|
|
Can you relate to my confusion/ situation? |
Yes |
|
61% |
[ 13 ] |
no |
|
38% |
[ 8 ] |
|
Total Votes : 21 |
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:58 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:08 pm
|
|
|
|
Asking what Pagans think is a big question, regardless of what it is...
Some believe that you just die, and through decomposition, support other lives (except, with so much preservatives and such used in most funeral preperation today, it's not as good as it once was..).
Some believe that you're reborn into a new life. And even with that perspective, there's variants on where you go next. Some think you can go on to become any other species, or that you stay human, but most that believe that say that every life span is another step towards learning, so you take on a different aspect every time, and then one day, your soul meshes with the divine (whatever you want to call it, I've heard a lot of names for it).
And then, there's others that believe in reincarnation say you'll be given the same aspect of life until you make it without killing yourself. o_O;
In most religions, not just Neo-Paganism, there's new life after death, in some celestial or earthly place.
I wonder why your Catholic friends didn't bring up Purgatory/Limbo or the layers? I think there's a specific ring in the 7th layer, where they're turned into tree's, but it's been a long time since I've read the Divine Comedy...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:09 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:46 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:09 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:01 am
|
|
|
|
Given the diversity of 'what Neopagans believe' on the subject of life after death alone, it is hard to say what they think as a whole about suicide. I haven't seen any essays or surveys about it anywhere. I think it would be safe to say, though, that like the great majority of Westerners they dissaprove of suicide in general. Given their religious bents, I do not think they would condem people who *do* commit suicide as much as others do, perhaps. But really, I'm not sure.
From a personal standpoint, I find death, regardless of the means you took to get there, a simple transition much like any other point in life. While I might generally frown on suicide, it isn't something I hold in contempt. Some people, perhaps, would be better off dead because they have the total lack of will or ability to better their lives and are suffering extensively (ie, euthanasia of terminal patients in hospitals).
Whenever the subject of suicide comes up, though, I like to put this spin on it to aid in understanding it. Mostly we think of suicide as what makes us choose to die. What about what makes us choose to live? Every day we choose to live, after all. wink
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:28 am
|
|
|
|
EvilAngel401k My best friend killed himself, all my christian and catholic friends are saying that he has to suffer for taking his own life. What is the Pagan/Wiccan beliefs/Views on suicide. Is my friend really doomed to suffer? I loved him and I can't believe that he should suffer, he was a great person. But I'm so lost now I barely know up from down. to each pagan their own. as far as i know, there is no general consensus on suicide.
personally, devoid of my religious beliefs, i feel the utmost sympathy for the person who committed it. it is such a sadness that they go through that the only option they saw was this. their grief was so infinite that they saw no other course of action to remove the feeling, or to even lessen it.
i like to think that if anyone ever felt such an all-encompassing sadness, they would do the same. we each react to the same things so differently though that chances are, even if someone else went through the same actions, they might not take their own life. it might be something far more different, but i believe we all have that capability.
not to sound blasphemous to the thread, but, borrowing from Starlock, it can be a bit empowering to think that you do have to ability to end your life, every second of it. and some don't. some do choose to live. but i do not advocate any harsh feelings to those that choose to die. it is their perogative and i respect their grief at having to live.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:30 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:36 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:24 pm
|
|
|
|
EvilAngel401k My best friend killed himself, all my christian and catholic friends are saying that he has to suffer for taking his own life. What is the Pagan/Wiccan beliefs/Views on suicide. Is my friend really doomed to suffer? I loved him and I can't believe that he should suffer, he was a great person. But I'm so lost now I barely know up from down.
First, I'm very sorry to hear you've lost your friend. I can't even imagine how much pain you're in. I hope you will be able, one day, to focus on his life and the joy you shared, rather than the manner of his death. [[[[[]]]]]
Now, just remember that there is a consensus among true Biblical scholars that the concept of hell was actually inserted into theology by the church as a means to control the masses. What better way to keep people in line than to play on their superstitions and threaten them with eternal damnation?
I can only echo everyone else here in saying that, among Pagans, there is no one way to look at this matter. I have some very different beliefs from the rest of my Pagan friends. I think everyone is always, no matter how educated they are, finding their own way through it.
I doubt very much your friend is in hell, because I doubt very much there is a hell. Obviously, he was in a very bad place when he was alive, and no one can really know why he chose the solution he did. I don't think it makes a lot of sense for any god to punish a soul *forever* no matter what the "sin."
I hope this has helped, a little.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 5:40 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:05 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:43 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:17 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:42 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|