My church called me a witch

[Naughty Peach]

I grew up in a very rural area. I grew up out of doors, running around in the woods and playing. My nana taught me a lot about herbs, such as using black berry root to make a tea that would stop an upset stomach (it works!).

 

I also have an uncanny knack for knowing what other people are thinking, when storms are coming, I just know things. I am usually right (and that is not always fun). I can devine where water is, and back home helped locate several well's that have never once during even bad droughts gone dry.

 

I was also raised in church. Eventually, people in the church called me a witch and I was forced to leave. This made me very sad. I was always taught that what I had was gifts from God. (My mother and her sisters has these abilities as well). People quoted bible verses to me..."Suffer not a witch to live."

 

Now, I have found that I am more than welcomed by pagan's with opened arms. What am I supposed to think about the "love of God?"

[Outcast]

The behaviour of idiots isn't God's fault. He gave humans free will and asked them to love each other. Unfortunately, a lot of humans use their free will to hate and be stupid and awful to each other. I'm pretty sure it makes God sad and probably sorry He gave us free will.

[westernxer]

A witch is better than a bitch.

[HokeyReligions]

What church?

[Brittanyjean06]

Sounds like some church stayed stuck in the 1920's.... or whatever that date was

[jerbear]

Sounds like some church stayed stuck in the 1920's.... or whatever that date was

 

You mean 1620, must have read the 6 as a 9.

 

Many of the original holidays were pagan based. Easter and Christmas holidays were 'combined' with pagan rituals.

 

Sounds like an excummunication to me and labeled her as an heretic. That is one thing I dislike about some organized religions. They only go so far and keep it at that point. Didn't know that some ceremonies and history of their church were questionable.

[Blackfrost]

If there is a god, and you believe in one, your prays at home will be just as effective as if you were in church. God supposedly only cares that you love him, not that you attend the brainwashing / financial handout sessions that are organized religion.

 

Welcome into the pagan fold we don't judge people like the "supposed christians" do

[BareGoddess]

If there is a god, and you believe in one, your prays at home will be just as effective as if you were in church. God supposedly only cares that you love him, not that you attend the brainwashing / financial handout sessions that are organized religion.

 

Welcome into the pagan fold we don't judge people like the "supposed christians" do

 

Oh, puhleeze. The city I live in is full of "pagans." I had one working for me and I know for a fact that THEY judge as well.

 

And P.S. OP never claimed to be a Wiccan.

[Naughty Peach]

What church?

 

It was the Baptist Church.

[Naughty Peach]

The behaviour of idiots isn't God's fault. He gave humans free will and asked them to love each other. Unfortunately, a lot of humans use their free will to hate and be stupid and awful to each other. I'm pretty sure it makes God sad and probably sorry He gave us free will.

 

I'm still figuring out my feelings on God, or the Godhead.

[Naughty Peach]

A witch is better than a bitch.

I am actually quite ok being called a bitch. I consider it a compliment.

[Tim'sAngel]

Its really sad when a church or anyone gets judgemental. What is even sadder is when the individual who is being judged believes it was God's fault. He gave us free will, which means people can say and do whatever they please. If I came up and told you that you are a monkey or a cow, would you believe me? I'm sure you wouldn't because you know better, and me saying anything isn't going to change your mind about that.

 

If your a witch, then your a witch. If your not, your not. Why should anything that anyone else says make much of a difference? I know it was hurtful, and I feel terribly for you!! I can only imagine how much that hurt. About the water finding and working with herbs, that has absolutely nothing to do with being a witch. I'm sure some witches use herbs, but make everyone who uses them a witch. Those people were very rude and pardon but quite ignorant!!

[Naughty Peach]

You mean 1620, must have read the 6 as a 9.

 

Many of the original holidays were pagan based. Easter and Christmas holidays were 'combined' with pagan rituals.

 

Sounds like an excummunication to me and labeled her as an heretic. That is one thing I dislike about some organized religions. They only go so far and keep it at that point. Didn't know that some ceremonies and history of their church were questionable.

 

Baptists don't really do excommunication, but I think I was pretty much labeled as a heretic. I also wasn't allowed to speak for myself in church. I had to find a man to speak up for me. If we were discussing church business I was not allowed to speak at all, my father or another man had to speak for me. I could teach, but I could only teach from the KJV of the bible. This is only a sampling of the sorts of things that were the normal. If I questioned anything or spoke out of turn I got pinched by my mother, and reprimanded by the church.

[BareGoddess]

I am actually quite ok being called a bitch. I consider it a compliment.

 

 

I'd rather be a bitch than a witch any day!

[Naughty Peach]

If there is a god, and you believe in one, your prays at home will be just as effective as if you were in church. God supposedly only cares that you love him, not that you attend the brainwashing / financial handout sessions that are organized religion.

