Our Scandinavian Religious Heritage is Thor and Oden
How many times have we all heard we should worship the "Old Time Religion?" Or, heard we should, "Get back to basics." And that there is only "One true God" and the "One true religion."
All of these ignore history. In history there have been many gods and many true religions. People at the time thought their time had it right--previous peoples had it wrong. It is no different today. For those of us with Scandinavian heritage it was ignoring pre Christian times and paganism. There is even a small group in a Scandinavian country today trying to reestablish their "true heritage" with a pagan faith.
Some years back, the remains of a building were discovered in Norway which is now believed was a worship house. From the foundation, researcher are quite certain it was a pagan worship building from about the centuries of 500 to 600 CE. Digging around the building yielded pits of animal bones thought to be from feasts and celebrations. The picture above is what the building was believed to have looked like.
It was some centuries later that Christianity arrived in Scandinavia. When some of us with Scandinavian heritage talk of our past ancestry we don't refer to it as pagan, always Christian. This, of course, is inaccurate. No doubt other kinds of religion preceded paganism.
We all know the old saying, "History is written by the winners." Certainly this is true of religion. The paganism of our past has been written out of our history. It would be most interesting to me to know more about the festive religion of our past, the one which had big celebrations where the meat bones were tossed into a pit.
We have all heard paganism was bad and Christianity good. This was decided by Christians, not pagans. There was no doubt much good in our pagan past that has been buried by the winner, Christianity.
Jesus Christ came to redeem all mankind from eternal death. There are 2 lives which every man lives; the eternal and the mortal.
ReplyDeleteMany historical things were meant to dissolve and never be reconstituted. The errors of Oden and Thor are meant to be dissolved. The Roman Empire was meant to be dissolved. Nazi Germany was meant to be dissolved.
St. Nathaniel, a short quote, stated:
“There are not degrees of truth.
There is truth, and there is error,
And never are the two found in bed together.
Man was created that he might recognize truth,
Created with a spirit that is a truth detector,
And that cuts through lies with the sharpness of a sword.
However, many have thought this detector a nuisance,
And, therefore, through years of denial and a sinful life,
Have filed it down so as to render it almost silent."
Matt -- re: some things were meant to be dissolved
DeleteYou didn't include the Soviet Union or slavery. There is this uncomfortable observation that in Europe Christianity is pooling minority and falling. It is polling minority in the U.S. among people under 25 years old. Other kinds of faith are growing including versions of Christianity's old nemesis, paganism. Maybe some things can dissolve that were not meant to be dissolved.
P.S. As to your belief that man has two lives, mortal and eternal, I'd suggest some critical thinking, "If it sounds to good to be true probably it is not true."
DeleteMatt Oct 26, 2020 at 1:29 PM; “There is truth, and there is error. And never are the two found in bed together.”
DeleteThere were numerous instances, many centuries ago, when truth cohabitated with error in the hunt for heresy. The infallible truth of the essential doctrines of Catholicism bedded down with murderous errors in judgement during The Holy Inquisition. Evidenced by shamelessly subjecting people to its infamous “truth detectors”; the Rack, the Wheel, the horrific Judas Cradle, and for the ladies, the Pear and the Breast Ripper.(1) Or was it fallible erroneous doctrine driving true to the faith churchmen?
In some quarters today women electing to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, homosexuals, and transsexuals are considered heretics — “a person who differs in opinion from established religious dogma”. Legislated initiatives on a path to force birth on pregnant women, hurtful conversion therapy camps for homosexuals, and the right to discriminate against others in employment, healthcare, and housing all in the guise of religious freedom are in play.
“The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.”, Nietzsche. Perhaps there are “degrees of truth” in his assertion.
(1) https://amredeemed.com/10-torture-devices-used-by-the-catholic-church-in-the-inquisition/
truth has always mixed with error in this world. or is there no truth or error, making the issue irrelevant. if so what are we to make of your tedious truth claims/dogmatic assertions. a suggestion: why don't you look up the history of the Inquisition, see how many people really perished and who did the torturing. and don't overlook Lizzie I; the rack, hanging, drawing and quartering. and by all means don't forget about those good atheists who had so many exquisite ways of torturing people (as in Gestapo and KGB). BTW you mention several medieval torture devices, leaving out the iron maiden, which historians think was a made up tale by folks who didn't like the Middle Ages. but why go on, you have your dogmas and nothing is about to get you to stand back and look at matters honestly. bashing Christians is too much fun it seems.
ReplyDelete