Is witchcraft real?

[The Hammer]

Okay, just say prophecy / fortunetelling doesn't really work and I'll believe you.

That's funny...... People don't just "prophecy" at random. That was my point. I don't do that for others much, mostly for myself.

 

[blü 2]

That's funny...... People don't just "prophecy" at random. That was my point. I don't do that for others much, mostly for myself.

But the question is whether it works to foretell the future accurately or not.

Your answers point to the actual answer being "not really", no?

 

[Wildswanderer]

As per your religious beliefs, do you believe witchcraft is real? Like, magic, is it real? Christians, I’m curious. Do you believe people can access mystic power? Think back to Moses, when he turned his staff to a snake. The Pharaoh’s court mages did the same with their staffs. My pastor of my youth told me that the mages had snakes hidden up their sleeves lol but the Bible says that the mages turned their staffs into snakes. Sorcery, right?
I already practice divination, I’m interested in the occult.
Pagans, I think you guys believe in it, right? Or am I thinking of another group?
Atheists, I suppose you think that any magical experiences are imagined, right?

Unfortunately, yes.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

That's funny...... People don't just "prophecy" at random. That was my point. I don't do that for others much, mostly for myself.

If I ever find the right tarot deck for me, then I will use it mostly for myself too.

 

[Brickjectivity]

As per your religious beliefs, do you believe witchcraft is real? Like, magic, is it real? Christians, I’m curious. Do you believe people can access mystic power? Think back to Moses, when he turned his staff to a snake. The Pharaoh’s court mages did the same with their staffs. My pastor of my youth told me that the mages had snakes hidden up their sleeves lol but the Bible says that the mages turned their staffs into snakes. Sorcery, right?
I already practice divination, I’m interested in the occult.
Pagans, I think you guys believe in it, right? Or am I thinking of another group?
Atheists, I suppose you think that any magical experiences are imagined, right?

It is common for Christians to accept as real powers that come from demons or satan, and I used to. Now I think differently and have a different understanding of sins like witchcraft, sorcery and divination.

Magic:
I am a human and can make mistakes, however I think magic is practical and only evil when used for evil. Amazing things are possible by studying the natural order and making use of the principles discovered: such as going to the Moon. No witch ever made it to the moon on a broom, but the Apollo astronauts made i in a carefully designed series of contraptions. They did the impossible. They did magic. Also when deciding whether something called 'Magic' is forbidden, we should make up our own minds based on what it is used for. Why are you putting satellites into orbit? There's nothing evil about putting a satellite into orbit. The question is what is it used for.

Divination:
I'd put modern miracle services into the category of divination, such as what Benny Hinn is popular for. I think that using Statistics to lie probably falls under a forbidden form of divination, too. It is an evil use of Statistics and therefore witchcraft. These are efforts to manipulate and deceive using charisma and devices.

A common ancient use for divination is to convince people to go to war or to do other things they normally would not do. A priest would consult gods using the entrails of slain animals and announce a god's blessing upon the war and pillaging. What do people use today to convince us to go to war? They use lies equally as powerful as those entrails, as always mixed with statistics and speeches; and this is evil just like it always was. Its just as much divination as it ever was when people were using animal entrails.

Sorcery:
Similarly its not fair to hook people on gambling. Its like pushing drugs which falls into the category of sorcery. People have always used narcotics to influence others, and there is evidence that this is what is meant by the word 'Sorcery' in the Christian NT. (It is debatable yes.) Some sorcery is worse than other sorcery, but the points is that people have weakness that can be exploited to control them. We hook them to control them and use them as a resource, kind of like making them into food. I do believe running a casino is sorcery. Is luck evil? No, but using it to exploit people is. What about making prices say 9.99 instead of 10? Yes that is sorcery, to manipulate people into paying more. If its 10$ then you should just put 10$ on the product, not try to use people's weaknesses to fool them into paying more. Marketing is also a form of sorcery, making products look better than they are. Its not the same as tricking girls into becoming hookers, but its in the same category of sin: sorcery.

