Magic in the Bible

[Caius Marcius]

No: HPFGUIDX 18692

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., dragonsbloodmoon at a... wrote:
> In a message dated 5/3/2001 8:04:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> koinonia02 at y... writes:
> 
> << The Bible condemns all forms of the occult-divination, 
magic/sorcery, 
>  and spiritism-in numberous passages throughout both the Old and 
New 
>  Testaments.  For instance, in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 God's view of 
>  occultism is clearly expressed:  "let no one be found among you 
who 
>  sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices 
divination 
>  or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in withcraft, or casts 
spell, 
>  or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.  Anyone 
who 
>  does these things is detestable to the LORD. >>
> 

Please see posting #17962,  which is an article on magic in the Bible 
from Baker's Evangelical Encyclopedia. It shows that the Biblical 
portrayal of magic is predominantly, but not entirely negative, and 
that there is some "wiggle room" in whether we define the miracles of 
the saints and prophets as "magic".

BTW, consider the following passage from Genesis 3: 

    1: Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature 
that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You 
shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" 
2: And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the 
trees of the garden; 
3: but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is 
in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you 
die.'" 
4: But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. 
5: For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, 
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 


The meaning is clear: Eve was a Parselmouth!

   - CMC