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1SAM. 28:6-7.
And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams,
nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her,
and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold,
there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
I wonder if the witch of Endor had a wand?
And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams,
nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her,
and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold,
there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
I wonder if the witch of Endor had a wand?
To me it is what it is. Just a fictional book. But it could encourage witchcraft? Ok dont watch the news. It could promote killings and others crimes you see. honestly about any show and etc can cause people to do things but what you need to know is that its fictional. If you watch it and believe it then it is very dangerous but if not, you are fine
T
Cs lewis was religious. There is nothing wrong with jrr tolkeins lord of the rings and the hobbit, and the simarillions. In love those books. Not a fan of narnia but I digress.
I agree with you on that point
magic in fantasy books is very different from magic in teal life
I agree with you on that point
magic in fantasy books is very different from magic in teal life
What's wrong with Narnia?
M
Just a few verses below to put things into perspective and how God sees it (not my
opinion but God's). The last example is very telling, do not even imitate what
is evil let alone do it.
A few have suggested it's harmless fun but you never know what you are opening the
doors to. It is possible to gradually desensitise yourself to such a degree, that over time,
a little harmless fun ie watching a bit of wand waving, leads to reading horoscopes
(fortune telling), which leads to discussing the occult, which leads to
a more active interest - this is especially the case with children who are more venerable
than adults in such matters. Guard the minds of your children.
For adults I've seen people drawn into darkness via violent films, violent console games.
One of my cousins a non Christian, he watches all the horror movies and plays the most
awful graphic computer games. Apolocolytical games etc with zombies, Satan,
killing etc. Over the years it has changed him, he gets anxious, depressed, can't sleep,
he thinks only about himself, he has no empathy for anyone else. He swears a lot, can't
control his moods. He developed agrophobia.
One night he told me he had a dream that he was in his house and a snake was encircling
around and around the walls of the room. I told him Satan was the source of his
agoraphobia and he was being shown this, but he didn't believe it.
He needs Jesus and he needs deliverance. As Christians we are to let light into our lives and
walk in the light. My cousin unknowingly did the exact opposite, he played with darkness and
it was only too willing to enter his life. He can hardly say a sentence without wearing and
he critises everything, he only ever sees darkness in everything. That's want Satan does when
he gets a hold on a person. Yet it started out with "harmless movies and games".
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 NKJV
[10] There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter
pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who
interprets omens, or a sorcerer, [11] or one who conjures spells, or a medium,
or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. [12] For all who do these things are
an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your
God drives them out from before you.
Micah 5:11-13 NKJV
[11] I will cut off the cities of your land And throw down all your strongholds.
[12] I will cut off sorceries from your hand, And you shall have no soothsayers.
[13] Your carved images I will also cut off, And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall no more worship the work of your hands;
3 John 1:11 NKJV
[11] Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good
is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.
opinion but God's). The last example is very telling, do not even imitate what
is evil let alone do it.
A few have suggested it's harmless fun but you never know what you are opening the
doors to. It is possible to gradually desensitise yourself to such a degree, that over time,
a little harmless fun ie watching a bit of wand waving, leads to reading horoscopes
(fortune telling), which leads to discussing the occult, which leads to
a more active interest - this is especially the case with children who are more venerable
than adults in such matters. Guard the minds of your children.
For adults I've seen people drawn into darkness via violent films, violent console games.
One of my cousins a non Christian, he watches all the horror movies and plays the most
awful graphic computer games. Apolocolytical games etc with zombies, Satan,
killing etc. Over the years it has changed him, he gets anxious, depressed, can't sleep,
he thinks only about himself, he has no empathy for anyone else. He swears a lot, can't
control his moods. He developed agrophobia.
One night he told me he had a dream that he was in his house and a snake was encircling
around and around the walls of the room. I told him Satan was the source of his
agoraphobia and he was being shown this, but he didn't believe it.
He needs Jesus and he needs deliverance. As Christians we are to let light into our lives and
walk in the light. My cousin unknowingly did the exact opposite, he played with darkness and
it was only too willing to enter his life. He can hardly say a sentence without wearing and
he critises everything, he only ever sees darkness in everything. That's want Satan does when
he gets a hold on a person. Yet it started out with "harmless movies and games".
