If that’s so, then why forbid the stuff? Here we’ve got magicians working their enchantments to perform miracles, neither calling on God in the process nor crediting Him upon having done so; you first said that ‘all forms of witchcraft, “magic”, and similar occult nonsense is inconsistent with the First Commandment’ – but now say that such practices were simply a case of God working through them, no different than in any other case. So what’s the harm, then?
Why not follow their example and play magician with enchantments, since on your read of it God (a) doesn’t seem to mind, but rather (b) is working through them?
So let’s see.
If I put a rabbit in a hat an God makes it disappear, but I don’t credit him, it’s magic.
When I do credit Him for making the bunny disappear, it’s a miracle.
For a moment I thought you were referring to the National Bocialist Party whose brief outing in the North Minehead by-election was
less than stellar: “I gave him my baby to kiss, and he bit it in the head”
OK, done. The snake handling passage in Mark is a late addition, but someone cared enough to stick it in (doesn’t say they did it, just that it was possible). And yes, snake handling was re-invented in a few churches in Appalachia. I just don’t think of snake handling as characteristic of Christianity. You’d have a far better correlation with cross-wearing. Also, as a skill, I don’t think snake handling is magic.
You are right; in Acts, Peter raised a dead woman. Once. You seem to imply a corps of thaumaturgists. If you have a non-biblical reference to them, let me know.
Qin Shi Huangdi’s answer is inadequate. The only time I know that the first commandment was invoked in relation to magic was when Satan tried to bribe Jesus into worshiping him. I think the repugnance to magic felt by society in pre-enlightenment times was due to the perceived utilization of demonic spirits. Now we just think that practitioners are raising a dead issue.
and when did you stop beating your wife? This assertion is too broad for me to swallow whole. Perhaps you have a peculiar definition of magic.
BTW, alchemy is related to mining and ceramic chemistry that were in development since pre-christian times. If its morally neutral proto-science, its not magic. Just depends on the practitioner.
I think you are at least missing one point on the Magi part: Jesus, Joseph and Mary did not worship them, they came to worship Jesus. All we know is that the Magi came, *offered *gifts, and left. We don’t know if they went on performing dark rites, etc…We don’t know if the family received them, we don’t know if the Magi presented their credentials or performed any incantations to gain access to the family in the stable.
Could also be perhaps a foreshadowing of the "Go and sin no more." i.e, I'll accept your offering, since it shows you have a heart in the right place. Don't care what you did in the past.
Also, concerning the war/sword stuff: Don’t care to get involved in a debate, but, there is a verse, Romans 13:4, that points that the one who uses the sword is the minister of God, doing the Lord’s work.
The NT is a combination of the teachings of Jesus, the refinement of Paul from a religious SOB that is Paul’s flesh to the final state of the Lord taking over, and some various other works.
I believe Jesus taught we are magickal beings, He used His magick to cure people, raise the dead etc. and sent us out to do likewise. The religion that Paul came from does not like the children of God knowing that they are actually God’s children, so using magick is forbidden and Paul does speak out on that on occasion. One might make a differentiation between magick and the working of God, but that is not scriptural as everything comes from God.
Jesus shows when it is acceptable to the Father to use magick, when you act in Love.
As for war, the issue is sidestepped and brought into the realm where God lives and sees. What goes on in the earth is irrelevant, there will be wars, and the like but trust in God and His leading, not what you see directly. You need to see what He is doing which God will show us.
If you are sent into battle as a follower of Jesus you are there as God’s representative fully protected by grace, so yes you can kill, murder etc. as the situation requires of a warrior in the respected service unless God intervenes in a situation, but you must Love God and Love your neighbor, which means God has you there for His reason which is most likely for Jesus to reach others in the service through you.