Q: Do you know about Wickens (sic)? A girl in the hospital told me she was a good wicken (sic)? She believes in God, Jesus and that he arose from the dead for us. She also believes in many other Gods, such as God of Nature, God of Animals… I believe she is not a Christian because she believes in more Gods, but I believe she is because she believes in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. She says there are good Wicken (sic) and bad Wicken (sic).
A: It sounds to me like this person is a bit confused. I have read that this generation of young people are some of the most spiritual ever. But that doesn't mean that it is a significantly Christian generation...
Many people today seem to have a smorgasbord mentality when it comes to their spirituality - they pick and choose what they like from various belief systems, and leave behind that which doesn't appeal to them. It sounds like that's what this girl has done. She likes the idea of the Christian God, but maybe doesn't like the lifestyle (I'm simply making guesses) or something about the Wiccan set of beliefs appeals to her, so she latches on to that, too. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it's not that easy. When you have contradictory belief systems, one of them by definition has to be right and the other wrong. They can't both be right, just like someone can't be a bachelor and married at the same time.
Some of the contradictions / problems with Wiccan, in light of Christian beliefs:
*Wicca is a pantheistic religion, which means that God is in all of nature and cannot be separated from it. Christianity believes that God created all of nature, but is not integrated into it. As a result of this pantheism, the Wiccan believes that humanity participates in God and is God. Again, Christianity does not believe that mankind is God, but a separate entity created by Him.
*Wiccans believe that although all of nature and creation is God, there can be various realities and beliefs within God as humanity participates in God. This is even true if those various realities contradict each other. This is a logical absurdity.
*Wiccans believe in a God and Goddess, which are the male and female aspects of the Absolute One, a genderless deity. The High Preist of the coven (group of witches) is considered the incarnation of the God, and the High Preistess is considered the incarnation of the Goddess. Christianity believes in one God, manifested in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the only incarnation of God.
*Magic is a central component in Wicca. Magic is condemned in the Bible (Leviticus 19:26, 31; 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:9-14; 2 Kings 23:24; et al).
*While Wiccans believe in reincarnation, Hebrews 9:27 tells us that each person is appointed to die once (not twice, nor thrice).
*Karma is also held in high regard to Wiccans, as seen by their belief that if you do evil, it will return to you three-fold, and the same will be true if you do good. The Christian foundation is built on grace, not on what you do to earn good things happening to you.
*The Wiccan crede is: "And it harm none, do what you will." Basically, as long as you don't harm anyone, do whatever you want. The question is: Who defines harm? My reality as a part of God might be different from yours, so my definition of harm might be different. So if I were to come over and punch you really hard in the nose, you would probably cry, "Foul!" But my reality might be telling me that it is not really causing harm, so I can do it if I want to. That's a big problem with relative truth.
So this girl believes in God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that the devil believes, too. This mental assent to a truth is not all it takes to be a Christian. It is a faith in that truth, and that truth alone.
For more information on this topic, go here: http://www.sdmin.org/soundingboard/199806.htm
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wicca and Christianity
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10 comments:
I am just curious, this girl claims to be a Christian, because she believes in Jesus. Is her "christianity" of the Catholic nature? I have found in my studies of various religions, that it is all too easy for those of the Catholic belief system to integrate their interesting Catholic practices with the practices of wicca and witchcraft. Just wondering.
Sounds like a question for the questioner. Sorry I can't help...
I'm not a Catholic, too leagalistic, kind of like the Pharasees of Jesus' day. As I said, I've studied various religions and I know there is a group of people on various websites that claim to be a "Christopagan", having successfully blended their "craft" with the Christian concept of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which they claim is the Goddess aspect of the trinity. I just wondered if this girl was one of those.
Being catholic has nothing to do with being a socerer of any kind. I am not a catholic but I am appauled you would even use wicca and catholic being anything to do with eachother. Being any kind of witch and practicing any kind of socery as well as believing in more than one God is not christian! Father/Son and Holy Spirit is of one, "Trinity". Do not be misguided or fooled into thinking any form of occult is acceptable in the mind set of God, for it is not and he shall destroy all involved.
