Harry Potter = Witchcraft?

Let's look at that passage in practically every other English translation:

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New King James Version)
22 Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (Revised Standard Version)
22 abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New Revised Standard Version)
22 abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New International Version)
22Avoid every kind of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New American Standard Bible)
22abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New Living Translation)
22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (English Standard Version)
22Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (Contemporary English Version)
22and don't have anything to do with evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New Century Version)
22 and stay away from everything that is evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (American Standard Version)
22 abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (Darby Translation)
22hold aloof from every form of wickedness.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)*
22 Stay away (A) from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (New International Reader's Version)
22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (Today's New International Version)
22 reject whatever is harmful.

The point: all of those require that the thing to avoid must actually be known as evil, not simply be at risk of being misconstrued that way.


Judging something or someone based on what merely 'appears' to be evil is totally subjective, and oftentimes flat-out wrong (like for instance, the viewpoint that the color black almost always means evil) - not to mention that ideas of what evil merely looks like changes over time. Unless we want to take this into KJV-Only Movement territory, that's not a sufficient argument. I'm saying this not because of the topic at hand, but because I've seen that verse, quoted only from the KJV since it supports a person's preconceived notions while the other translations don't, used as polemic against things I do take issue with.


*Interestingly, this is cross-referenced to 1 Timothy 4:3, which rails against what many scholars see as Gnosticism, which posed and in some regards still poses a far larger threat to the integrity of Christian faith than witchcraft ever has. Heavy dualism regarding the material world (or by lighter extension in modern times, anything not explicitly Christian from the sharp focus many churches put on dividing things into neat little categories like dualism does) as inherently dirty and anti-God, is one of most egregious sins of Gnostic thought, and why Gnosticism is considered one of the major Classic Heresies. God created one world, not two. The text, of course, refers not to those precepts of Gnosticism but to the ascetic practices (strict celibacy and starvation) some of those groups employed during the Early Church period.

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Have to agree with Qyot on this one. That verse is infamously taken out of context. But I believe we have each made our point of views clear in this thread. So...salut!

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In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. -John 1:3

This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the son does not have life. -1 John 5:11

Weither you look at one version or the other, they basically mean the same thing. Though for the sake of argument.. The Bible says that witchcraft is evil, so if the Bible states to avoid every form of evil then that is a form of evil..
The word isn't for twisting and "indevidual interpritation", because that is what Satan does. That is what he did in the garden of eden.

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Love,
Kat
If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything..

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It's impossible to read something without interpreting it. Interpretation is the foundation of understanding anything - it's totally unavoidable. And individual interpretation is practically the very basis of Protestantism. If you want established dogma, that's what Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy provide, although certain cases could be made for any denomination or even singular church that exists. Doctrine doesn't just fall out of heaven, and in Protestant churches, if you don't like one doctrine, you're free to break away and start your own church - and that's precisely because there's no stigma or prohibition on personal interpretation, even if certain ideas will make everyone else in your prior group think you're a loon.

There's a difference between interpretation and 'twisting' a text. Twisting a text assumes you've already made up your mind on the subject and then use whatever strange interpretation and scattered verses you can to defend it, instead of building a solid exegetical basis for your beliefs in the first place. Twisting is what dispensationalists do profusely to justify their end-times beliefs, and that's only one example (of which said viewpoint is considered within the 'norm' in American Evangelical and Fundamentalist churches, although many place it extremely close to being a modern-day heresy, along with Prosperity Gospel).

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Sorry for the misunderstanding on my part. Evidently, I knew much less about witchcraft and Wicca than I thought. Just a couple of things I learned from uncyclopedia:


I had no idea it went all the way back to the early 50's. Wow.

Wicca - Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia

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In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. -John 1:3

This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the son does not have life. -1 John 5:11

Yeah...nevermind that Hebrews 5:11-14 clearly characterizes immature christians as those who can't wield the word of God with ease and who don't spend the time to divide the good from the evil. Nevermind that the line between what is good and evil is ambiguous at the best of times (like the evil spirit which prophecied that Paul was showing the one way to God through Jesus Christ; still an evil spirit, though it told the truth). Most people don't know what "holy" and "dedication" mean. It means you spend the time to know what is right and wrong.

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In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. -John 1:3

This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the son does not have life. -1 John 5:11

Ok I can agree on the idea that people won't always interpret things the same, however the word should be taken literally and with prayer and leading of the Holy Spirit. When I say literally I mean to be taken seriously and not to be twisted to what we would like it to say. So I don't think we disagree as much as it may have seemed.
Also keep in mind that KJV is still the word of God and it's meaning is just as important as other versions. Though like I said, other versions say practically the same thing and can still apply here.

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Love,
Kat
If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything..

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Dividing good from evil is good to do but im not aware of what you are refering to with Paul and an evil spirt that spoke truth.

I rest my case.

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In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. -John 1:3

This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the son does not have life. -1 John 5:11

I find it shocking this thread required a second page, let alone a 12th.

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Yes, I just wrote that.

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In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. -John 1:3

This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the son does not have life. -1 John 5:11