Contacting the dead for non Pagans

[Trailblazer]

To each their own household. I come from bible roots and from many of the branches that grew from that tree. I will either remain associated or be required to grow my own roots as a person.

To each their own. Much unlike most Americans my age, I do not come from bible roots. Since both my parents left Christianity before I was born, I was not raised as a Christian or in any religion. Thus I was required to grow my own roots as a person. I joined the Baha'i Faith during my first year of college and started growing my roots from there.

 

[Trailblazer]

Yeah but that god was mistaken and is not the god of gods. He must have a name at some time because even the Abrahamic religions were once polytheistic.

Why do you think that God needs a name? Just curious.

 

[The Hammer]

Yeah but that god was mistaken and is not the god of gods. He must have a name at some time because even the Abrahamic religions were once polytheistic.

Yeah, it's Yahweh/El.

"Yahweh and El are the same god in the Bible:

El
An ancient Semitic title for "god". It was used to refer to many gods, but the chief deity was called "El". El had many epithets, including "Bull El", "El the King", "Creator of creatures", "Father of the gods", and "Father of man".

Yahweh
The secret name of the god, which was formerly associated with his esoteric cult. In the Old Testament, El is often used as a synonym for Yahweh. Yahweh is also referred to as El Shaddai (Almighty God) and El Elyon (God Most High). "

 

[Quintessence]

Why do you think that God needs a name? Just curious.

Same reason anything can use a name - it helps in communicating with other humans about things. It is too easy to conflate God with god. Or God with God. Especially in verbal communication.

 

[Riders]

Deut. 18:10 There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, anyone who employs divination, anyone practicing magic, anyone who looks for omens, a sorcerer, 11 anyone binding others with a spell, anyone who consults a spirit medium or a fortune-teller, or anyone who inquires of the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to Jehovah, and on account of these detestable practices Jehovah your God is driving them away from before you. 13 You should prove yourself blameless before Jehovah your God. 14 “For these nations that you are dispossessing used to listen to those practicing magic and divination, but Jehovah your God has not allowed you to do anything like this.

The world may change, but God does not.

And the wisemen were mystical astrologers who found Jesus through the stars and brought him myrrh incense gold and which is symbolic for water fire and earth.

 

[Trailblazer]

Same reason anything can use a name - it helps in communicating with other humans about things. It is too easy to conflate God with god. Or God with God. Especially in verbal communication.

But why not just refer to God as God?
The problem with naming God is that different religions have different names for God, and that causes conflict.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

I was thinking of contacting my Mom and Dad this Halloween. They are both dead, I am Christian but not opposed to doing rituals from other religions. Im sure someone here will call me a witxh but we did this ritual 8 years ago at my old UU church with Pagans telling me how to burn the paper sending the smoke up. ARe there any Pagans here who csn give me advice on the ritual?

If you want to contact your parents through a pagan ritual, I recommend asking @TheHammer, as it is his area of expertise. However, if you would like to contact your parents without using a pagan ritual, you may ask me, as it is my area of expertise. I believe that All Hallow's Eve would be a perfect time for you to try to contact your deceased parents. It is commonly believed that the veil between the physical world and the spirit world is thinnest on this day.

 

[Kathryn]

I was thinking of contacting my Mom and Dad this Halloween. They are both dead, I am Christian but not opposed to doing rituals from other religions. Im sure someone here will call me a witxh but we did this ritual 8 years ago at my old UU church with Pagans telling me how to burn the paper sending the smoke up. ARe there any Pagans here who csn give me advice on the ritual?

Have fun with all that. Personally I choose to leave that stuff alone but that's just me. I believe that the dead are generally pretty busy. For example, it took me YEARS to "hear" from my dad and I've never heard from my mom. I did hear from my deceased husband, in a dream, after about a month and a half.

With my dad, I felt like he had definitely taken time out of his day or whatever to contact me, but he did do so. It was either the second or fourth anniversary of his death. don't remember which one now. OK, TRUE STORY TIME!

So. I had just woken up and was stumbling as usual toward the coffee maker, and I laid my phone down on the island and suddenly this song started on it, a song I had never searched for, and never heard before in fact, called A Little Bit Of Rain by Amos Lee. Here are the lyrics. heck here is the whole song in fact:

If I should leave you
Try to remember the good times
Warm days filled with sunshine
Just a little bit of rain
And if you look back
Try to forget all the bad times
Lonely blue and sad times
Just a little bit of rain
And if I look back
I will remember all the good times
Warm days filled with sunshine
And just a little bit of rain

It's not a long song but I just knew it was from my dad, and it was on the anniversary of his death, which made it more special. I didn't even realize that till afterward, because you know, coffee. My dad also really liked Amos Lee.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

For example, it took me YEARS to "hear" from my dad and I've never heard from my mom. I did hear from my deceased husband, in a dream, after about a month and a half.

