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Are all superstitions anti-Christian?


ReneeIW

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12 minutes ago, BeauJangles said:

Hi, Joe, 

Superstition and the supernatural world of God for instance, are two different things. I can see how it might be easy to confuse the two separate issues, but there is a definite distinction. Here's an example. It's not my preferred choice for reference*, but this might help shed light on the situation. Thanks for asking and God bless! 

Shalom, 

David/BeauJangles 

*Disclaimer: The article below is not necessarily my personal opinion. 

 

Superstition and the Supernatural

Dwight Longenecker 

The reason exorcism films are popular is because it is one of the few phenomena of religious life where the invisible becomes visible, and film makers need action and something to see.

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canachrist That's why movies are called "motion pictures."

Exorcism movies are popular, but when you see one what is your reaction?  Will you respond with superstition or supernaturalism?  Superstition is any sort of belief or behavior which is magical.  A magical understanding of religion is primitive, immature and dangerous.  It involves sympathetic magic or an irrational link between certain behaviors and their outcomes.  It means, in some way, we are trying to manipulate things to produce an outcome that we desire.

Sympathetic magic links two otherwise unconnected things together — usually one physical and the other metaphysical and expects a causal result.  So, for example, you have a black cat, and you believe that black cat symbolizes evil, so you cast a spell which you believe transfers the evil to the black cat, then you kill the black cat in order kill the evil.  The form of magic which makes an irrational link between certain behaviors or objects with their outcomes is just as dangerous.  So a person may believe that by walking in a circle clockwise thirteen times and throwing salt over the shoulder will ward off the evil eye.  Similarly, carrying a rabbit's foot or some other talisman to bring good luck or blessing or to ward off evil is a form of magic that makes an irrational link between an object or behavior and the desired result.

The problem is, there are a good number of Christians — especially Catholics, I have to say — whose devotional practices verge on the superstitious.  If a Catholic is living like the devil but wears the brown scapular because the Blessed Virgin promises that anyone who wears it will be delivered from hell, he's being superstitious.  If someone thinks just because they pray this novena or go through the motions to win that indulgence (but they are not properly disposed spiritually) that it will have an automatic benefit they're being superstitious.

It is easy to think that the opposite of being superstitious is to be materialistic and dismissive of everything supernatural.  Untrue.  The true balance to superstition is not materialism, but supernaturalism.  The truly supernatural view is based on the foundational belief that the grace of God is working in our world and through our lives.  It allows for, and expects miracles.  It understands that God's grace comes to us especially through the sacraments and we draw closer to him through sacramentals, but it rejects any magical interpretation, and always involves the human reason and human will in the interaction between this world and the next. 

Furthermore, while there may not be watertight categories and explanations for the working of the supernatural, there are theological reasons and rational interpretations of what happens.  God's working in the world always flows from and is oriented to his primary interaction — the incarnation of His son in human flesh.  All supernatural works of God in the world flow from, and return to Jesus Christ — Son of God and Son of Mary.

With superstition, or what might be called magic, the practitioner is always manipulating the material world in order to manipulate the supernatural world for his own benefit.

The other distinction between the superstitious and the supernatural is the direction of the interaction.  With superstition, or what might be called magic, the practitioner is always manipulating the material world in order to manipulate the supernatural world for his own benefit.  The magician or shaman kills a black cat to kill the evil powers that threaten.  The superstitious person wears a talisman to ward off the evil eye.  The superstitious Catholics says prayers and does penance to get God to give him what we wants.  The superstitious Catholics wears a scapular to escape hell — not as a sign of his constant life of prayer and faith.

Supernaturalism, on the other hand, is God's grace coming to us through the natural world.  In superstition we try to impose our will.  In Supernaturalism we try to conform to God's will.  In superstition we do something to get our way.  In supernaturalism God does something to change us to his way.  This is why when we do bring our prayer requests to God we always include the prayers, "According to your will."

