It would appear that I also struck a nerve. Maybe that’s a good thing, since I enticed someone that is not into debating religion to defend their wiccan/pagan faith. Sometimes it’s worth defending things that are important to us.

The first thing I said was that I wasn’t here to argue, but to alleviate confusion. My intention was not to defend the Christian faith so much as to correct an obvious, if understandable, error in the interpretation of one of its concepts. How quickly would a wiccan correct someone that said that witches worship satan? Or how quickly would a wiccan correct someone that, even in metaphor, said that they were part of a flock?

***
Unfortunately, I failed to get my point across to “yeah.” Then again, I never claimed to be a writer or poet. Let me try again.

God can love while taking away… Good parents often take things away from their children without losing love, or even because of love, for their children. And children learn to respect their parents’ knowledge and authority, even if they might sometimes be afraid of their parents’ power over them.

God does not put us into hell. We put ourselves into hell. Hell is a decision on our part that we don’t want God in our lives. God’s love is so unconditional that God will honor our desire. That is hell, total separation from God, and it happens to people that choose it.

***
“After all, Deity doesn’t care how you believe. I don’t think Deity even cares IF you believe.”

If you think about this for a minute, you’ll probably come up with plenty of examples of people that you really wish believed a little more like you, or even I, believe. I suppose Osama Bin Laden comes to my mind, but I’ll let you choose your own.

As I like to tell my more … mmmm, conservative … acquaintances, G-d gave me a brain, and I’m darn well going to use it!