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 NKJV
[10] There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter
pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who
interprets omens, or a sorcerer, [11] or one who conjures spells, or a medium,
or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. [12] For all who do these things are
an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your
God drives them out from before you.
Micah 5:11-13 NKJV
[11] I will cut off the cities of your land And throw down all your strongholds.
[12] I will cut off sorceries from your hand, And you shall have no soothsayers.
[13] Your carved images I will also cut off, And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall no more worship the work of your hands;
3 John 1:11 NKJV
[11] Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good
is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.
T
Some helpful articles for people.
SpecFaith: Six Christian White Magic Spells Worse Than Fantasy Magic — SpecFaith
SpecFaith: The Christian Problem with Magic, Part 1 — SpecFaith
SpecFaith: The Christian Problem with Magic, part 2 — SpecFaith
SpecFaith: Christian White Magic: Q and A, part 1 — SpecFaith
http://www.speculativefaith.com/christian-white-magic-q-and-a-part-2/
http://www.speculativefaith.com/christian-white-magic-q-and-a-part-3/
SpecFaith: Six Christian White Magic Spells Worse Than Fantasy Magic — SpecFaith
SpecFaith: The Christian Problem with Magic, Part 1 — SpecFaith
SpecFaith: The Christian Problem with Magic, part 2 — SpecFaith
SpecFaith: Christian White Magic: Q and A, part 1 — SpecFaith
http://www.speculativefaith.com/christian-white-magic-q-and-a-part-2/
http://www.speculativefaith.com/christian-white-magic-q-and-a-part-3/
M
Im not sure there is a balance in the usual sense. There is darkness and there is
light. It's kind of like thinking we can stray into the gray area and that's ok, but
how dark does the gray area have to be before we walk too far away from the light and
too far into the darkness.
Different people have different levels of tolarence and sensitivity. Not that I am
criticising anyone, I've done the same especially as a young person and adult, I think we
all do.
We all read books, watch TV, etc scare the living day lights out of ourselves and think
"that's cool". But over time it takes more scary stuff to get the same effect as we
become desensitised. Then before you know it you can watch a demon chopping off
the head of a person in a horror film and barely flinch at it. That is what bothers me
the most, this subtle desensitisation to the "dark side".
Children especially have vivid imaginations and are also innocent yet daily they are
exposed to a raft of demonic, evil, programs and books. I was flicking channels the
other day and came across a cartoon on the kids channel. It was about a
hero defeating the world with the help of cartoon and a friend he called
demon. They were casting spells! I was shocked! Is this harmless imaginary
entertainment or is this preconditioning children to accept satanic practices without
even questioning them.
I'm not saying the programme produces were deliberately going out of their
way to influence children in such a way. They probably thought it was a bit of
light horror cartoon fun, but why did that programme concept even occur to
someone. It has its roots elsewhere in the demonic.
Tintin honest evil is at work. It's subtle, it creeps in until it becomes
the norm in every day life. The adult programmes on TV are far far worse than I
ever remember them to be. On a daily basis there are at least several programmes
to do with ghost hunting, contacting the dead, people communicating with spirits,
witches etc.
I agree that a bit of waving a glitzy toy wand around by a child pretending to be a super
hero is not going to sell anyone's soul to the devil. Lol
But it's the build up over time, the increasing desensitisation, the way darkness
then becomes glorified and people would rather talk about zombie battles than they
would about Christ.
Not sure what it is like where you are but in my region there has been an increasing
number of witch tours around cities, mock zombie hunts where people dress up etc.
That never use to happen. But people want more they are no longer content to
watch a movie, they want to enact it out now.
It is up to each Christian to decide for themselves where they draw their own
line and for each parent to decide what they will allow into their children's lives.
The trouble is, some never draw that line they think it's all harmless fun.