Based on my years of experience contacting and interacting with the dead, I know that this isn't uncommon for many spirits of the deceased.

 

[Trailblazer]

Have fun with all that. Personally I choose to leave that stuff alone but that's just me. I believe that the dead are generally pretty busy. For example, it took me YEARS to "hear" from my dad and I've never heard from my mom. I did hear from my deceased husband, in a dream, after about a month and a half.

I never heard from my mom or dad, or even from my husband, although my late husband has showed up in my dreams.
The spirit of my late husband has been in the house a total of 13 times since he passed on in July 2022, but that's a whole nother story!

I really did not need for him to show up in order to know that he was still alive in the spiritual realm, but apparently he had his own reasons for coming.

 

[The Hammer]

But why not just refer to God as God?

Because there is more than one God.

The problem with naming God is that different religions have different names for God, and that causes conflict.

No it doesn't.

Trying to lump every myriad possible iteration of the Gods under One God, is what causes contradiction and conflicts.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I was thinking of contacting my Mom and Dad this Halloween. They are both dead, I am Christian but not opposed to doing rituals from other religions. Im sure someone here will call me a witxh but we did this ritual 8 years ago at my old UU church with Pagans telling me how to burn the paper sending the smoke up. ARe there any Pagans here who csn give me advice on the ritual?

You don't have to do a ritual of you don't want to. You can just talk to them, write them a letter (do whatever you think is appropriate with it), visit their graves to talk to them and leave them things they would like, etc. What's important is to do something that means something to you and would be meaningful to them.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

There are a few Bahais people preaching all around. I wonder if their preaching is special.

Very true.

 

[Kathryn]

I never heard from my mom or dad, or even from my husband, although my late husband has showed up in my dreams.
The spirit of my late husband has been in the house a total of 13 times since he passed on in July 2022, but that's a whole nother story!

I really did not need for him to show up in order to know that he was still alive in the spiritual realm, but apparently he had his own reasons for coming.

LOL that makes sense. It can be unnerving though.

 

[Kathryn]

Based on my years of experience contacting and interacting with the dead, I know that this isn't uncommon for many spirits of the deceased.

I have never felt that it was unusual so thank you.

 

[Quintessence]

But why not just refer to God as God?

One can if one wants to, but when the word God (proper case) points to different things depending on who one is talking to, it creates uncertainty in communication that could be remedied with more precise terms.

The problem with naming God is that different religions have different names for God, and that causes conflict.

There's gonna be conflicts regardless. I'll take clarity in communication any day. "God" is so generic that I have no idea what that person is pointing to unless I ask about the specifics of their theology - something that could be at least in part communicated by using a more precise term.

Curious thing, in some polytheist religions a given deity had multiple names in part to convey their multi-faceted natures. I do this myself in my own practice. It helps articulate what god I am talking about, and who they are. Lady Luna, Mistress of Mystery, the Silver Light, Blessed Moon, Master of Change, Bringer of Tides, etc.

 

[1213]

Thanks, but I do not believe that those injunction in the Old Testament necessarily apply to the modern age.

Thanks to SalixIncendium for showing the scripture.

Why do you think it would not apply to modern age?

 

[Bear Wild]

But why not just refer to God as God?
The problem with naming God is that different religions have different names for God, and that causes conflict.

It is important because the word has become associated with only one god when there are so many which occupy so many different niches within our complex world. Each god has their own context in which they exist and it suppresses the goddess. The use of "GOD" itself creates a conflict for anyone that doses not worship the Abrahamic god.

 

[Trailblazer]

Why do you think it would not apply to modern age?

Do you think that the following injunctions in the Old Testament about stoning people to death apply to the modern age?
If the following injunctions do not apply, why would any other injunctions in the Old Testament apply?

Deuteronomy 13
10 Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Deuteronomy 17
5 take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.

Deuteronomy 21
21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

Deuteronomy 22
21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

Leviticus 20
2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him.

Leviticus 20
9 “ ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.
10 “ ‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.

Leviticus 20
13 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Leviticus 20
27 “ ‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ ”

Leviticus 24
16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22
20 If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found,
21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 22
23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her,
24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

Exodus 31
15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.

The Top Bible Verses about Stoning in Scripture

What does the Bible say about Stoning? Discover the top Bible verses about Stoning from the Old and New Testaments. View the biblical references and examples of Stoning to learn more about its meaning and significance.

www.biblestudytools.com

 

[1213]

Do you think that the following injunctions in the Old Testament about stoning people to death apply to the modern age?

I think, what was wrong before, is still wrong. But, I don't think any human has the right to judge today. And if one is a disciple of Jesus, he goes by this:

Don't judge, so that you won't be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
Matt. 7:1-2

That is, even if someone would deserve to be judged.