God?? Goddess?? Huh??

Greetings and welcome to Theology 101. For those of you who are already lost, Theology is the study of belief in a higher power (Yes, this is the politically correct definition)

One of the first things that happens when someone finds out that I am not a Christian is "THE QUESTION" (which usually occurs after some kind of gasp, or startled noise from the shock) -- You mean you don't believe in God... or Do you worship the devil? or something to that extent.

As time has passed I have learned to be more patient with these people. When I first started studying years ago, I used to enjoy freaking people out when they would ask me these questions. But, the truth of the matter is, Yes, I do believe in God..... but from a different perspective.

Every religion has their own concept of God, there are even different concepts of God within Christianity. Some denominations believe that God is the only higher power and pray to him and him alone. Some denominations pray to God, and Jesus Christ who was his son. Still other denominations pray to God, Jesus, and Mary who was Jesus' virginal mother.

Almost every religion has a different concept of what the higher power is.... Paganism is open to all of them. As a polythiestic religion, an individual can pick which whichever god or goddess he or she is comfortable with.

Some people choose only one or two aspects of the higher power and worship them and them alone. Some choose to worships "the gods" in general and never call them by any actual names. Some pick one or two as their patrons and still worship the rest as well. It's really up to the individual.

The only thing definite about the wiccans and most pagans is that we DO NOT worship Satan. Most Pagans and Wiccans do NOT even acknowledge the existence of a being called "Satan", Nor do we believe in the concept of absolute evil.

I would also like to take this time to explain my own personal concept of divinity. I will now make the disclaimer that I do not speak for all Pagans/Wiccans in this belief, this is only my own personal concept.

I do believe in a greater power in the universe than myself, but I believe that this power exists within myself as well. To put it another way, I believe that the higher power is the "collective unconciousness" that exists within all of us and is a part of all of us. We all have direct access to divinity, we just must learn how to reach this. My beliefs are heavily influenced from a great many sources, but one of the strongest besides paganism is buddhism. I have a kind of zen outlook.