Finally, a word of clarification.  It might sound here like I am opposed to traditional devotions, novenas, indulgences, scapulars etc.  I'm not.  I'm opposed to their unthinking practice, and the  tendency for them to drift into superstition — the tendency to use the devotions of the Church not to conform ourselves to the Divine Will, but to get God to do what we want.

The devotions of the Church are given to us to provide the words and ways for our love of God to be expressed.  They provide a method and system for our contrition, our submission to the Divine Will and a way to draw closer to Christ.  They must be accompanied by true conversion of heart, genuine contrition, true devotion and an unwavering trust in God, in whom we live and move and have our Being.

 

 

Cheers. Clear as mud to me lol. I'm not superstitious as far as I know anyway so it doesnt make much odds to me. 

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54 minutes ago, joebloggs said:

Hang about Jesus is supernatural and so is God. Wouldn't that mean we are superstitious? We believe in something supernatural. And if we believe our bibles then we believe in the dead coming back to life, we believe in demons, we believe in spirits. We believe witchcraft exists and is evil. We believe in exorcism. We believe in supernatural blood atonement rituals. 

So are we superstitious if we are Christians then by our very beliefs?

Now I’m confused! lol 

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29 minutes ago, DustyRoad said:

It's not "borderline witchcraft" to be frightened, brother. Where are you getting that from?

This will be probably my last contribution to this thread, due to the current state of exhaustion I'm in at this time. Having been involved with the occult prior to accepting Christ as Saviour and Lord, there were many ritualistic practices, aside from others more deeply applied with mysticism. So, I'll have to say yes, anything that is obsessively performed in a practice leaning towards a rite of some kind outside of Christianity, is directly or indirectly witchcraft related = borderline witchcraft. I know and believe this to be true, as a former practicer in the occult realm. God bless you all. Enjoy the topic in peace among yourselves. 

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20 minutes ago, DustyRoad said:

Yes, I have the audacity as an autistic weirdo to believe in Jesus Christ

You are far from a “weirdo”! Your posts have been a blessing to me and I hope you will always  stay here.

I’m sorry you deal with constant anxiety and fear. I couldn’t imagine that. I am going through a small bout of anxiety and agoraphobia and my daughter says she doesn’t know who I am anymore. I get very, very scared when my husband is out of town and I’m home alone. I also can’t go shopping with my daughter anymore because I’m afraid I or she will be sexually assaulted or hurt in some other way. She said for Christmas she wants to have a mother daughter day out shopping and I just can not  do it. This has only been going on for about a year or so and it’s been difficult, so I cannot imagine having to deal with it for years and every single day like you have had to deal with.

I’m only scared when I’m not with my husband or I’m out in public and a strange man is coming towards me. So thankfully  I’m not dealing with constant fear. But when the fear comes, It is something that is out of our control and hard for people to understand. It’s not sin.

I have a lot of support. I could not imagine being in your situation without any support. I will be in constant prayer for you. Thanks for sharing your life with us.?

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9 minutes ago, ReneeIW said:

Now I’m confused! lol 

Yeah I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing. If superstitious includes the belief in the supernatural then I'm pretty sure Christian belief in lots of things would make us superstitious. 

If theres something that makes Christian belief in demons and Angel's and other supernatural things different somehow , which it might be , I dont know then maybe not. 

I always think of things like things people do because they think they're lucky etc as superstitious but never thought much of it. Witchcraft kinda things I would have thought fall within the realm of superstition which is obviously a big no no. 

Maybe it depends on where you draw the line and whose definition of things you go by. I dont think I have a fully formed conviction or understanding on this one. 

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4 minutes ago, BeauJangles said:

This will be probably my last contribution to this thread, due to the current state of exhaustion I'm in at this time. Having been involved with the occult prior to accepting Christ as Saviour and Lord, there were many ritualistic practices, aside from others more deeply applied with mysticism. So, I'll have to say yes, anything that is obsessively performed in a practice leaning towards a rite of some kind outside of Christianity, is directly or indirectly witchcraft related = borderline witchcraft. I know and believe this to be true, as a former practicer in the occult realm. God bless you all. Enjoy the topic in peace among yourselves. 