Listen, mr. Anonymous above me, Wicca is not an evil religion , which you are clearly trying to make it out to be. I myself am I wiccan and you should do some reaserch before you judge another religion. And christians are confused as to why they are called the most intolerent of all the religions.
Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." We are saved by Grace. Grace is the Person of Jesus. No other religion offers that. It's good to have a "Yes" be "Yes" and our "No" be "No". Love and forgiveness, but not tolerance, is what Christ came for.
So basically, love and forgiveness have nothing to do with tolerance. That's like saying that only christians deserve love and forgiveness, and everyone else is going to hell. Example, there is a woman who is considerate of others, involved in charity, respects other people, and tries not to hurt other people. She is a good woman, but if she doesn't believe in chrisitianity then she goes to hell?
This is a new poster. The last comment is exactly right. According to Scripture, only people who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will enter the kingdom of heaven. That much is clear in the Bible. Relative morality is contradictory by nature as Wiccans teach it, but God is not contradictory in His nature. The Wiccan god/goddess is not the God that Christians believe in. It seems to me that Wiccans have a serious problem with any type of judgment, but it is impossible to go through life without judging (this goes for Wiccans too). The Wiccan religion in and of itself is contradictory since Wiccans themselves judge right and wrong. Humanity judges partly but God judges perfectly. It makes sense then to fear God's teaching and not man's. I hope for all Wiccan's to recognize Jesus Christ as the manifestation to humanity of what real truth and love is. Without Christ's example of love and sacrifice we are truly lost as human beings.
Lastly, I will agree in part with the last commenter that many Christians are sadly ignorant, that does not necesarily make them incorrect in some of their assumptions though.
To the above comment. I was a Catholic before I converted to Paganism. Throughout my experience, Catholics interpretation of the Bible whether literally or figuratively is varied. The things that the Bible makes clear eg the ten commandments, are followed to the letter. My point is this if you follwed the history of the bible you will know that its contents where chosen by a council of men. Jesus was represented with important and direct questions about his identity as God, we all know his responses, they where vague. All of these accounts and books of the Bible where transcribed by men. Man whom you say "Judges partly but God judges perfectly". Now you contradict yourself by assuming the information in the Bible as infallible. You know that your bible says humans are all sons of God, but when a Jesus is described as the son of God you do not believe that you can aspire to his spriritual potential. If you do your religion makes it clear that this is not a potential that you can realize, oh you can be more like him of course. To all Christians, Witchcraft has been in this world before your religion existed. Your religious base, the Bible has been written by men whom you venerate just as willingly as you demonise any other belief system. To assume casually that you are an authority onto the teachings and will of your own God is contradictory to your belief system. You believe Wicca and Witchcraft as evil and condemn it to practises of working with the devil. However the craft (wicca and witchcraft)do not subscribe to a belief in the devil. The potential for occult powers and magic impowered in these practises are endowed to all men. Because you choose to be ignorant and rely on a few statements in the Bible as your practical approach of analysis of an entire belief system just goes to show how simple minded you are. Demonising and hating others for thier belief is also contraditory to your belief system. IF you believe in Heaven and Hell then by all means do what you think will get you where you plan to go. To broader minds who do not see things in black and white, seek your own way to enlightenment. For me the craft has offered me the opportunity to work directly in contact with Gods and the truth about the God Jehovah is never as simple as you would admit. Gods as i have experienced have a dual nature positve as well as negative energy. The chritian God is no different, this is appearent in his wrath to wards those whobetray thier pact with him.
First of all, it's not "wicken" its Wiccan. This girl must be in a transitional state between the religion she grew up with and the religion she is getting into. If she does her research she will seperate the two and choose. I don't blame her because its like changing habits. Its easy making habits but its hard to change them. There is a correct term for those like her called a "Christian Witch"
I have a more important question. Why are you so interested in what she believes ?
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