Do you believe in Magic?

Ronald MacDonald has taken what the Lovin' Spoonful (1965) has given us and delivered it to us between two hamburger buns. Yes we believe in magic, the world wants to believe, but is that OK with you dear Christian?

As I mentioned previously I read all the Harry Potter books and watched all the movies. They were great!  That obviously tells you a bit of the direction I am going in, but let's talk about why.

The arguments seems to go well don't your read your Bible? Haven't you read Deuteronomy 18:9-14

⁹ “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer ¹¹ or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, ¹² for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. ¹³ You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, ¹⁴ for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

Well yes, yes I have. The question is what does this mean for us today? This seems pretty straightforward, do not practice the stuff.  Do not consult mediums, do not seek out fortune telling, do not use tarot cards, etc.  This is not simply the case in the Old Testament because these practices are condemned in the New by Paul in Acts 13.

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water they thought they were witnessing magic calling him a ghost. When the people saw the miracles performed by the disciples they may have thought they were witnessing magic, a magician tried to pay money for it. Pharaoh tried to duplicate God's miracles with Magicians.  Magic is a real thing and that is why God warns against it. There is real power behind magic fueled by the enemy.  The Pharisees accused Jesus of doing his miracles by a very real but other power. Jesus then explained to the Pharisees what blasphemy is. It concerned Jesus when they equated his power with the power of Satan to say the least. The difference seems to lie in the source of power. The question becomes where is the power coming from? The Bible paints the picture of either from God or from the enemy. True enough.

So there is good power to be tapped from the Holy Spirit and evil power from the enemy. So some may ask the question about white magic versus black? The response is the Bible does not distinguish, both are not from God. God gives his own power and the enemy tries to duplicate it.  Actual power, actual sources.  If you are engaging in actual sources, seeking actual power then you are in violation of the Bible and you are opening yourself up to other worldly spirits. 

The New Testament warns us about even blaspheming the heavenly beings of which we have little understanding. (2 Peter 2:10, Jude) Do not engage them, do not seek their power or influence, they are real, but we are protected from them.  Our God is greater.

OK, but what about reading a book that has it in it? Or a movie that includes it? Or playing a game that uses it as a game-play mechanic? What is that exactly, how does that work? Now that is a good question.

So how does this translate to works of fiction? Fiction creates worlds and world views and fantasy is not based in reality. For example, is the force from Star Wars demonic? Or is it George Lucas's way of communicating a world view in which his story is framed? A different world view perhaps?
"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." --Ben Kenobi to Luke Skywalker aboard the Millennium Falcon. (1977). Good scene!

This is essentially the main story element to the Star Wars Universe.  Now this has obvious eastern philosophical thinking influences.  But does that mean George is pushing Hinduism? No, he is simply creating a backdrop for telling the story of the Skywalkers. I am free to take away what I want from the story, for instances: Light sabers are cool, The Force is cool, and Han Solo is cool.  The question becomes is this OK for the Christian to read, watch, enjoy? Well the answers seems obvious, no? Star Wars is fine, leave Star Wars alone!  Houdini!

Jude borrows ideas from the book of Enoch. The book of Enoch is as superstitious and magical a book as they come, there is a reason it is not included in the Cannon, but it still useful for understanding Jewish traditions. Paul even quotes from Greek poets and philosophers to get his point across in Acts which would be considered foolish superstitious idolatry in and of itself, but he found it useful for the gospel.  So how it is used is also important. 

But what about other works of fiction that are not so conspicuous?
Harry Potter sets up a universe where magic is real and there are witches and wizards living right under our noses. Magic in this case is simply a story telling feature that gives supernatural elements a defining and working set of rules. Magic is what describes the powers that these individuals have. It is setting up a world view where this is the norm, this is not about Satan versus God. The magic is a part of the world, simply hidden from view. It does have good versus evil, there is a difference.

Back to the Star Wars example. It is the same with science fiction. In science fiction the magic factor is how the author solved the problem that science can't in the real world answer. Just give it some sort of future sounding technology and move along. How do you blow up a planet? The Death Star obviously. But to use a more extreme example? Super hero movies, where do the powers come from? Often from an accident or an extreme circumstance. But to push our "Christian" rote answer would be to say "Is the power from God, no? Then it is from Satan!" Therefore do not watch or read comic book hero movies. Do you see how this line of reasoning doesn't engage the mind very well, and will never reach a culture that does?

Some would then say well magic is different it is named in the Bible. Like I said, the point is the source of power. If in real life all actual magic comes from Satan then fine I agree. But if an author sets up magic as part of the governing rules to communicate the way his universe works, we should not equate that with Satan and God. An author is allowed to think outside the box. The author who creates gets to set the stage and decide. Now obviously an author can choose to equate magic with the demonic, that is different. But this is not often the case because even authors know what Satanism represents and often want to distance themselves from it. But even in cases when authors do use Satanism in books it is usually the easy way to communicate "Well this person or movement is just plain Evil." They are trying to sell books after all.

So if an author uses a setting with Magic, we need to realize this is their attempt to explain something away. There is no reason to attribute this to actual evil. Even when an author does use the demonic and angelic they are typically setting up a dualism which still fails to capture the reality of magic, the world view is still different. Also for a Christian to hold rules this strict is to condemn C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien. What we really end up saying is that some parts of culture simply cannot be redeemed. But the Christian should be redeeming culture as C.S.Lewis and J.R. Tolkien did to fantasy, not condemning them for using magic and wizards as a narrative tool.