 

[stvdv]

I think the flavor of witchcraft is real, however the substance is lacking in terms of the fantastical and supernatural.

I know that flavor is real and substance is real. Though not as easy (at least for me) to experience as material flavors and substances

 

[stvdv]

That's funny...... People don't just "prophecy" at random. That was my point. I don't do that for others much, mostly for myself.

YES. #MeToo

I see it as a Gift from the "divine", definitely not useful in my case to do it for others

 

[Bathos Logos]

As per your religious beliefs, do you believe witchcraft is real? Like, magic, is it real?

I don't believe that people can reliably perform rituals or magic that actually affect reality in consistent and demonstrable ways, no. More likely is that people do these things, and it sometimes works if the target is outside themselves (with a rate no better than chance), and may even nearly always work when the target is themselves, but that most likely due to its effect in a sort of mental-placebo capacity. Ultimately, I don't believe there is any universal agency or administration that is in charge of making sure that magical intent is matched to magical results.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

As per your religious beliefs, do you believe witchcraft is real? Like, magic, is it real? Christians, I’m curious. Do you believe people can access mystic power? Think back to Moses, when he turned his staff to a snake. The Pharaoh’s court mages did the same with their staffs. My pastor of my youth told me that the mages had snakes hidden up their sleeves lol but the Bible says that the mages turned their staffs into snakes. Sorcery, right?
I already practice divination, I’m interested in the occult.
Pagans, I think you guys believe in it, right? Or am I thinking of another group?
Atheists, I suppose you think that any magical experiences are imagined, right?

There are real people who practice witchcraft, doing spells and such. But do their spells work? No. Science has pretty much demolished the notion that magic effects people in any way other than the power of suggestion.

A great book on this subject is "Drawing Down the Moon" by Margot Adler. She is an anthropologist who decided to study paganism by becoming the member of a coven and recording everything that happened. She paid special attention to the reasons someone came to believe in magic, and the errors in reasoning they employed.

 

[Firelight]

Witchcraft? No.

Moses’ staff turning into a snake would not involve witchcraft, it would be by the power of God. I have no opinion on the other staffs possibly turning into snakes too, I haven’t given them any thought.

 

[Veyl]

Yes. Functions via psi.

 

[Veyl]

There are real people who practice witchcraft, doing spells and such. But do their spells work? No. Science has pretty much demolished the notion that magic effects people in any way other than the power of suggestion.

A great book on this subject is "Drawing Down the Moon" by Margot Adler. She is an anthropologist who decided to study paganism by becoming the member of a coven and recording everything that happened. She paid special attention to the reasons someone came to believe in magic, and the errors in reasoning they employed.

Could these same alleged errors in reasoning apply to other religious beliefs, such as deities?

 

[rational experiences]

What's real first?

A natural human.

What wasn't real second? Your theories to build a fake evil.body the machine. Why theists coders word verbalisers thesis in human mind memories ...conjured a fake evil body the machine out of burning melt.

Alchemy. The human natural life mind conscious personally powerful. Liar. The history of.

History of a satanist.

Then the same liar reacted earths mass again by their non stop physical and thinking control of an evil machine.

Conjured evil by science magick.

As the history self human human health mind status holy you changed and lied about since. Bodily mind conscious defected from years of humans machine satanisms.

Gave you a huge ego today.

All human's are now unnaturally caused to life body mind change by human introduced phenomena.

Caused To our heavens the place of biologies gas advices first before conversion of mass..... taking living microscopic organisms in life's water away burning them. By human design model human body presence human thinker first.

We physically get used by life's water loss to cool burning gas that we can all instantly die by.

Is not magic. Your memory changed. Life constantly same DNA relived new memories new changes by the same human caused returned attacks. Affects everything you do.

Not magick....evil human choices only. It's why science in America has an occult department as science in full knowledge that science is a chosen human practice by humans as humans only. Lying as human science is a liar.