So non Christian rituals are superstitious. So are Christian and jewish rituals superstitious aswell then? What makes them different?

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1 hour ago, DustyRoad said:

It's not "borderline witchcraft" to be frightened, brother. Where are you getting that from? Anxiety and fear are the cornerstones of my spot on the autistic spectrum and if something like those are witchcraft, then I've been guilty of the sin of the witchcraft from the day I was born. I never had any hope to begin with, @BeauJangles.

For those who think that being afraid, fretting, or struggling with panic are sins... please look at what you're writing/saying again. After you do that, peruse the Prayer Request forum... 

 

23 minutes ago, BeauJangles said:

This will be probably my last contribution to this thread, due to the current state of exhaustion I'm in at this time. Having been involved with the occult prior to accepting Christ as Saviour and Lord, there were many ritualistic practices, aside from others more deeply applied with mysticism. So, I'll have to say yes, anything that is obsessively performed in a practice leaning towards a rite of some kind outside of Christianity, is directly or indirectly witchcraft related = borderline witchcraft. I know and believe this to be true, as a former practicer in the occult realm. God bless you all. Enjoy the topic in peace among yourselves. 

Please allow me to clarify. We are speaking of superstitious practices here, not compulsive and/or emotional things such as OCD and PTSD. I messed up my meaning, and apologize for any misunderstandings about the differences. We're getting the topic mixed up, brothers and sisters. Hope this clears things up. There's a definite difference concerning the two. Emotional disorders aren't necessarily superstition, but it may be for certain persons. I'm adding the occult aspect of superstition, as it does lean towards it in a way. We as innocents can delve into things we do not understand sometimes, and they can be occultism without fully knowing it. I have, so I understand this to be evident. My battery is running low and the power just went out in the entire nursing facility. I have to sign out now. God bless.  

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1 hour ago, joebloggs said:

So non Christian rituals are superstitious. So are Christian and jewish rituals superstitious aswell then? What makes them different?

No. I'm sorry, Joe. That wasn't what I was attempting to convey. Dusty, I apologize to you also. The topic and thread has gotten all tangled up somehow. How can I explain and correct myself here? Judeo/Christian rites and the like, aren't occult practices at all. Unless you bring into it an overly mystic aspect to it. Now, forgive me in mentioning this. I don't want to purposely offend anyone. I personally feel a good portion of those outside of mainstream Christianity and Judaism, such as Catholicism, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses to be extremely cultish. There are more of course in adding to this list. Now, superstitious fears might be emotional  and problematic issues for some. It happens. Are they committing witchcraft? No, it's not like that. By far the majority are dealing with genetic and/or chemical imbalances, and they aren't able to control reactionary impulses. Am I making myself understood? I never meant to offend anyone. I'm sorry. 

1 hour ago, BeauJangles said:

Please allow me to clarify. We are speaking of superstitious practices here, not compulsive and/or emotional things such as OCD and PTSD. I messed up my meaning, and apologize for any misunderstandings about the differences. We're getting the topic mixed up, brothers and sisters. Hope this clears things up. There's a definite difference concerning the two. Emotional disorders aren't necessarily superstition, but it may be for certain persons. I'm adding the occult aspect of superstition, as it does lean towards it in a way. We as innocents can delve into things we do not understand sometimes, and they can be occultism without fully knowing it. I have, so I understand this to be evident. My battery is running low and the power just went out in the entire nursing facility. I have to sign out now. God bless.  

Okay, the power is back on here. I'm charging up my PC and it's all clear for residential emergency needs. We're good again. I'll be around for maybe an hour, and then I need some rest. I'm overly exhausted. @joebloggs and @DustyRoad I hope you'll forgive me and understand what I was trying to get across. Thanks, and God bless you. 

Edited by BeauJangles
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Not particularly, there are many Christians who have their own little superstitions.

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Try the book "Freedom from Fear" by Neil Anderson. 

You may be struggling against unseen spirit powers, speaking lies and fears to your mind.  The Bible is very clear that we struggle against such. 

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