of the dead. The best way then to face death is to live life and live it fully.

Parting Song: Zergananda – The Path to Valhalla

Epic and one view of many. I personally think any view of the afterlife that involves courageously facing ones death is a good one.

Have a Great Week

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

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