Jws and Magicians

mrsjones5

A few years ago my parents went on one of their annual cruises. 2 of my aunts on my father's side went also. Everyone had a great time, so my mother said. One of the few complaints my mother had about the cruise was that she couldnt go and see the magic show on ship because my aunts were on ship and she didnt want to get caught attending the magic show. She said that was OK because you know magicians are demonized. My mother would even go as far as not watching a David Copperfield show on tv. But the times that she did, she would call and tell me about the show and then say the only way he could have done the tricks was because he was demonized.

Telling my parents that magic is all about misdirection, slight of hand, and (for some on tv ) camera tricks is of no use. They cling to the notion that it is cuz of the demons.

Josie

Big Dog

Makes me laugh because guys in the service would call religious services the "Magic Show."

HappyDad

20 some years ago, I knew a brother in West Virginia who moved there from California. When in Cal., he was a member of some magician organization even though he was a JW. He showe me some fantastic card tricks that I would never have figured out on my own. But there were a few that he wouldn't reveal.

He said that it was all misdirection and mathematics involved. Nothing of the mystic whatsoever. He only did card tricks but said he knew a lot of other "magic" but would not do it if it would stumble someone.

Damn.........I wish I could remember some of those card tricks.

HD

HappyDad

fairchild

When in Cal., he was a member of some magician organization even though he was a JW.

You are probably taking about the IBM (International Brotherhood of Magicians). Being a magician myself, I have been a member of the IBM for many years. It always bothered the %$#& out of the JWs. They even went so far as to attend one of my magic shows. Afterwards they insisted I revealed my tricks to prove that it was indeed slight of hand and props. Any self respecting magician will never reveal a trick. However, I felt cornered, and told them that I would reveal exactly two tricks. Whichever tricks impressed them the most during my show, they could tell me and I would reveal them. And so I did, but afterwards, I could tell that they were still not satisfied. They kept nagging my head off about how magic shows should by no means be performed by a person like me. I started to do less and less magic shows, but I never gave up my membership to the brotherhood of magicians. As a matter of fact, I just renewed my magician's license last month.

Oroborus21

Greetings,

Sensitivities about this vary from JW to JW. Of course some magicians like David Blaine(sp?) cultivate an aura of "dark power" as a source of their tricks while others like Penn & Teller reveal straight up that it is only a trick.

The Society in its usual way has made various statements about magic and the supposed relation to the occult and also as we know in the past "magic" was a word used very broadly to include all kinds of stuff from chemistry to occultism to spiritism and practices that would be considered strange for a christian such as voodoo & santeria, etc. Things like this lead most JWs to reflect the official Society antagonism towards all things called "magic" and of course this even bleeds into many other areas such as Harry Potter, etc.

However, I say that sensibilities differ because some JWs will perform a card trick or other kind of trick. - Not to mention or include the "separating finger illusion", "got your nose", "pretending to throw something and dropping it behind your head" or any kind of "shell game" all of which are tricks of a sort and which probalby everyone has done to someone (usually a child) at some point.

I was once at a congregational picnic and a brother showed me a great card trick, which I have used on a number of Witnesses myself and there were certainly no objections made, however, I will say that he was quick to disclose how the trick was performed. I think JWs who do perform any kind of card tricks or other kinds of slight of hand tricks, etc. would be quick to follow up with a revealing of how it is done specifically so as not to cultivate any kind of implication that "magic" was involved.

-Eduardo Leaton Jr.

PS: As for David Copperfield, I saw his show once and I had a seat on the very back row high up on the balcony. He was making this woman disappear and I just happened to get a glimpse, from my angle, how she jumped back and ran very low behind a wall about 2.5 feet high or so.

startingover

For all you magicians out there, you may be familiar with a magician who created the "Mental Photography Deck" as well as the "Brainwave Deck". He also perfected rope tricks, one of his famous tricks was the "Vanishing Knot" Several of his prepared deck card tricks are still available today in magic shops.

He died in 1943. He was fairly well known at the time he lived, enough so that he had books written about him.

What you may not know about this man is that he gave up his career as a traveling magician to become a JW, one who eventually professed to be one of the "annointed". He gave up his career in magic because of the problems he saw it causing among the "brothers" who could not accept that it was sleight of hand.

heathen

I personally can't see the harm in the slight of hand stuff or the sawing a lady in half . I think there are forms of magic tho that involve the black magic that I can clearly see anybody who is a christian would not want a part of .I think the whole psychic crap is nothing more than some sort of voodoo myself , or playing witht he ouija board and saences trying to communicate with the dead . I do know one thing tho the WTBTS is sure good at escaping blame for anything , maybe that's a magic art form ..... they make peoples time and money disapear real quick too ...................

Insomniac

I've always enjoyed a good magic show, although I knew better than to tell any other witnesses, cuz they were all scared of the deemunz who help make cards disappear.

David Copperfield is pretty hokey at times, but his tv specials were always lots of fun. David Blaine (when he does illusions, not just crappy stuff like locking himself in a glass box for a week) is very entertaining as well.

blondie

I was told that the phrase "hocus pocus" is a corruption of the latin phrase, the body of Christ.

Hocus Pocus is a generic term used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change. The origins of the term remain obscure. Some believe it originates from the latin form of the Roman Catholic eucharist, when the priest says " hoc est enim corpus meum," or " hoc est corpus" (this is the body), which, through transubstantiation, is supposed to turn the wafer into the body of Jesus.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hocus_Pocus

Here is an Awake article on it and notice how they admit that some magic is not demonic but the proceeds to "poison" that statement. Of course, it is a "conscience" matter, but does the WTS leave the rank and file JW a choice?

***

g93 9/8 pp. 26-27 Is There Danger in Practicing Magic? ***

Three

Forms of Magic

Mystical

magic is "an expression of the occult." It claims that "events or processes that contradict common-sense knowledge or scientific knowledge" are "true or valid." Stebbins further explains that "mystical magic is the handmaid of sorcery, . . . witchcraft, alchemy, and, under certain conditions, religion."

With exploitative magic, "practitioners manipulate or exploit the onlookers’ perception of reality for their own aggrandizement." They know they are deceiving the public, but according to Stebbins, "they encourage those who witness the magic to believe otherwise—to believe that, as magicians, they have supernatural powers or special connections with beings who do."

Entertainment

magic aims to inspire wonderment through intriguing deception. It falls into five basic and overlapping methods: "stage magic, close up, sleight of hand, illusion, and mentalism."

Most people, however, associate the word "magic" with entertainment. A person might create illusions with his hands (sleight of hand), having in mind that the hand is often quicker than the eye. There may be no Biblical objection to this. However, if there is a pretense of occult magic, would a Christian ever want to give the impression of possessing some supernatural, unexplainable power? Or if others are given the wrong impression by the "magical" performance, would a Christian not want to forgo such entertainment so as not to stumble others? (1 Corinthians 10:29, 31-33) In addition, there is the potential danger of a person’s being tempted to go further, into the deeper magical arts.

Blondie

Jws and Magicians

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