Jesus ALSO a great "Magican" like Chris Angel and Sparlock??? Define MAGIC?

by Witness 007 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    BTW, don't forget that the Bible says that other people may also perform the same miracles by invoking Jesus' name (Matthew 7:22, Mark 9:38-39, 16:17-18, Luke 9:49-50, 10:17, Acts 3:6-7, 4:7-10, 30, 19:13-17, 1 Corinthians 12:9-10). Those miracles aren't exclusive to Jesus alone.

    And here is a pretty amusing statement condemning illusionists who might to imitators of what demons ACTUALLY DO:

    *** w64 10/15 pp. 639-640 Questions From Readers ***

    It may be that a person has a hobby of performing tricks that have nothing to do with real magic or demonism. It may be that one simply employs sleight-of-hand tricks or those involving illusions. So if one were merely showing how adroit a person may be with his hands, with no pretense of any magic, there may be no objection to such entertainment. However, whether a Christian will be involved in things of this nature or not is something that should be thoughtfully considered. One might start out performing simple tricks, but this could lead into practices that, knowingly or unwittingly, mimic the magical arts. One might duplicate by trickery real magical feats that are performed by demons, such as levitation, moving objects mysteriously, ectoplasmic materializations, and so forth. Such could lead into involvement with wicked spirit forces because it is playing at what the demons actually do.

  • james_woods
    james_woods

    Don't forget Simon Magus - the non-christian magician who was so impressed by the early christian "magic feats" that he tried to buy the secret of their powers.

    Thus creating the term "Simony".

    The point being that a contemporary magician regarded them as the height of magical arts.

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    Yup. There was even a match between Simon Magus and Peter in the Christian apocrypha:

    The apocryphalActs of Peter gives a more elaborate tale of Simon Magus' death. Simon is performing magic in the Forum, and in order to prove himself to be a god, he levitates up into the air above the Forum. The apostle Peter prays to God to stop his flying, and he stops mid-air and falls into a place called the Sacra Via (meaning, Holy Way), breaking his legs "in three parts". The previously non-hostile crowd then stones him.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Magus#Acts_of_Peter

  • james_woods
    james_woods

    One thing about the JW take on "magic" was always very strange to me: They totally deny that "Christian Magic" (i.e. miracles) can still exist in modern times - and yet they seem to be totally convinced that "Demonic Magic" is absolutely reeal, alive, and well.

    Makes you wonder if Jesus is really ruling (since 1914) why his "governing body" cannot perform miracles, but the Demons and their human media still can.

    Of course, as a JW, I always thought all this demonic attacks and magic were a bunch of hooey and/or mental illness. It always seemed to me that it would have been more logical and doctrinally consistent if they had made an attempt to deny present day demonism. But they still seem to be strangely obsessed with it - probably as much or more so than any other adventist religious cult.

    Leolaia: The apostle Peter prays to God to stop his flying, and he stops mid-air and falls into a place called the Sacra Via (meaning, Holy Way), breaking his legs "in three parts". The previously non-hostile crowd then stones him.

    Kind of reminds me of how Lawrence Taylor put an end to quarterback Joe Theisman's football career. Except that was just breaking his leg in TWO places. And he did not even need to do any "magic".

  • QueenWitch
    QueenWitch

    One of my favorite quotes - Today's science is yesterday's magic.

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