Christo-Wicca

[Rhianwen]

As some of you may know, Wicca is an earth-based neopagan religion which is centred around a belief in a single divine force which may be seen as many different aspects - primarily personified in two main figures of a Goddess and God.

Most people consider this to be completely contradictory to the beliefs of Christianity, however, I wish to know whether anyone believes that the two may be successfully merged in order to create a living, working religion? Or whether most people believe the idea of a merged religion to be completely out of the question...?

I hope to get some feedback from any angle in order to continue my studies in Wicca. Thanks all!

 

[Scholar in training]

Christianity and Wicca cannot be merged. The Bible is very clear in expressing belief in one God. I can dig up some verses about that if you'd like.

 

[Rhianwen]

If you merged the two you obviously could not take every aspect of the Bible - even Christians today do not take every aspect of it as read due to the fact that it contradicts in many areas. AND Wicca has a clear view of one supreme being - that being is merely personified as male and female in order to clarify the balance that must exist between the forces within the world - male, female, dark, light, evil, good, etc. etc.

So i don't see this as a huge problem to overcome. Any other thoughts??

 

[Scholar in training]

If you merged the two you obviously could not take every aspect of the Bible

Well then, we cannot merge Christianity and Wicca.

even Christians today do not take every aspect of it as read due to the fact that it contradicts in many areas.

Such as?

AND Wicca has a clear view of one supreme being - that being is merely personified as male and female in order to clarify the balance that must exist between the forces within the world - male, female, dark, light, evil, good, etc. etc.

The God of Abraham is not personified that way.

 

[Rafael]

The first commandment of scripture is that there could be no other gods before Him, the true and only God, Yaweh, and that all others claiming such power as Creator or gods of any kind would all be false. The fallen angels who fell with satan work as the contrast to God's power and light as darkness, deceitfully presenting themselves as messengers of light; but in truth, they desire to usurp the power of God and steal away the affection only He is worthy of in our lives that He has given. Any worship of or following after these demonic powers is strictly forbidden by the word of God. Compromise offered to God would be strange fire before Him and a Cains sacrifice that gives to Him only what we desire instead of what He asks for - the pure and Holy sacrifices of praise, worship, and love not polluted by any other, but set apart. He sees all hypocrisy and false worship and has spoken His indignation of it.

Ex 20:3 "I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
3 "Do not worship any other gods besides me.
4 "Do not make idols of any kind, whether in the shape of birds or animals or fish.
5 You must never worship or bow down to them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other god!

De 5:7 "‘Do not worship any other gods besides me.

De 6:5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

Jos 24:20 If you forsake the LORD and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you."

Ps 81:9 You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god.

Isa 26:4 Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

Isa 44:8 Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Have I not proclaimed from ages past what my purposes are for you? You are my witnesses—is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock—not one!"

Isa 45:22 Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.

Isa 46:9 And do not forget the things I have done throughout history. For I am God—I alone! I am God, and there is no one else like me.

1Co 8:6 But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.

Eph 5:5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world.

Php 3:19 Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth.

1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

1Jo 5:21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

 

[holo]

Interesting question.
I think you'll meet resistance from both wiccans and christians. To me, it starts sounding sour when you mention merging the two into one religion.
I've mostly been involved with christianity, so I've learned to react negatively when the word "religion" is mentioned in relation to something other than christianity.
But lately I see more and more how christianity is often just that - a religion, a nice way to see things, good principles to live your life by.

And I think it completely misses the mark, because we are, after all, talking about having personal relations with God/the creator/whathaveyou.

So to me it sounds ultimately pointless to try and merge two different (and probably conflicting) religions into one. I don't see how it would make it more true. Maybe you could get some nice rituals and such out of it, but it wouldn't really have much to do with truth IMO. If wicca is nothing more to you than a way to define what cannot be defined, I say be my guest, form your religion just as you like.

That being said, I should try to actually answer your question.
I've talked with wiccans before who have trouble with the "christian god" being male, and only male, in which cases I've pointed out that the original hebrew word for spirit is female. It doesn't really mean much I guess, and I'm not going to make a doctrine out of it, but it does make it a bit easier for the wiccan to relate to the spirit.
And personally, I'm consciously trying to think of the Holy Spirit as female, because even if it/she/he isn't defined by, or limited to, gender, my understanding is. I find that I see things differently if I don't attribute only male characteristics to the Spirit.

I'm sure there are many other areas where christianity can "meet" other religions, instead of resorting to the usual enmity, but in order to do that I think christianity must be reduced(!) to a religion in the first place. But the sad part is that it seems christians are so afraid of "watering down" their religion instead of considering Jesus a person they relate to. Jesus often disappears in our doctrines and creeds and denominations and theologies.

But it's Jesus it's all about, IMO. I think he's there for the wiccan just as much as for the thief on the cross and the harlot he saved from the pharisees, and for me.
In any case, thankfully he's not dependant on me having a 100% correct understanding of him and how he works. I could have an IQ of 24 and be just as saved.

If Jesus can work in spite of the christians' religion, surely he can find his way to you as well. I suggest you find out more about Jesus than christianity.
Did that make any sense?

 

[God_of_Mercy]

I don't see the point in merging them.

 

[MidnightBlue]

Most people consider this to be completely contradictory to the beliefs of Christianity, however, I wish to know whether anyone believes that the two may be successfully merged in order to create a living, working religion? Or whether most people believe the idea of a merged religion to be completely out of the question...?

