Tuesday, October 25, 2005

ExWitch Ministries

Thanks to NYPaganChick for the heads up on this site!

While looking over the content at ExWitch Ministries, I came to the conclusion that these people had no clue about what they were saying. Yeah, they seem to know the basics (doesn't everybody these days?) but yet somehow get it mostly wrong. Take this passage for example:

And for those Wiccans, Witches, Pagans, and occultists reading this article, please consider: God loves you and is warning you away from the occult for good reason. Just because something feels good does not make it a good thing – crystal meth and cocaine feel great until they take over your life. Alcohol’s wonderful but getting to where you “feel good” leaves you hung over. An illicit affair feels good at the time but can destroy your marriage, your self-worth, and leave you with a lifetime to consider the specter of AIDS and other diseases. Never allow “feeling good” to be your guide, because feelings are too subjective to be good leaders. (If you doubt me, consider - when was the last time you felt like going to work? What if you let feelings be your guide in your marriage? You'd be divorced by week's end.)

Now, comparing a religion (that they allegedly used to be apart of) to drugs, sex, divorce and AIDS - well, doesn't that seem a little underhanded to you? If they were really Pagans at one time, you would think that they would try to say "Hey! Here's what Pagan practice is. Now this is what I think you should look at to rethink your decision." Instead, they are just propagating more myths about a religion they try "prove" that they "know." As if the only reason people become Pagan is to "feel good." (And then imply that those "feel good" situations are all bad.)

Here's another thing I want to mention:

Jesus is God.

This is something that I saw a few times on the site and, of course, it is something that is fundamental to Christian belief. Do you know where that belief came from? (Because Jesus didn't say that himself.) No? St. Paul. In case you didn't know, he was also the one who created the myth that Jesus was sacrificed to "atone for our shared transgression - that is, original sin." (Hergenhahn, 2005) Why do I mention this as most people know that Christians believe this? Because most Christians don't seem to know WHERE this particular belief came from.

From a letter addressed to Pagans regarding the use of the site, we get this:

Generally, unless you’re really sure of it, please leave the teaching of Christian doctrine to Christians. If you’d like to say something but you’re not 100% sure of what might be biblically accurate – say it to the effect of, “doesn’t the Bible say” or “When I was in church, I remember that they…”. That leaves communication flowing without giving someone the mistaken impression you’ve become a Sunday School teacher – or worse, an inaccurate Sunday School teacher!

Oh, please! In other words, "Don't tell us about our religion on your terms, but that's what we get to do to you!" If they were really concerned about portraying Paganism as fairly as they claim, they would allow Pagans to write about their own beliefs on their site considering the above. What this says to me is that they are discrediting Pagans as being unable to think rationally about another religion. Umm - there are plenty of Christians that don't know the magnitude of their own beliefs, either.


And one more example of the innane nonsense on this site, this time from the bio of a staff member:

Joy, known as Butterfly on the ExWitch forums, is a young mother, happy wife, and thrilled-to-tears Christian. She was involved in Witchcraft/Paganism for 7 years, 3 of which were spent as a Pagan married to a Christian (try explaining *that* to your Pagan friends!). She stopped running away from the Lord in January of 2003, and has not looked back since.

A "thrilled-to-tears Christian?" My Gods, honey, stop crying and get on with your life! Why should we try explaining a normal occurrence of marriage to a Christian to "our Pagan friends?" Umm, that's something that is not a rare occurrence. The few Pagans I know are married to Christians and it works for them.


Well, I could go on and on posting different oddities from the site that show that they really haven't a clue. They try really, really hard to convince their audience that they are trying to be nice to Pagans but yet bring them to Christ. They seem to think this works by saying that they want to get rid of the bad myths that have be propagated by Christians, but the convincing falls flat. Come on, ExWitch! you imply on your site that Witches believe in the "Burning Times." If you read some non-fluffy sites about Wicca, you would know that this is a claim that is refuted by Witches themselves.

As NYPaganChick says at the end of her post, "it never hurts to check out what the fundies are saying about us."



