Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 22/07/2005 19:05, Jim West wrote:

> ...  That for some people prayer is "magical" is utterly 
> indisputable.  Utterly.


Agreed. But what is disputable is whether they are Christians. Well, if 
they are born in a Western country they might put that as their religion 
on a form, but if they are trusting in the magical efficacy of their own 
words rather than in the power of God to answer their prayers, then they 
are showing themselves to be not Christians but atheists - which is the 
general world view of practitioners of magic.

But then I suppose there are some syncretists who try to mix Christian 
prayer with magic. They end up with the worst of both worlds, in this 
life and for eternity.

Later, you wrote:

> that Acts has to say that christians (!) took their 
> magical books and burned them means at least two things- 1) there were 
> christians who HAD magic books and used them, and 2) they were led to a 
> better understanding of prayer then they previously held (which means 
> that previously they held that prayer and magic were interrelated).  
> Acts itself proves my contention.

On the contrary. It is very clear from Acts 19:17-20 that these people 
were unbelievers, or perhaps believers in Artemis which was a kind of 
magical cult, who came to Christian belief as a result of what they 
heard and saw, and at that point abandoned their magical and pagan 
practices, burned their magic books, and turned to proper Christian prayer.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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