 

Welcome into the pagan fold we don't judge people like the "supposed christians" do

 

I think it is human nature to be judgemental, but I have certainly been much more welcomed by the pagan/witch community. I have also been reading the Tao te Ching and the Gospel of Thomas. So many verses and chapters come to mind....

[Tim'sAngel]

Damn, you caught me trying to edit!!

 

but make everyone who uses them a witch

 

That should have been, but that doesn't make everyone who uses them a witch!!

[Naughty Peach]

I'd rather be a bitch than a witch any day!

 

I'll take both.

[Naughty Peach]

Oh, puhleeze. The city I live in is full of "pagans." I had one working for me and I know for a fact that THEY judge as well.

 

And P.S. OP never claimed to be a Wiccan.

 

It is human nature to judge but I have found Pagans to be much less judgemental.

[Naughty Peach]

Its really sad when a church or anyone gets judgemental. What is even sadder is when the individual who is being judged believes it was God's fault. He gave us free will, which means people can say and do whatever they please. If I came up and told you that you are a monkey or a cow, would you believe me? I'm sure you wouldn't because you know better, and me saying anything isn't going to change your mind about that.

 

If your a witch, then your a witch. If your not, your not. Why should anything that anyone else says make much of a difference? I know it was hurtful, and I feel terribly for you!! I can only imagine how much that hurt. About the water finding and working with herbs, that has absolutely nothing to do with being a witch. I'm sure some witches use herbs, but make everyone who uses them a witch. Those people were very rude and pardon but quite ignorant!!

 

I am hurt and shocked....and have been welcomed by a community of people who don't require me to take a title of anything, but at this point, bitch or witch, I don't really care. All I know is that I was not judged by the people I was taught was going to hell....and condemned to hell by the people who were supposed to love me unconditionally.

[BareGoddess]

It is human nature to judge but I have found Pagans to be much less judgemental.

 

Then why don't you join them?

[crazy_grl]

It is human nature to judge but I have found Pagans to be much less judgemental.

 

Have you considered going to a church that's not Baptist? IME, they've been more judgemental and extreme than other Christian religions I've had experience with.

 

If these people were really representative of God, they would not have kicked you out and sent you off with Pagans. God wants people to love him, so why would he drive someone away who does? People do all kinds of crazy things in the name of their god(s), but often those things are contradictory to the teachings of the one they profess to serve.

 

If you agree with the Pagan beliefs, then by all means join their religion, but if you believe in Christianity, then maybe you should just look at different churches.

[HeyYouGuys]

I live in a very rural area where there are lots of "Born Agains" (who think everyone but they are going to hell) as well as Amish (who believe they are the 'chosen people' and everyone else is going to hell) as well as other religious groups.

 

It is very sad, when you consider that Jesus talked to people who others would consider 'low lifes' and consorted with 'untouchables' and tried to teach us that we are all God's children.

 

God doesn't judge. People do. People allow their fears and insecurities to twist their thoughts.

 

Try not to judge the people who banned you to harshly. Look at them as wayward children who fear the unknown.

 

You do have great gifts and should use them. Remember, most great artists, philosophers, scientists and thinkers were mocked and shunned by the general public back in the days when such things were poorly understood.

[Becoming]

I'm sorry this happened to you NP. You've been given wonderful gifts and use them for good. But some backwards folks don't understand. This is certainly not indicative of all Christian churches. Find one that's more liberal in its interpretation of the Bible and the faith and open to other religions, like some Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians. And one that doesn't put women and women's ways of knowing down like this church does.

 

No one can hurt or heal quite like the church. And the thing is that spirituality isn't just an individualistic trip. Though there's certainly that component, in order to really live as the spiritual person it sounds like you are, you need the support of fellow believers to strengthen and encourage you. At least that's my experience.

 

So keep searching. Not all Baptists are as closed-minded, but they're generally not as open as the other Christian denominations mentioned. And anyone who supposedly knows the mind of God needs to be avoided because they're just plain lying.

[quankanne]

in my culture, to practice such gifts as these would be to label you a curandera, or a faith healer. And you would be pretty highly regarded by Mexicans, who feel that medical advancement in all its glory cannot cure if it doesn't bring God into the picture ... a truly holistic approach to healing. One person who comes to mind is Don Pedrito Jaramillo, a South Texas folk healer who told people he had no power of his own to heal others, but the "healing took place only when God's power was released through the faith of the person being healed,"

 

so, it's really a matter of perception. From personal observation, I will say that Baptists don't put any creedence into anything unless there is Biblical basis for it. And it sounds like the thought of the people in your church is that if it sounds like a witch and it acts like a witch, then it is a witch.

 

my suggestion is to move (if you can) to a community where the residents aren't threatened by your gifts as a folk healer.

[Becoming]

I know Christian faith healers who are quite liberal, having received training from Native American shamans or a curandera. Maybe it's time for you to develop your gifts with further training because you've obviously outgrown the narrow confines of that church.