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Is belief in God a belief in Magic?

Just_me_Mike

Well-Known Member
No, I think belief in God is belief in God.

Kind of like, if I put mustard on my sandwich, I am putting mustard on it not pickles.
 

Mr Cheese

Well-Known Member
Yes

Believing in God involves semi naked women, david copperfield

and rabbits coming from small tight places that do NOT have trap doors, secret compartments or large collections of interlocking metallic rings that have no holes in them but can come apart at will

Suprendo.jpg


"Piff Paff Poof "

--The Great Suprendo
 

Kilgore Trout

Misanthropic Humanist
I suppose if the god one claims belief in has what could be described as "magical" attributes, then, yes.
 

Man of Faith

Well-Known Member
Magic is a made up word to describe a supernatural ability of a person so no it is not the same. We haven't seen any magic from a person, that is jut on TV. A magician is not really doing magic so to speak but trickery. If you want to describe what God does as magic you are free to do that but the word magic wasn't created to describe what God does, it was created to describe what man tries to do. Black magic again is what man does not God.
 

footprints

Well-Known Member
Someone asked me this and I thought I should share. So whatdyah think, is it?

In real terms, this doesn't even come close, just a vivid image base on a wild association.

In terms of human perception, this is a very real term, generally used by those who carry a negative association as it pertains to beliefs other than their own in the society around them.
 

MSizer

MSizer
I always shake my head in disbelief when I think of the image of the apostles coming back to meet jesus after their first evangelical mission of spreading the Word and healing the sick, and asking him to burn down a town for them because the people who lived there didn't Believe in their god given authority to perform miracles. I don't get it. If the alleged miracles had happened, how could there possibly been even one single disbeliever? Seriously, the most orthodox of Jews surely would have said "wait a second, he's no ordinary guy" if He had pulled thousands of fish out of one basket. It simply doesn't make sense.
 

Humanistheart

Well-Known Member
Someone asked me this and I thought I should share. So whatdyah think, is it?

No, it's not exactly the same, but it's basically the same. Both have a belief in something you can't see, actually interact with, and that is not based in reality. Both expect some invisible force to help them if they perform the right ritual, more or less.
 

footprints

Well-Known Member
No, it's not exactly the same, but it's basically the same. Both have a belief in something you can't see, actually interact with, and that is not based in reality. Both expect some invisible force to help them if they perform the right ritual, more or less.

Thank you for adding evidence to suggest my point correct.
 

Troublemane

Well-Known Member
There have been stage magicians (ie "conjurers") who have claimed to perform miracles in just about every age and culture. Snake-oil salesmen, they are. Fakes and con men. But thats not the kind of MAGICK the OP is talking about.

The Op is asking if belief in GOD (an unexplainable unknowable entity) is the same as belief in MAGIC(K) (an unexplainable unknowable force). They aren't the same, or they are,..depending on your view of what God is. If you view God as an invisible force, like nature or "Gaia" or just "consciousness energy", then your belief is something more like a belief in Magick.

But if you believe God is more like a "Thou", more like a person, an all powerful being who is distinct and separate from yourself, then you are thinking more like a traditional religionist. Particularly one of the Big Three: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

If you think of God as part of yourself and every living thing, joining all energy and matter and sentient beings together, binding each moment with eternity, then you are thinking more like the Transcendent Faiths.

Or if you see God as being just a delusion caused by people wanting to believe there is an afterlife, perpetuated by charlatains wanting to make a buck, then you will probably see anything spiritual as being pure idiocy and being utterly valueless, and those who seek it fools.

*shrugs* what you believe depends greatly on your own perceptions and preconceived notions about "what God is". That's all. :trampo:
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
The belief itself isn't magic, but belief in acts without mechanism, such as are often attributed to Gods, would be.
 

Cordoba

Well-Known Member
Belief in God comes through thinking and through reason and common sense

Nothing got to do with magic
 

Cordoba

Well-Known Member
:facepalm:

I see no reason to accept that unsupported claim.

TC

That's an interesting coincidence

Maybe the other thread on NDEs can help answer that

If scientific research is able to prove that humans have a soul, then the logical question to think about is where does it come from, and where does it go after death?
 
That's an interesting coincidence

Maybe the other thread on NDEs can help answer that

If scientific research is able to prove that humans have a soul, then the logical question to think about is where does it come from, and where does it go after death?

It's not a coincidence: I consistently reject unsupported claims, not just yours.

Souls don't exist, but even if they did, their existence would not support theism. There is no logical connection.

TC
 

Riverwolf

Amateur Rambler / Proud Ergi
Premium Member
If scientific research is able to prove that humans have a soul, then the logical question to think about is where does it come from, and where does it go after death?

That's news to me, because most of what I've seen is that scientific research is demonstrating more and more that it's very unlikely that a non-material soul exist independently of the body.
 
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