The REAL LESSON from aboard the U.S.S. Stennis is how this man became a pagan...this is why we are warned in the S.O.P. strongly to oppose such readings in our school system....especially under the guise of "literature" or "history".
... your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1 Peter 5:8
"Heathenry is experiencing a resurgence.
... your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1 Peter 5:8
"Heathenry is experiencing a resurgence.
The polytheistic religion, one that traces its origin to Norse myths that tell of the universe’s creation and prophesy its destructive end, was at one time stifled following the end of the Viking Age and the subsequent spread of Christianity.
One such collections of myths, “The Prose Edda” — authored by Icelandic historian and politician Snorri Sturluson sometime around the year 1220 — provides much of what the modern world knows about Norse mythology: Yggdrasil, Asgard and the Aesir, a tribe of gods and goddesses with names like Odin, Thor, Loki, Frigg and Idun.
Now, nearly 800 years after Sturluson’s “Edda,” a small group of sailors aboard the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis has adopted these deities as the pillars of their religion, according to a Navy release.
The chapel onboard Stennis is where Aviation Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class Joshua Wood, a once-Roman Catholic sailor from Eagle River, Alaska, fills the duties of Heathenry lay leader, a position of religious leadership that must be appointed by a unit’s commanding officer.
As the most senior practitioner of Heathenry — observant for five years now — Wood is tasked with leading a small group of sailors devoted to the Norse gods and goddesses in weekly services that are even advertised on the ship’s one-main circuit.
Wood was just in high school when he enrolled in a mythology class that he says “opened my eyes to the Nordic Gods."
From there, he examined the famous Eddas, like Sturluson’s, to learn as much as he could, eventually coming to the realization that he identified with the polytheistic faith in a way he had never experienced with Catholicism.
With his acquired knowledge, Wood has encouraged other sailors with inquisitiveness of Heathenry to attend a sumbel, a ceremony traditionally consisting of toasting and reciting poems or songs.....there is no denying that the religion has gained a foothold — however small — in the U.S. military."
NavyTimes