Elizabeth Cadre

ditto ditto We are all here because we have open minds. ULC is for those who have been called by "god". We are not trying to prove anything to any 'man. Respect for each other -- love for our "higher power" Or as Ben Franklin said, "we must all hang together or surely we will hang separately" I had a minister once who pointed out that NOT being persecuted may have been the worst thing that happened to Christianity. He said that when people gathered in secret, in peoples homes, when their very lives were in peril just for daring to teach the ideas of Jesus -- they were strong. The nature of the ULC tends to push against people. The ignorant tend to become frightened. Fear causes people to lash out. Most of the people here are used to aggrivating the un innitiated. It kind of rolls off our backs. You kind of smile and just pray for them, and keep on doing what you know is the right thing to be doing....

LAMB a novel The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. This book magically manifest in my life the other day and I've been joyously laughing the whole way! The Author makes incredible connections, and while it is historically Anachronistic, it all strangely fits. The Afterword reads: "The book you've just read is a story. I made it up. It is not designed to change anyone's beliefs or worldview, unless after reading it you've decided to be kinder to your fellow humans (which is okay), or you decide you really would like to teach yoga to an elephant, in which case, please get videotape." "irreverent" doesn't even begin to describe it. ...but OMG is it funny! example: while studying kung fu in china with a displaced Indian teacher, Joshua (Jesus) decides that he cannot practice a martial art that uses weapons. After a bit of fussing, the monks rework it to be an art that uses "no offense or striking at all, but instead channeled the energy of an attacker away from oneself. Since the new art was practiced only by Joshua (and sometimes myself), the monks called it Jew-do, meaning the way of the Jew." [i laugh too loud for too long at this point] *warning* lots of profanity, way too much sex, not to be taken as an assault on ones beliefs. You need a solid foundation in your Bible version of the story to get all the jokes -- I'm probably only catching half of them, and I'm fairly well read. This book makes me incredibly happy, and my family is growing weary of me reading them excerpts aloud, all day and into the night. The author has another, titled: The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror. I think it is the further adventures of Raziel, who is a main character in the backstory of this one. I am going to have to go looking for it

"common sense" tells you that the world is flat....

hi - i'm kind of eclectic... I see it as a growing process, actually. I did the searching, then the born-again, now I'm kind of multi-faith, I guess you'd have to call it. My main girl is STILL Eris, I think. She's the Greek goddess of the reality check. She's the one who takes the rap for the trojan war, when it was the self serving stupid **** goddesses who caused the trouble. ( I so detest Venus/Aphrodite!! <GAK> it was HER fault!) For those who know the story ... shouldn't the most beautiful at a wedding be THE BRIDE, not one of the guests? Jeez-Louise! I go with the one-creator-god theory ( my friend thinks the entire universe IS God, who blew himself up and created everything - the big bang = creation.) I think our souls reincarnate. But my bottom line is that .... I think that all the religions of man are man-made. I posted on another thread that I tell my kids that god, science & magic are all the same thing. BUT we were talking polytheism, weren't we... I am currently studying the norse mythology. I may move past that pantheon some day, but they're what I am studying today. Mythology (including Jesus) teaches us things, makes it easier for us to see from these silly bodies we're in. I'm trying to figure out where to take this "New Age" thing, because whoever came up with astrology had things pegged pretty well. (the babylonians, I guess.. they get a lot of the credit for it these days... idk.) I like correspondences. E-S-W-N Air-Fire-Water-Earth -- insert an aspect of your favorite god... My religion, like most aspects of my life, falls under "solitary practitioner" ie- I got nobody to bounce this stuff off of & I have to kind of feel my way through the dark on a lot of it. I'm not fond of rituals, and any god that needs me to gak through the smoke inhilation of insense burning is NOT getting my patronidge. i think the "one true god" lives inside me..... But - in the kitchen I try to think about Sif and if I get creative, I can focus on Weyland. For revenge I invoke Odin (Wednesday has always been my favorite day of the week, and power day) and i just try to grow my soul as i go along. ... my first counseling question to my friends is "do you have a god you talk to?" and then I ask the name or direction they're coming from. (there's -like- 3,000 versions of just Christianity to choose from) Prayer is preparing ourselves to receive the Good from God - what ever name resonates and helps you with your "magic" is .. well.. Is. ~Hail Eris! Hail Eris! Oh, Hail ~ (and where many take discordianism as a joke, I do not. it just makes too much sense! ) the bottom line of discordianism is to think for yourself. i think that Jesus of Nazareth guy was on a similar tack....

I teach my children all subjects in pretty much the same manner. As little-bitties I just ramble & fill their heads with everything as it comes along. I find that they reach an age/a point - where stuff sort of falls into place (an epiphany... an "ah-ha" moment, if you will) Religion gets treated pretty much the same way. I treat all paths as "mythology" (which I do not mean in a demeaning way, by any means.) I try to let them know about all the religions around us, and answer all questions the best I can. My personal belief is that God, Magic and Science are all the same thing. I tell them to collect as much data as they can and to think for themselves. I was raised "Protestant" and have evolved to an eclectic state that is ever changing. but... I believe that there are 7,000,000,000 different religions on Gaia, but you get more out of it if you have some kind of starting point. Teach them with love..... it's hard to go wrong that way. Answer all questions at their level of understanding, but as if they are peers. And as for the confusion.... tell her WHY you love a particular God or Goddess... and HOW you like to express that. Kids are really flexible and can be very open minded. And whichever way they turn, let them know you will always love them. ....parents are some of lifes best anchors.

As a child I ALWAYS took may-baskets to my teachers. (then I'd get to explain to the class what May Day was..) Now I'm looking at the path of our planet & asking myself "Which Date is New-Year?!?!?!?!?!?!?" ... as if an ellipse has a beginning & an end. i'm leaning toward every day being a new begining.... Different cultures start days at different times (sunset, midnight, sunrise...) The year begins at January (Janus), Beltane, Samhain, YULE.....idk~ maybe someday i'll figure it out. till then we have visions of Queen Guinivere singing about "the lusty month of May" :-) so, THANK YOU for the spring-time holy-day wishes... the same to you