Oct 14, 2006
Here's some ammunition, but not in the mundane sense. Rather, the kind of factual ammunition that you might find handy when faced with the inevitable debate with someone who wants to "save" you, and bring you to a "right" path.
There's no legitimate "winning" or "losing" in such a debate. The only outcome worth having is that both sides respect each other and honor their differences. But that can be an elusive goal in dealing with those who think that they represent the so-called "only way".
This "ammunition" can help in other ways. By seeing how many important threads can be found in paths which are different from my own, it strengthens my own path and helps me to respect other paths.
I won't give you all of the answers, but I'll show where some of them are. And we can begin with two of the questions which some faiths seem so smug about: reincarnation and whether there might be more than one god.
You've heard their arguments, I'm sure. One is the claim that one chance at life is all you get, so you'd better get it right - and right now. The other is that the god which they worship is the one and only god.
What would you say if I told you that their own Bible speaks of reincarnation as a fact? I'm not talking about someone returning in the form in which they left, as some expect (a proper Passover Seder always includes a place for Elijah), but someone coming back the way Wiccans and Pagans expect: coming back by being born.
Is there really only one god, or does their own Bible show that there are others? Did their god demand to be their only god, or did he only demand "top billing" from the people Moses led? And what else can we find that speaks of other gods, and might even imply some respect toward them?
This is but one tase of an entire banquet.
When I speak of "Secrets In Plain Sight," I mean it.