Is black (or white) magic real?
December 6, 2012 at 12:14 pm
(This post was last modified: December 6, 2012 at 12:17 pm by Darkstar.)
No, no, not them. Before I say anything else, the obvious answer is no. Satanists (well,at least some) maintain that they are, but this thread is not about them. It is about this:
Exodus 22:18 (KJV) Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Exodus 22:18 “Do not allow a sorceress to live.
What does it mean? What is a witch/sorceress? This is the word of god, supposedly infalliable, and yet it is claiming that witches/sorceresses actually exist. Let's see what it means.
So, I find myself on this page, and I click on the explanatory note for "sorceress", and it brings up this list, so I look at it and find these verses listed and do some research, and here is what I have found:
Deuteronomy 18:9-11
When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
So, here is another warning against sorcery. There are a number of passages warning against mediums and spiritualists, but we can assume that sorceresses (what about males?) can't actually do anything, right? But what about those spells?
Isaiah 47:9
Both of these will overtake you
in a moment, on a single day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and all your potent spells.
Now this is unusual. The spells are referred to as 'potent', implying that actual witches exist, and can use magic. But is there an instance in the bible where a human performs outright magic? (as in, not miracles granted by god, but actual magic)
There is:
Exodus 7:11-12
Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
What does it all mean? I know what the atheists will say, but what do you theists think? Was there once a time when humans could use magic? And can we still use that power today? (if not, then why not?)
John Adams Wrote:The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.