T
Miri, you didn't bother to look at any of the links I posted. The problem is the human heart. I enjoyed the Harry Potter books and to a lesser extent, the movies. I don't believe the magic within them is anything like that forbidden by the Bible and I'm not drawn to the occult in any capacity. Yes, there are people of different sensitivities, but I know people who have got into the occult by reading The Lord of the Rings and Narnia and even the Bible. The issue is the human heart. That's not to say that there isn't fiction with occult elements. There certainly are, and I avoid some fantasy and horror because of that, but Harry Potter isn't it. People are fed up with a purely materialistic world. We were created to worship. Many people have found spiritual avenues, they're just the wrong ones. Still, I find the people who object to Harry Potter often know nothing/little about the series.
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M
Tintin, I wasnt critising Harry Potter or yourself especially, the comments were general.
If you are fine with Harry Potter than good, personally I was at first but then as the series
developed I decided I didn't want to watch it any more.
There are many people, especially young people, who do need to know of the need to exercise
some discernment. We are reaching a point in society where anything and everything goes and
people do not stop to question if stuff is acceptable or if it glorifies and promotes evil. They all
just get pulled along with the crowd. As I say, it's for each Christian to decide for themselves where
to draw the line. But many don't even have a line or think about that line.
It would be easier if we could label different genres of writing as good or bad but I don't think it is that simple. I will use the example of Harry Potter and of Lord of the Rings. I have a son with a fabulous imagination. When he was very little he loved Thomas the Tank Engine and with his whole being he wanted them to be real. Later Pokemon came out and he dreamed of being a Pokemon trainer. Then the Harry Potter books came out. I knew him. He would have been torn between not upsetting his parents and a secret desire to be a wizard. For us the books would not have been good for him. He is now 18 and free to make his own decisions but I knew his nature and it was the right decision for him.
I knew that not only would he have been tempted but I had a real problem with one of the subtle messages, you can work with magic and dark things and if you are good enough of heart you can control them. In contrast to that you have Lord of the Rings. It is clear from the onset that evil is not beautiful, it is not your friend and it is unrelenting. It can wound you, tempt you and those who are arrogant enough to think they can handle it or partner with it are dragged in and conquered. The issue is not the genre but the message. We need to be discerning and there are no simple answers as much as we would love them. Just my thoughts.
I knew that not only would he have been tempted but I had a real problem with one of the subtle messages, you can work with magic and dark things and if you are good enough of heart you can control them. In contrast to that you have Lord of the Rings. It is clear from the onset that evil is not beautiful, it is not your friend and it is unrelenting. It can wound you, tempt you and those who are arrogant enough to think they can handle it or partner with it are dragged in and conquered. The issue is not the genre but the message. We need to be discerning and there are no simple answers as much as we would love them. Just my thoughts.
C
Here is my opinion on it. I have a 7 year old son and his imagination is crazy atm. He attempts to be anyone and everyone in books or movies. At this age I will explain to him what is real and what isn't real. He likes Avengers and the Justice League as well. There is a ton of violence in them and once again I have to tell him the truth about these hero's and that it isn't right to be fighting other people.
Now I also share stories of the bible with him and his favorite is David and Samson. These stories have violence in them as well and as a parent I need to explain to him the why's and how it worked for God's purpose.
Now I can say stories like LOTR and Harry Potter can make older youth search out magik and things like this on the internet. In doing so they might run across sites that promote Wicca, Druidry, shamanism etc... It might seem innocent at first but when you do some research some of these sites promote mixing religion such as Christian/Druid or Christian/Wiccan. So now the youth thinks that it is ok to research it and then some might buy books to learn and this then leads to meeting like minded youth to hold meetings with. I have seen this happen and if parents aren't on top of things there kids could be messed up in all this neo-pagan religion.
Now I also share stories of the bible with him and his favorite is David and Samson. These stories have violence in them as well and as a parent I need to explain to him the why's and how it worked for God's purpose.
Now I can say stories like LOTR and Harry Potter can make older youth search out magik and things like this on the internet. In doing so they might run across sites that promote Wicca, Druidry, shamanism etc... It might seem innocent at first but when you do some research some of these sites promote mixing religion such as Christian/Druid or Christian/Wiccan. So now the youth thinks that it is ok to research it and then some might buy books to learn and this then leads to meeting like minded youth to hold meetings with. I have seen this happen and if parents aren't on top of things there kids could be messed up in all this neo-pagan religion.