As I read I was confused and frustrated by what I found. Confused because wiccans believe in positive and non-evil solutions..( actually, more positive than I thought). They believe they have a certain power to change the world and use white magic, rather than black magic. They don't use any drugs, nor any animal sacrifices... they don't do anything illegal or really anything immoral. Which kind of caught me off guard and surprised me.
But then my jaw dropped a little when it said Wiccans do not believe in demons nor satan. This. This is the scary part. As a Christian, I think the most important thing to believe is that Jesus is God and He died for us because He loved us. Without his sacrifice, we would all have a fate in hell. This is what I hold so tightly in my heart and this will never be shaken. I also believe in satan. I believe he fell from heaven and God damned him to hell with his followers, demons, and they still torment humans... A spiritual warfare swirls and interweaves around us every day. Satan lured Adam and Eve to the first sin. They didn't know evil, they were oblivious to darkness. I wonder if they even had discernment in the area of satan? How could they? life had been perfect up until then.
Now, our world is fallen. Non-believers look in on Christians and think we are goody-goodys and are oblivious to reality. Except, to be a christian and believe in heaven, we must also believe there is a hell. We must also believe there are demons that can prey on us like a wolf stalks a sheep who has willingly gone astray. We are not oblivious to evil. Christianity is the celebration of light trumping darkness, Jesus dying to allow us to live. Who in their right mind would believe this kind of thing if they just wanted to play it safe?
As I read the description of the Wicca religion that was based on this sight I felt fear for every person who doesn't acknowledge the evil presence in the world, and uses "white magic" to do "good". Satan is the ultimate deceiver. He disguised himself as a snake in the Garden of Eden to seduce Eve to taste the sweetness of the apple, to become knowledgeable like God. He implanted lies in our weak, self-concious minds from that very day... and with our sin it has only twisted its way through our life sprouting insecurities, hate, greed, violence, lust... and... even ignorance. Satan's ultimate mask is a mask that is translucent. You believe he is not even there. You mistake his evil followers for beautiful light.
This idea kind of reminds me of Phantom of the Opera... when a girl is in awe of a being that she believes is an angel, her Angel of Music... and she only finds out it is a phantom, a dirty old man who wants to seduce and steal all of her. She sees his truth at the end, and we see the destruction he does to her life. This is the same thing if we believe there is no darkness in the world, if we are oblivious and not on our guard.
The last parragraph of the site surprised me even more however, because it apparently had been written in a Christian viewpoint.. it reads...:
The tragedy here is that because wiccans don’t believe in the devil, they are oblivious to the destructive power that they are actually tapping into. They are unaware that the “power of nature” that they believe they are summoning for good is actually a clever deception – and that what they are really tapping into is the power of deceiving demons, who appear as light, but ultimately show their true evil dark natures and try to destroy those who have unbeknowingly called upon them.
There really is an invisible world out there. There are supernatural forces of good and evil at play behind the scenes, and the Bible reveals to us what these forces really are.
I don't write this to poke fun, I write this with urgency and a somberness. No matter what your religion is, if you don't believe there is a satan or demons.. you will be deceived. There are people out there searching for a way to be free from evil, and the answer is not to merely ignore it.. but to not acknowledge it. To see it for what it is. It is here. It is in a pulled trigger, a hateful comment, a train wreck, a break-up. Evil has ruined the very world we live in, but God's grace has saved us from groveling in its darkness. A hope brighter than the sun fills our heart. We don't have to be afraid of it and live in the shadows.. we embrace the goodness of God and with His Spirit we are free from evil.
I am so thankful I can believe in satan and demons, and I have a God big enough that I never have to fear evil. It would be a scary world without that faith...(Psalm 23)
5 comments:
As someone who has known people who have grown up in generations of wiccans and such. General descriptions, maybe the link said that they dont believe in the devil. Now they do believe in good and evil and from personally knowing someone who practices they do believe in forms of evil, you can use demons as one word. They for sure believe in both good and evil.
There is no specific "you must believe this or that" there are guidelines. Such as Christianity, some Christians believe in hell as a actual place, where you physically burn in hell and some denominations believe in it as a concept, as a inner torment. This continues with more throughout the bible. You make good points based on the information you were given, but in common practice some of what you have learned is not all true. We all have rights to our opinions, its nice to see people who care about the fate of others, its just a touchy subject commenting on what people believe (grouping and generalizing) because not everyone in a specific religion actually all believe the same exact things down to a tee, but do have a lot of the foundations the same.
all my best
Love your new picture! Thanks so much for adding my button! You're the only one to add it! Oh and thanks for all the comments on flickr.. very sweet of you!
love, polly ;D
So true Eloise!
I just assumed that this was one of the big things that was agreed on. In christianity there are major ideas that have to be believed in order to be Christian.. such as Jesus as God, He died for us, Grace, Salvation.. etc.. I wasn't sure how strict the Wiccan religion was in those things.. I assumed it was all or nothing, but researching more than one website would have been wise.. thanks for the insight!
no worries, you were respectful for sure. I am christian myself, and again its such a hard subject, i think it was good that you shared your feelings and have such a care for wanting people to be saved and be safe from evil too.
all my best.
Def a crazy thought of people trying to get away with an idea of there is no such thing as "evil" I don't know exactly how they could believe such a thing when all they have to do is look at a newspaper's headline...
It's crazy thinking of how satan can fool people and trick them into anything except to believe in God's truth. Full lies, part lies, little tiny lies, all will bring people into destruction.
Way to state your beliefs babe :) Just one of the many things I love about you.
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