I use the term"spiritual agnostic" 

What term would you use for a practice that attempts to manipulate God through one's actions to get what one wants?

The same term you use for baptism, holy communion, confirmation, and prayer.

Water baptism is a symbolic act of dying to self and being raised to the life that's in Jesus.  It has nothing to do with an attempt to force God to act.  If it becomes this, it should properly be called a pagan act.

Communion is a remembrance of the death of Jesus and the terrible price He paid for your sins and mine.  It has nothing to do with an attempted to force God to act.  If it becomes this, it should properly be called a pagan act.

I don't know much about confirmation, but I think it's a dedication of one's life to God.  Such a dedication should have nothing to do with an attempt to force God to act. If it becomes this, it should properly be called a pagan act.

Prayer is communication with God, and some of this communication is petitions and requests that are made for oneself and others.  It should have nothing to do with an attempt to force God to act.  If it becomes this, it should properly be called a pagan act.

Christianity is all about a relationship with God, characterized by His grace and love. It's not about "religious acts."  When it becomes that, it has been degraded to a religion of religious acts like all the rest.

No contempt.  Just truth--which is narrow, not broad. I, too, have done things in my walk with Jesus that had "pagan" characteristics.  It's the nature of humankind to do these kinds of things when it searches for God.  They don't work, no matter what religious context it's in, including Christianity.  One of the greatest truths in Christianity is in the first line of a children's song: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."  There is no need to "win" Jesus to our side by any acts that we may do.  He already loves us and proved that by making the choice, before He came to this dark planet, to get the crap beat out of Him and be crucified--He chose to do this. There is nothing any of us can do to make Him love us any more than He already does.

Well my two cents is of course various Christan rituals, acts, behavors and such by groups and individuals can be considered "Pagan".  Meaning they came from older tradations that were incorporated into the Christian belief!  And why would they be incorporated into and still used today?  Well because the Christians had a polcy when they first came about!  If you can't beat them (back in the days Christians were the ones persecuted!) join them or in their case you can't beat them incorporate their holy days, Gods/Goddesses (in the forms of Saints), and take a bit of their rituals and make them ours!  Amazing what the marketing did for them in the fact that Christianty is one of the largest main stream religions now a days huh?  And it is also one of the reasons why more and more people who are thinking for themselves are going back to incorporating the "old" tradations back into their lives in main stream ways!

So when you say that today people are incorporating "old" traditions back into their lives in mainstream ways, do you mean the traditions that the Church held before incorporating other practices? Just asking.  Not sure I'm clear on what you're saying.

Those traditions that the Chruch held before incorporating other practices were Pagan to begin with so I guess that is what I am saying.  Got to forgive me I am not all here today!

Ok, except the early church (the Book of Acts and the Letters) had no "pagan" practices.  This is what we look back to for our model.

The title of this blog post is very misleading.  There are neo-Pagans (new Pagans) who practice their Christianity with contemporary pagan spiritual practices.  Christian Pagans are a very real tradition in Paganism in the U.S.

 

When people think they can in some way manipulate God to do what they want by doing some act or saying some words, it could properly be called a pagan practice.

 

If this is true, then all religions are Pagan!

 

The belief that holy sites and holy objects have some kind of inherent spiritual power would be a pagan belief.

 

This is a misunderstanding.  The general Pagan belief is that God can be found in all places and things.  When a Pagan person goes to worship in a special place, they are not praying to the place, they are worshiping God/dess in that place.  When a particular object is believed to hold special power, it is merely a thing filled with the power of God/dess -- a prop used in worship and is not worshipped itself. 

 

The belief that there can be some kind of sacrifice to atone for sins other than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ would be a pagan belief.

 

This is another generalization.  You can't assume every religion is a Pagan one if it doesn't fit in with your Christrian beliefs and practices.  Catholics believe that is wise to attone for one's sins in this lifetime by performing a penance and those who practice Voodu will give offerings and sacrifices to the Loa as a token of goodwill.  At some point, we all have to give something bad up in order to lead a better life -- this could be taken as a sacrifice as well.  Sure, your Jesus died for your sins, but you still have to answer for your sins in this life.  The power of sacrifice is not unusual.  It is found in every religion of the world.

 

Praying to anything or anyone other than Jesus or the Father would be a pagan practice.

 

Sure, I'll give ya that one, but there are Christian Pagans on this Earth who do pray to Jesus.  Some Christians don't even pray to the Father or Holy Spirit, they just pray to Jesus because some of them believe it's wrong to even bring up any other deity!  The fact is that Jesus is merely the Son of God, not God himself. 

 

I don't want to be insulting, but I assume you don't know much about Paganism.  Too often well meaning religious people try to lump "the other" religions under one label, but you really can't because there are just too many different kinds of religions in the world -- some related to one or the other or are off shoots from a major religion -- also too often Christians use the word "Pagan" to describe anything that is not part of their religion.  Thing is, the word Pagan is not a fit description for un-christians!  Show some intelligence and honor the diversity that is in this world and educate yourself on what people truly practice and believe before assuming they should all be put into Hellfire!

You're right, valentinaxxx, I don't know much about the religion of Paganism.  This post was about what I consider pagan practices--lower case "p"--that can characterize and diminish a Christian's walk with Jesus.  I can't agree, however, with your statement that "If this is true, then all religions are Pagan!"  The spiritual life of a disciple of Jesus should be characterized by a relationship with his/her heavenly Father and with Jesus, the only living God.  This life should be characterized by love from God and love for God. This love should not--although, in error, sometimes Christians do--be characterized by manipulation by performing certain acts, as "good" or "religious" as they may seem to the observer.  A good example of this would be in our earthly relationships with our parents and with each other.  If I was trying to manipulate you so you would do something for me, this could hardly be called love.  It would be about power and selfishness.
You wrote, "You can't assume every religion is a Pagan one if it doesn't fit in with your Christrian beliefs and practices."  I'm not making any assumptions, valentinaxxx.  This is what Jesus meant when He said, "No one comes to the Father except through me." 
You're right in that "Pagan"--upper case "p"--isn't a fit description for non-Christians.  However, if Christians--or the adherent of any other belief system--attempts to win God's favor or get what they want through certain "religious" acts, this is what I would call a pagan practice.

Okay, well, that makes sense then.  Thanks for clarifying.

Thanks for the dialogue!