Here's my magazine article from October 2013.
“It's
just harmless fun” is a phrase that we'll be hearing a lot over the
next few weeks as people defend the activities around Halloween, but
is it true?
The origins of
Halloween are in the Druid and Celtic feast of Samhain which
celebrated the end of harvest and the beginning of the dark period of
winter. The boundary between this world and the world of the dead was
thought to dissolve and the dead returned to earth and created havoc
by playing tricks on people and damaging crops. When Christianity
arrived in Britain, it attempted to 'Christianise' these and other
similar celebrations around the world by talking instead of the
'hallowed' saints who have died. 1st November became All
Hallows (Saints) Day, and the day before, 31st October
became All Hallows Eve or Hallowe'en. However, despite this the
pagan and occult origins of the celebrations never went away.
Today the celebrations
of Halloween have little to do with Samhain, for many it's just a
laugh, an opportunity to dress up and perhaps to get some free
sweets. We might possibly object to Halloween because of its
celebration of fear, and of causing fear; the anti-social problems
and potential risks for children through 'trick-or-treats'; or the
overcommercialisation of it. But there is something a lot more
dangerous about Halloween than these.
Christianity teaches
that the supernatural exists and that there are evil and malevolent
spiritual forces in the world. Halloween celebrations both
underestimate and overestimate the power of those forces. By
trivialising their power and making it the stuff of funny costumes it
may encourage people, especially children, to 'play' with ouija
boards, tarot cards, horoscopes and other occult practices. This
connects people with sinister forces beyond their control, forces
whose only aim is destruction.
On the other hand,
Halloween is the celebration of evil over good, of darkness over
light. Christianity teaches that through his death on the cross
Jesus defeated all evil powers, although they won't be finally
destroyed until Jesus comes again. In the meantime, they are active
in the world and although they are more powerful than we are, they
are nowhere near as powerful as God is. In Jesus, good has triumphed
over evil and light has defeated darkness. As we say in the baptism
service as we give the person their baptism candle: “God has
delivered us from the dominion of darkness and has given us a place
with the saints in light. You have received the light of Christ; walk
in this light all the days of your life.”
The 'treat' of
Halloween is really a 'trick' to make us both forget the power of
evil and also to think it more powerful than it is. Fun it may be,
but harmless it most definitely is not.
Hi Interesting article, i would like to point out that Occult is variously described as knowlege of the hidden or that which is not measureable. Thus could be applied to any spiritual or religious practice including the many forms of Christianity.
ReplyDeleteYou also seemed to have concentrated on the negative side of Samhain its is actually a time when the veil between the spirit world and the physical world is at its thinest. When the living and can commnicate with the dead in a reverent and benevolant way.
Im also unsure how horoscopes, astrology and the like can connect people with sinster forces.
Thank you so much for your comments.
DeleteYou are right to say that the Occult is to do with 'hidden' knowledge, and many religions talk of a special knowledge that only special people have access to. Christianity itself had the heresy of Gnosticism which claimed a hidden knowledge of God.
The reason it was a heresy is that the message of Christianity is that God has fully revealed himself to humanity by becoming a human, Jesus. Jesus said “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). There is therefore nothing about God that hasn't been revealed, there is no special knowledge accessible only to special people doing special practices. This means that the philosophy of the Occult is contradictory to Christianity.
You are also correct to say that Samhain is believed by some to be “a time when the veil between the spirit world and the physical world is at its thinest. When the living and can commnicate with the dead in a reverent and benevolant way.” However, Christian teaching would again disagree with this belief.
Firstly there is no time when the boundary between the spirit world and the physical world is any thinner than at any other time – even if such a boundary actually exists.
Secondly, the living cannot communicate with the dead. The Bible says about the deceased “They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise” (Isaiah 26:14) and it gives many warnings against trying to contact the dead, for example: “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practises divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead” (Deuteronomy 9-11). We see too Jesus and the early Christian church casting out demons from people who claimed psychic powers.
Thirdly, this interaction between the 'spirit world' and the 'physical world' can only be interaction between humans and demonic forces and therefore cannot be benevolent or harmless. This is because God has forbidden these practices so no force for good would use them, despite them seeming to be harmless or even caring. St Paul warns us the “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
Horoscopes and astrology are based on the belief that the sun, moon and stars have a direct influence on the human affairs and claims to give guidance for life and information about the future. Regardless of whether celestial bodies can influence human affairs, such practices of divination (which would also include tarot cards, ouija boards etc.) were forbidden by God (see the Deuteronomy quote above) and are a matter of interpretation rather than scientific method. Most astrologers would claim that they have a supernatural gift of interpretation, so again the question is – what supernatural forces would use this method? Again the answer has to be sinister forces as God has forbidden these practices. Allowing one's life to be guided by these methods is allowing evil, sinister and malevolent forces to influence one's choices and behaviour.
However, the good news of Christianity is that Jesus has defeated all these evil powers and offers those who follow him life in all its fullness and the promise that he is always with them, whatever happens in the future.
