Ararat wrote:The AAO is not considering Bible as a God's Book. It is a religious book as Koran, Avesta or Rigveda
I fully agree with this. But the New Testament has been a part of our heritage for two thousand years. We have been Christians longer than any other particular faith. Although I, personally, embrace other texts as sacred, such as the Avesta, I can't blame the average Armenian however for rejecting it. Christianity has been a part our national identity for two thousand years. As a result, you simply can't destroy it without destroying the current Armenian identity as well.
First of all AAO is not accepting the idea that one nation is more loved by God than other nations. So if the standart Nicean form of christianity is forcing a man to believe in such idea then we can not accept this.
If you have read my comments about this topic you would have seen that I fully agree with what you are saying here as well. I also reject the Old Testament. The Jewish Torah/Tanakh and the Christian Gospel were 'united' by Constantine for geopolitical reasons.
We are saying that the Armenian Church should change his attitude toward the Old Testament that should no be considered part of their official doctrine.
I also agree with this. However, don't expect our national Church to listen to you when you are attacking Christ. Once you begin to attack the very foundation of the faith, the reaction from Armenian Christians will be severe and unpleasant. As a result, the unity of our people will suffer greatly. We have more-or-less been united under the Christian banner for centuries, once you attempt to undo that reality our future as a nation will be very unpredictable. We must work with our church in order to transform it.
Personaly i am not considering myself as a Pagan, i don't believe in multiple gods. I believe in unique God-Astvatz-Ararich. Restoring Paganism in his antique form is meaningless. Making it an official religion is inutile in essence.
I have full respect for our Pagan heritage. I feel happy when I see Armenians celebrating their Pagan heritage. As for myself, I'm convinced that Christ's theology and philosophy represents our ancient belief system. Thus, I'm quite comfortable with worshiping Christ and the Trinity. However, I would not want Armenian Pagans to begin attacking Christ as a result of their Pagan pride. The outcome in such a situation will be detrimental to our nation as a whole. We have enough social/political problems today without starting a new "spiritual" revolution. Once fundamental aspects of our national heritage beings to be tampered with the outcome will be unpredictable.
Today's antichristian rhetoric that is rising in Armenia is the result of the profound crisis in which we get in 1915 till now. We loose almost everything we have, we loose a great part of our culture and teritories. It is evident that after all this defeats people begin to question Christianity.
Yes, I occasionally hear some ignorant people making such senseless comments. This rhetoric is extremely shallow and intellectually weak. What happened to us during the First World War has NOTHING to do with Christianity and has everything to do with Superpower politics. As a matter of fact, due to Christianity Armenians maintained their "Armenian" identity even in the face of genocide. Had Armenians at the time been spiritually weak they would have all converted to Islam. Would you have liked that? Actually, there were some Armenians that did abandon Christ, they are called Turks and Kurds today.
Please stop this kind of ignorant talk.
I think the new generation of Armenian intellectuals should understand that something SHOULD be changed. We cannot ignore this protests AAO is proposing the changes that are needed. I personally know some priests who completly agree with this point of view...
Yes, allot needs to be changed within our church, society, politics, mentality, etc. However, what's important here is how you seek that change.
In general i think that the Aryan identity is sufficient. I think an Aryan don't need to be a 'christian' , 'muslim' or something else. Believing in unique God is sufficient to unite all Aryans.
Yes, maybe for you and me. However, don't expect the common folk to understand this kind of talk. Only a minority in any given society are ideologically driven, most citizens are simple minded people who need clear answers for their questions. The average person needs clear concise answers to common questions about God, politics, family, etc.
I respect Christ's ideas, as i respect Buddha's ideas or Confucias. But an Aryan does not need to make from them a SPECIAL cult, an idole that everybody should worship as a true God. I cannot accept such attitude.
As I just stated, the general public needs clear dogma to sustain it, be it political or religious. And this is where two thousand years of Christian philosophy, ritual and literature can come into play.
As for the Christianity. In the past christianity was the sole global religion so armenians have no any choice that to adobt it. It was a global mainstream so we cannot fight it. Today's Global mainstream is not christian, it is Liberal-Democratic.
I'm sorry Ararat, but this comment is not accurate.
When we adopted Christianity during the early 4th century it was hardly a "global" religion. Throughout the centuries when we had Christian kingdoms the region was divided between Muslims and Christians. Muslims always outnumbered the Christians at the time. Globally, religions with the most members were not Christians. Christianity was in essence the religion of the Western world and some isolated pockets elsewhere. Even to this day, Christianity is not the main religion of the region where Armenia is located.
Nonetheless, it is true that "democracy" and "modernity" are what Christianity was just over a hundred years ago. In the past people killed in the name of God, now they kill in the name of democracy. However, are you suggesting that we need to abandon Christianity and embrace globalism?
The fundamental problem with Pagans is that they are confused and lost, they don't know what they really believe in or where they are going. They mean well, but the end result of their actions can be detrimental to the Armenian nation.
My advice to Armenian Pagans: Before you "destroy" first comprehensively think about what you are going to build, and whether or not you have enough committed builders who fully believe in your project.