References

Hergenhahn, B.R.; An Introduction to the History of Psychology; Thomson-Wadsworth; 2005

13 comments:

S. Nichole said...

I spent a lot of time on that site and the more time spent, the more I found wrong with it.

It's one thing for those that are "ex-witches" to say "I now chose Christianity" instead of what this site said which I took to be "I was brainwashed by various people in my life and now I want to brainwash you." I highly doubt that many of these people are actually "ex-witches."

Look at some of the testimonials if you want to see what I am talking about. They are just horrible.

Sonja Nelson said...

excellent post :)

to twist a phrase, "I like Christianity, it's the Christians I can't stand!" (especially those born agains) *le sigh*

EarthCitizen #23 said...

Well, I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend,,, off to mess with the ExWitches,,, which will be fun,,, being an ExChristian who happens to know the Bible pretty well if I may say so,,,, they are such fun people to mess with.... thanks for the new 'haunt'.... Off to see the ExWitches..

EarthCitizen #23 said...

OK, I take back that I would be there all weekend,, 2 hours was enough,,, poor Ex'ers...... hope they find some comfort,, but damn they are way too silly for a whole weekend,,,, especially Samhain weekend!!!

S. Nichole said...

Sonja - You said it! They are getting as bad as the people who surpressed their beliefs back at the start of Christianity. And they don't see anything wrong with it. Sad.

Oh Scott! Don't mess with their heads as they are already messed up enough. :)

Miranda - Good luck with your new movement! :)

Patty said...

reading your post frightened me enough. I am not sure my poor little pagan heart can take going to the site itself. lol

S. Nichole said...

Didn't mean to frighten you. I was just horrified and maddened by the site. Guess I was a little harsher in my review than I thought! LOL

Jarred said...

I ran across this site a couple of years ago. After reading the article, "What the Goddess cannot do," I wrote a multi-page email explaining numerous problems I found with the article. After a few days, the author got back to me with a significantly shorter response that just amounted to "You make some interesting points, but the article is 'true enough' that we've decided to leave it as is."

I showed both my email and the response to an evangelical Christian friend I respect, and she just about went ballistic. Even wrote her own letter back to the site. I'm not sure if she ever got a response, but I note the article is still on the site and unchanged two years later....

AMDNTSTR said...

That is because Kathi and her bunch over at EW are nothing more than a social club of freaks.

Kathi has only a passing knowlege of paganism, but likes to act as if she is a know it all.

Those there that knew what they were talking about are not long gone. It is just a shell of it's former self.

I am a good friend of J-L's and I happen to agree with him.

You think that they treat pagans badly, you ought to see how they treat other christians who talk circles around them with scripture.

Kathi is a joke, Mark is a joke, Dove is a joke and this is being nice.

Beware of EW and places where what you see is the false front of the people and not their true selves.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
S. Nichole said...

Just a warning - if you post a comment on this blog without letting me know who you are (especially on this post), I will be removing it.

Thanks.

Scrappy said...

Jesus is God.

I am a former pagan and I believe paganism is an error, i found a much better way, and that way is Jesus. I can not force you to love or respect the God who created everything, but I can ask you do some research before you say Jesus did not claim to be God, which is simply not true. Read John 1:1, also Jesus was almost stoned to death on a few occations, why - not because of his teaches, but who he was claiming to be and in the eyes of the jews, his claims were blasphamy. Jesus said "Before Abraham was, I Am -John 8:58.

Also, a side note: Ex witch is pretty accurate in its view of Witchcraft - from my experience. Just how "evil" it is, that is a matter of opinion. I am of the opinion it is more"fake" than "evil", again - my opinion, my two cents, my whatever.

Grace and Peace to you,
Scrappy

cerridwen said...

well scrappy i think christianity is more fake than paganism ,,,as they stole their feasts and holydays from us pagans.so dont even go there.the fact that you are no longer a pagan means that it wasnt meant to be,just like me i wasnt meant to be a christian,i was meant to be a witch.bb