Thank you again for your comments, if there's anything you're still unsure of, please do reply.
With my thoughts and prayers,
David.
Hi David
ReplyDeleteThanks for your most eloquent reply, its good to have the debate as I think of you of as a friendly and intelligent man.
I would have to disagree on a few points, Christianity is full of the unknown and mysteries, Faith and Miracles being a prime examples.
Medieval Alchemists, practiced transformation an Occult practice of changing one thing into another, mainly base metals into gold or trying to discover a formula for enteral life. How does this differ from changing water into wine or wine into the blood of Christ? If one sort of transformation is evil and has occult associations why doesn’t both.
I think most Astrologers would argue that it is both an art and a science as to do a proper horoscope require a knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, this is completely different from what someone may read in a newspaper which is far too general to have any real significance.
Tarot cards reading have nothing to do with celestial bodies, there are many theories on how they work as the person who is having the reading mixes the cards it is often believed they are having an unconscious influence on the order of the deck based on a higher inward awareness.
The question I should have asked is do you believe people who practice astrology or read tarot cards are sinister and evil?
How does this extent to the ancient British religions of the Druids, Pagans, Shamans and Witches that are becoming increasing more popular in line with decreasing congregations in ‘established’ churches? Do you also think eastern religions that are based on Mysticism are also sinister and evil?
At the end of the day one’s own beliefs will colour you view of the world and if you believe a particular work of religious significance is fact you will adhere to that doctrine.
I await your reply with interest
Thank you for your reply and your compliments, and sorry it's taken a while to respond.
DeleteThere are certainly parts of the Christian faith that are unknown for example how (and why) God performs miracles and to a certain extent what God is fully like. However, these are not 'mysteries' in the sense that they are special knowledge accessible only to special people doing special practices but that our finite human brains cannot fully comprehend God who is an infinite being.
The New Testament was written in a culture where 'mystery-religions' were present but the writers of the New Testament were clear that Christianity was not a mystery-religion, in fact as I said in my last reply it is the very opposite. Paul writes that God: “made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ” (Ephesians 1:9) and he also writes of “the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith” (Romans 16:25-26). Christianity is a faith based on revelation not on mystery. There are things we may not be able to understand about God, but he has revealed to everyone everything that we need to know about him.
Alchemy is a topic that I don't know much about but I suspect its origins are in pre-scientific attempts at chemistry, medicine etc. However, it would also have been associated with the aims of sorcery and witchcraft to harness and control spiritual forces for a physical purpose. So when it comes to alchemy, it's not the transformation that is necessarily the problem (as that would also rule out medicine, chemistry and even cooking etc.) but the purpose and the method. Jesus' miracle of water into wine was to stop the host suffering from social embarrassment but also to demonstrate what Jesus' mission and ministry were all about, the transformation of people's lives. The Church of England does not teach that the wine in the Communion Service literally becomes the blood of Christ, just that those who drink the wine with faith receive the benefits of Jesus' death on the cross i.e. forgiveness of sins.
In terms of trying to find the secret of eternal life the alchemists would have saved their time by reading the Bible - “so the Son of Man [Jesus] must be lifted up [die on the cross], that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life...Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (John 3:15,16 and 36).
Astrologers certainly use an element of scientific and mathematical knowledge in their work but to say what the implications are of a certain celestial body being in a certain place at a certain time is not scientific but a matter of interpretation (or they may perhaps say spiritual inspiration). The same applies to tarot cards. Although it is true to say that our subconscious can affect our physical movements this cannot happen without any prior knowledge of the order of the cards etc. However, more specifically, there is no scientific knowledge that applies to each of the cards therefore this too is a matter of interpretation/inspiration and the comments from my previous response apply here too.
(continued...)
(continued...)
DeleteIn answer to your main question, I do not believe that in general people who practice astrology or read tarot cards are sinister and evil. I think that on the whole they are people that believe that what they are doing is good and genuinely think they have a gift. However, I would argue that although they may have the ability to interact with spiritual forces, the forces they interact with are always malevolent, sinister and evil (no matter how benign or benevolent those forces appear to be) because God has forbidden such practices. Thus people who practice astrology or read tarot cards for others may unwittingly and unwillingly be channels for those malevolent forces to influence and control others.
Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) and Peter said about Jesus “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). As Jesus is the only way to God all other beliefs are at the very least misguided or wrong. Anything which stops people coming to God through Jesus could be described as evil but some beliefs (for example Wicca, Witchcraft, Shamanism and the Occult) are much more open to the influence of evil forces, and sometimes indeed are overtly so.
Jesus likened himself to a gate for a sheepfold, those who come into the sheepfold through the gate (i.e. teach according to Jesus' words) are shepherds to be trusted, those who come in some other way (i.e. teach something different to Jesus) are like thieves and robbers. He then says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
Thanks again for your questions. God bless you,
David.
P.S. For more on some of these questions go to: www.christianityexplored.org/Groups/276317/Home/CE_ORG/Tough_Questions/Tough_Questions.aspx