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Christianity and Witchcraft.
A question to those who are religious.
Christians?
Jesus believers.
Why does your religion believe that Witchcraft is wrong? Why do you seem to think that Witches gain their power and energies from hell?
Most Witchcraft doesn't even have anything to do with heaven or hell...?
<3 Bethany.
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Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Spirituality?
Actually, witchcraft does get its energy from Satan... Satan uses pagan beliefs to lure people from worshipping the one true God... I know. I used to be wiccan, and thought I was ok, but I was wrong. Wicca and witchcraft claim to be different. One form acknowledges the tie to black magic and evil, the other claims to be a religion. Wicca harnesses the energy from the earth to perform spells, calling on the goddesses and gods they worship...However, the Bible states that there is only one God we are to worship, so the information doesnt coincide. The Bible also cleary states to beware evildoers, witches and those who practice sorcery... While the pagan individuals believe they are getting their powers from various means, all Christians believe otherwise. I hope this helps.
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Catholicism.
The entire point of Catholicism is that Christ's Church is the only path to salvation. It's the foundation of their power on earth.
Paganism and many other forms of beliefs in the past emphasized individual spirituality. Where Christianity points to a man in the sky Paganism and by extension what's now known as "witchcraft" were a worship of the very world around us.
And if you can attain spirituality by communing with nature or spirits which are believed to be present on earth, what need do you have for a power structure that tells you what you're supposed to believe and how you're supposed to go about exercising those beliefs?
It's all about control. Nothing but control. Paganism and Witchcraft, as with Buddhism and a number of other faiths, runs counter to the big three religions in that they place the power and control of your spirituality in your own hands.
Now, I'm sure you can understand how dangerous ideas like these were to a group that wanted to tell people that as part of their spirituality and devotion to their beliefs they had to tithe 10% of their income to the church. Anything that interferes with blind obedience is considered a threat.
It also has to do with the subjugation of women and the demonization of sex. The most famous witch related incident in America is the Salem Witch Trials, but these were just patterned on earlier atrocities that were focused almost entirely on women.
You see, a major pagan belief was that through sexuality one could be closer to God, or Nature, or whatever specific sect of paganism your beliefs arose from. Thus, the union of Man and Woman was divine, worshiped, and a conduit to God.
Now, what do we remember from earlier? The Catholic church wanted to be the sole conduit to God, and based their power and authority on this one fact.
So they systematically begin to exterminate intelligent women and began a campaign to turn sex into the devil's tool for infiltrating your soul. The "witch burnings" you've heard so much about was in truth not even really focused on "witches". The "witches" were mostly educated and liberated women, and the burnings were held to try to destabilize the natural equality of roles that existed at the time. Virtually all of paganism fell into this and so the pagan symbols began to be associated with and decried as demonic.
How else do you think the pentagram ended up being a symbol of satanic worship? Because the Catholics told everyone it was, and killed dissenters who were educated enough to know the truth.
The bible references witches several times, but if we study historical evidence, the world did not "turn against witchcraft" until well after the birth of Christ, where the bible would have you believe that "witchcraft of the devil" was always a problem.
The truth is, Christians and Pagans lived side by side for a few hundred years before the Church of Peter began making moves towards world domination.
At this point, it's mostly just lingering prejudice and unthinking stupidity. My father had issues with the Harry Potter books when they were coming out, and vocally objected to my mother and I reading them (I was in high school when I came across them)
His reasoning was just "witchcraft isn't right and it's not something you should glorify in a story"
He was so sure that Harry Potter was dark and demonic that he refused to read the first book to be proven wrong.
There's no logic, there's no reasons, there's just blind stupidity passed down generation to generation. Prejudices that are as old as sexism and just as dumb.
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OK, here we go.
Here's a link to an article that explains the history a little better: [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Other commenters have provided the Biblical injunction against witches and some of the reasoning behind it. This train of thought comes from an extremely conservative brand of Christianity. Essentially, if you're not praying to the Christian God and calling on Him for help, then you're automatically praying to Satan. It doesn't matter what name you're using in your prayer (Cernunnos, Zeus, Demeter, Astarte, whatever); there are no other gods. You're praying to Satan. Also, by using magic you're trying to impose your will on the natural order of things, rather than following God's will.
The term "witchcraft" has several different meanings. Most of the self-described witches you'll find these days are trying to revive the worship of pre-Christian European gods. They're a religious movement, essentially. Most Christians don't concern themselves with modern witches or witchcraft, any more than they would with Buddhists or Muslims.
To the kind of Christian that does concern themselves with witches, witches are working with Satan to take over the world and turn people away from the true faith. Their use of fortune-telling and spells open paths for Satan to come forth in the world. These sorts of accusations took root in the 14th century (see the link I provided) and aren't going away anytime soon.
There's a certain tie-in to Gnosticism (the idea that Jesus passed on secret knowledge to a few followers, and that through learning this secret knowledge one can achieve divinity), which is contrary to doctrine. All Jesus' teachings are in the Gospels, and there is no hidden knowledge. There are meditative and contemplative traditions in Christianity, and a long history of mystical experiences, but nothing that would give you supernatural powers.
Hope this helps.
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Okay I am going to try and explain it.
lets see....
God's power doesn't include any spells, or summonings etc.
Witch Craft comes from the devil because if it was a power from God, you wouldn't be chanting spells, you will just have to call on his name and pray.
Witch craft is really that energy of hate that comes from the devil himself.
Some parts of the bible talk more about it than i can explain.
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"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Exodus 22:18
That's really all Christians need as evidence to hate witches. There is probably more in there that I am not aware of as well.
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