Both Christianity and Wicca take many forms, and the short answer is that of course you can syncretize a "Christian Wicca", and that may also take different forms. I don't think you'd be likely to get a warm reception from many Christians, who usually dislike syncretism when they recognize it as such, and more typically assert that Christianity is the one true faith to which one must conform. You might also find that while Wicca is a freer and more individualistic religion than Christianity, many Wiccans came to Wicca by way of disenchantment with Christianity, and are less than sympathetic to attempts to merge the two. Still, I think a Christian Wiccan would be more likely to find acceptance as a Wiccan than as a Christian.

It's largely a matter of terminology and intent. A certain amount of syncretism is normal within Christianity -- from Platonist and Neo-Platonist influences on early Christians, to the wholesale adoption of pagan beliefs and practices by Christians. Pagan feasts become Christian feasts; pagan holy wells become Christian holy wells; pagan superstitions become Christian superstitions. I think what most Christians would really object to, if they were honest about it, is the idea of Wicca as a sort of "partner" of Christianity. Christianity is historically tolerant and even welcoming of pagan ideas and traditions, but likes its adherents single-minded, and its paganisms baptized.

I'm simply not interested enough in Wicca to know much about how a Christian Wicca would work. As pagan beliefs and practices go, there are systems other than Wicca that I've found more interesting, and there isn't time to learn about everything.

If you're interested in knowing more about people who attempt such an unsual path, just google "christian witch" or "christian wicca", and you'll get a surprisingly large number of results. I suspect most of them will turn out to be much more convincing as Wiccans than as Christians. As Christians, we're more comfortable with bringing paganisms into Christianity than with exporting christianisms into paganism, and I'm not optimistic about the potential for a true merging of the traditions.

 

[£amb]

Why would you want to merge? What's to gain? To have a better understanding of how God feels about His people merging with other religions, then you may want to read the O.T. It's all about His chosen people accepting other religions that God point-blankly told them not to do.

 

[jasperbound]

Christianity and Wicca can be merged just as male and female can be merged into one gender. After all, there are many similarities between males and females. They are almost exactly the same!

 

[Marut]

so the Bible is just Gods opinion, then?

 

[talitha]

so the Bible is just Gods opinion, then?

Yes! and God's opinion is the only one that counts! Mine does not count, and yours does not count, and neither does anyone else's!


I must agree with holo (for perhaps the first time here on CF ) in that Christianity is not essentially a set of beliefs -- it's about a personal relationship with the Creator.

And our Creator-God is a JEALOUS God. If you read the whole Bible, you will see illustrated and stated over and over again how He feels about syncretism. Syncretism is the whole reason for His calling for the wiping-out of many Canaanite cities.

Blue Impulse has posted some excellent advice on this thread as to how to become a Christian, and it is clear that once you really become a Christian, there is no room for Wicca or any other religion.

Mix equal parts of dirt and water, and you will no longer have water - you will have mud. Mix equal parts of Wicca and Christianity, and you will no longer have Christianity - you will have spiritual mire.

may you be blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ
tal

 

[MidnightBlue]

Much to my surprise, I did come across a form of Christian witchcraft that seemed kind of intriguing: The Christian Witchery Page. However, the author of the site is at pains to make clear that she's a Christian, not a pagan. (She's a Presbyterian, in fact.) She also feels that Christian Wicca should be practiced in addition to regular membership and participation in a mainline Christian congregation. I don't know if that would be of interest to the OP or not.

 

[talitha]

She also feels that Christian Wicca should be practiced in addition to regular membership and participation in a mainline Christian congregation.

God forbid!

 

[MidnightBlue]

God forbid!

All she's really talking about is being a mystic, in tune with nature, and a feminist. Nothing that ought to frighten the horses.

 

[talitha]

She also mentions "psychic rituals" -- ewww?

 

[jasperbound]

I have a friend who has very nicely blended the two belief structures. Many times when someone tries, they end up with a wierd mutation of the two that contradicts itself and makes no sense at all or is a vast majority of one faith and almost none of the other. It can be done

It definitely can be done provided you water down one (or both) of the beliefs.

I personally don't approve of these people turning Christianity (or Wicca) into caricatures anymore than when Hollywood does it.

 

[MidnightBlue]

She also mentions "psychic rituals" -- ewww?

Hmmm...... You must have read more of her site than I did. I read a couple pages, saw that she was specifically Christian and was influenced by Mother Julian of Norwich. I always figure a healthy interest in Mother Julian is good. But I didn't go too deep into the site.

 

[iglesia]

As some of you may know, Wicca is an earth-based neopagan religion which is centred around a belief in a single divine force which may be seen as many different aspects - primarily personified in two main figures of a Goddess and God.

Most people consider this to be completely contradictory to the beliefs of Christianity, however, I wish to know whether anyone believes that the two may be successfully merged in order to create a living, working religion? Or whether most people believe the idea of a merged religion to be completely out of the question...?

I hope to get some feedback from any angle in order to continue my studies in Wicca. Thanks all!

I would think it impossible to truly combine the religions. Christ taught pretty unequivocally that He was the only way to salvation. So ultimately, as a Christian, I would say that any form of worship or spiritual practice which is not centered around God (in the Christian sense F-S-HS), is not consistent with Christianity. I am also reminded of this scripture from Galations 5:
"19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

If you place your trust in something other than God, that is idolatry, and though I am not an expert, I believe that Wicca involves the practice of witchcraft (forgive me if I am wrong).

However, I would also say that, although combining the religions into one "combo" religion would not really work, I would see nothing wrong with using spiritual practices from other traditions that strengthen one's relationship with Christ. This is, however, rather tricky, and unless I am really sure that what I am doing will strengthen me in the Spirit, I would be better off to look within the Bible rather than to other religious traditions.

 

[InnerPhyre]

Why merge them? To do so is to say that both religions are incomplete and is sort of insulting to both sides. Just pick one