About 'magic'

[EastCoastRemnant]

There isn't anything wrong with playing a video game with magic or watching a movie involving magic, but only so long as it's the fictional/fantasy type and doesn't involve anything Satanic.

Strongly disagree... "by beholding we become changed"

 

[stephen583]

The term "Bible" doesn't appear in scripture. You're also wrong about familiar spirits, infernal entities, and occult practices not appearing in scripture. Deuteronomy 18:10-11 says, "Let no one be found among you [...] who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead."

See here is a clear distinction between "magic" or "illusionism", and occult practices, (which are expressly condemned in the Scripture). There's absolutely nothing Satanic, or demonic about stage magic, it's simply entertainment and is actually based on the science of the brain and how people perceive things. Let me give you a simple example of a magic trick.

I show you five cards and tell you to pick one. In the center of four numbered cards is the Queen of Hearts. Your brain looks at the five cards taking in the edges first, and centers on the different face card in the center at the very last. That's how the posterior hypothalamus works "spatially", and the process occurs in thousands of a second and is totally subconscious. In this instance, there's a 99% chance you are going to pick the Queen of Hearts as the card you've selected. I return the five cards to a complete deck.

Next, I hold the deck far behind my back and dramatically throwing the deck onto a table top (an obvious misdirection), and at the same instant I withdraw a dagger that already has the Queen of Hearts skewered on it's point and forcefully (and quicker than the eye can follow) throw the dagger and plant it in the cards on the table top.

I then remove the dagger from the table and show you your card. (Applause, amazement, and gasps). Absolutely nothing occult or demonic has occurred here. It's just science and misdirection. a simple magic trick.

On the other hand, mixing occultism with Christianity (called Santeria, a mixture of African Voodoo and Christianity) is expressly Satanic and EVIL. Dabbling with Ouija boards to contact spirits and using Tarot Cards to tell fortunes falls in the category of biblically prohibited "magic", or sorcery as well.

Ouija boards are particularly dangerous in this regard, as they specifically invite demonic entities and possession. I suggest if you ever come across a Ouija board accidentally, you bring it to a Church for immediate disposal.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

I suggest if you ever come across a Ouija board accidentally, you bring it to a Church for immediate disposal.

Or burn it... that's what I did with the "dream catchers" we had in our house when I realized the occultic nature of them.

 

[stephen583]

Or burn it... that's what I did with the "dream catchers" we had in our house when I realized the occultic nature of them.

I thought about this immediately after I made my original post mentioning Ouija boards and their proper disposal. Some years ago, I was given a Ouija board by a devout neighbor who found one amongst a box load of stuff one of her renters had left in a trailer house she owned. Being generally uninformed about the occult, my first inclination was to take it and toss the thing into my burn barrel in the yard, but just to be on the safe side, I went to the internet and did some research first. It's a good thing I did.

With respect to the disposal of occult relics, there was a specific warning NEVER to burn them. Apparently, fire is routinely used in pagan rituals to make offerings. So by burning a Ouija board, someone could (in theory), unintentionally invoke an evil entity it contains. That was a very sobering revelation, and I realized I was way out of my depth on this particular subject.

In fact, it was recommended, a ritual of Christian exorcism should be performed on the object, and afterwards it should be disposed of only on hollowed ground (commonly a church, or Christian cemetery), and then only by an ordained minister, or priest. Fifteen minutes later, I was in my car and headed for the nearest Church, where surprisingly, the Ouija board was solemnly received for proper disposal.

I asked the priest, if he thought I was giving in to superstition by handling the matter this way ? He answered, "No one who calls upon the power of God to overcome evil is practicing "superstition", and I was immediately relieved I had gone to such an extreme to rid myself of this patently evil object.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Does magic still exist today? I know
this may sound like a dumb question as no one has scientifically proven its existence, but the Bible prohibits the use of it, and describes the event of ancient egyptians using it, so you can't really deny the fact that it's not hocus pocus (no pun intended).

What I want to know is, if magic just doesn't exist anymore, is it ok to even pretend to use magic by imitating Harry Potter or singing songs with spells from tv shows? I read this blog written by a Christian who said he taught his child to keep a distance from Disney's 'frozen' because it's got a witch in it, and it did sound ridiculous at first, but at the same time I thought he had a point. Let me know your thoughts on this. Thank you.

Generally, Magic as described in ancient legends, or the Miracles of scripture ... seem to have less UMPH these days. If you're looking for the supernatural, look inward and to the mind. Every culture manifests this differently ... Western culture is more of an "Inside" manifestation.
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For example: The burning flow of energy that wiccans use can be harmful to those who are not used to being in contact with it, so in a sense that commandments comes from a root motive of not harming one's neighbour. Having people who connect to a force like that back in a time when visible Miracles were more common, would have been even more harmful than the "inside" observation.
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In another sense, a lot of the principles that magic users use when projecting thoughts, energy, and their will ... seem to be being used by Christians when they pray. Not all christians, but it is pretty odd when someone's prayer (to change me ) does not reach God and ends up as a telepathic projection in my head or heart.
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The concept of magic, is something that calls out to christians to rise above it with what God gave us, there is a reason why miracles and magic are a separate in the bible times ... but today, groups who try to use magic and those who succeed alike shake their heads and don't really see the difference between prayer and simple energy and thought projection. As ambassadors of the kingdom of God, some show and tell might be in order.