Who literally believes that the norse gods exist?

**Regnera** · 10-27-2018, 11:58 AM

I don't believe any personified god excists,at least I don't think they really excists as gods,but rather ancient aliens or the creatures of a higher dimension
BTW,if the pagan gods(whether Norse,Greco-Roman,Celtic or other pantheon)excist,I think most of them are rather angels/spririts thandemons

**Regnera** · 10-27-2018, 11:59 AM

I don't believe any personified god excists,at least I don't think they really excists as gods,but rather ancient aliens or the creatures of a higher dimension
BTW,if the pagan gods(whether Norse,Greco-Roman,Celtic or other pantheon)excist,I think most of them are rather angels/spririts than demons

**Daugakrit** · 10-27-2018, 12:08 PM

What I meant by mentioning the current year in reply to one post was that we are sufficiently advanced in both philosophy and theology to understand that the gods, whichever pantheon, are just archetypes to model a certain virtue or way of living. Sure, our ancients took them literally but that was because their world was a much simpler one. Venerating a god is basically the same thing as having a mentor, or a hero. You can have a hero from works of fiction as easily as from history books, or even personal life. And, if there truly was "one true God" as many ideologues suggest, then there wouldn't be any discussion about religion in the first place. If you want to be subservient to a guy nailed to a cross, that's your business, Im not here to judge your kinks. Except if you're being an idiot about it, of course, then its open season.

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**LawrenceMartinez** · 11-15-2018, 11:10 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6pM-0czlsI&t

**Óttar** · 11-15-2018, 11:28 PM

I think it's important to understand the sort of Weltanschauung that goes along with an acceptance of the old gods. Whether the gods exist as actual divine beings or not is not as important. The old religion(s) of Europe were more concerned with orthopraxy (correct action) than orthodoxy (correct belief). Whether you believed in the gods or not was immaterial so long as you performed the rites correctly (sprinkling incense with the right hand and uttering the right words, for example). The gods were commonly venerated by the entire tribe or society and it was these customs and beliefs which helped bind people together. Every rock, tree, river, spring, sacred site, tribe, etc. had a god associated with it. Indeed, divinity permeated the natural world and the latter was regarded as divine. Who is to say that individuals didn't have their own opinions about the nature of divinity; perhaps there were a number of Pantheists (Pantheism is basically the logical conclusion of the old ways, whether or not the gods are regarded as many, as aspects of one essence, or as emanations from One). Later Hellenistic religion (characterized by syncretism and mystery-cults) was moving toward Monism (which is distinct from strict, exclusivist Abrahamic monotheism) with one supreme Deity above many distinct beings.

We have seen the great destruction which has come from regarding the Creator as distinct from its Creation. The very existence of organized human life on Earth is being threatened.