What we really end up saying is people are not free to use their imagination.   

What the Bible is getting at is contacting the powers behind the magic which again comes back to the source. If authors are getting rid of those sources of power and creating something else we should not force them to take up the demonic side because of our failure to engage. As Jesus reminds in Mark 9, if someone wants to do good let's not condemn them because it doesn't look specifically like a Christian good.

I agree with the Bible, avoid contacting the powers, and avoid pagan cultic practices, and if any of these stories do encourage you to do these then by all means cast them away. Or if in a certain case the author is trying to influence you then by all means burn the book. But perhaps it does create a temptation for you, then realize this is an example of the individuals temptation. So if they create a temptation for you then by all means distance yourself but do not condemn a brother who does not also feel tempted. But watching a stage magician or illusionist is not different from reading fiction with magical elements in it. They are both fake. The Bible is concerned with the actual spirits and powers not the mere labels of magic being added to make-believe.  

This is like saying all secular music is from Satan and all Christian music is from God. A Christian needs to think in broader categories than this. There are more colors than black and white and I am not talking about the many shades of grey. The Christian needs to evaluate all his entertainment with wisdom not with rote fear. A Christian needs to properly evaluate all aspects of life, we have a tendency to throw out the baby with the bathwater on a lot of things. Maybe someone in your life has had a bad experience with this or that issue, then please, safe guard yourself. But let's not create new laws for others in order to distance everyone from the actual commandments as the Pharisees did. Jesus always brought them back to what was written not what they believed. 

Next time you are watching or reading something and start to freak out because there is a mummy on screen or talk of the force or someone is casting a lightning bolt at a goblin, pause, take a breath, and ask yourself these questions: If anything, what is this encouraging me to do, causing me to feel? Do these violate Christian principles? Then apply as appropriate. But allow God to move differently in others as far as your temptations go.    

So go out there and cheer for Gob Bluth on his merits as a magician, not just because his job does or doesn't incorporate magic. I really believe that the Christian needs to take the time to examine what is going on in their entertainment, by critically thinking about it, not simply by running from it.

Christians should be engaging culture not getting ready for the next witch hunt. 

thanks

The Eagles Come at the End

I recently watched the third part of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

At the end of the movie the Eagles show up and decimate the Uruk forces.  In the same way the Eagles show up at the end of the Lord of Rings to save the day.

I have always thought "Why didn't they just show up earlier and save everyone a lot of pain and suffering?" Or "Why didn't Frodo and Sam just ride them to Mount Doom in the first place?" 

Aside from trying to find plot holes in movies, we tend to have this type of thinking in our own lives.  Why doesn't God make this a little easier?

In similar thinking, after the last supper in the garden of Gethsemane, the disciples understandably try to save Jesus from the trouble of being captured and arrested.  Who wouldn't try to rescue Jesus from pain and torture?  Jesus responds to them with more understanding of the situation.
Mathew 26
⁵³ Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” ⁵⁵ "

This verse always makes my the hair on the back of my neck stand up. In this statement is such a display of restrained power.

Jesus is saying look guys I am God, I can easily get out of this situation, but this situation is important to the biblical narrative. This is a pivotal moment in history that cannot simply be circumvented.  Jesus came not to simply show us a way out of problems but for us to encounter God himself.  This is a process, a journey.  Encountering God is not something that can be rushed.  It is not something that can simply be added to what we are doing at the moment.  It is a process.  

Developing a relationship with God takes time. This is one reason why we are all not immediately carried away to be with God the moment of conversion.  This is also why deliverance doesn't always immediately arrive. Of course God could do something in this situation but he must have another plan in mind. Yielding to and waiting for his plan and not our own is one of the hardest parts of faith in God.

The solution may seem obvious to us but we do not have all the information. We think we can see the end result and we wonder why we can't just go over to it now.  It is like a solider trying to win a war by acting unilaterally. Soldiers are trained for battle and they act at the commands of officers. The commanding officers have the information and tell the soldiers where to go and what to accomplish next. The soldiers do not always see the big picture but have to deal with what is commanded of them.

With human nature we would naturally want to take the path of least resistance. We want the reward as quickly as possible.  We want the pain ended as soon as possible.  But stories are not told in this way or else there would be little to read.  Without a little adversity characters would not develop and grow. There would be no inspiration for the reader. No story to retell down through the ages. There wouldn't be anything to teach with the story or learn from the narrative or even reason to retell the experience.  People do not remember the routine and mundane.

God may have a relationship in mind that he is developing with me. God may have a journey planned that I need taking. The problem is it may not look like what we would like, or may take longer than we were hoping it would take.  

Isaiah 40:31
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Maybe Tolkien had this verse in mind when writing about the eagles. Waiting on the Lord happens while we are on the path. It is as we walk, that the help comes so we won't grow faint. It is after we are already running that the strength is given to not become weary. Waiting is not idling. The eagles are a reward for our faithfulness it seems, not a way to get around problems.

So...plot hole, or plot device? 

As much as we may want it, if in the beginning the Eagles always showed up to make life easier, we would learn very little. It wood also make a crap movie.

thanks