How is belief in "god" any different than belief in magic?

“Magic is an occult belief, steeped in darkness. “

David copperfiled is steeped in darkness? I guess he is kind of creepy.

“God is truth. And light. And peace. “

Is he peace in Iraq? His kind of peace I can do without.

“Satan is a counterfeiter.”

Nooo… Is that where all those phony 50’s come from.

“He tries to copy everything that God does. “

what a copy cat…

“His will is to be equal to God. “

Cool lets see them duke it out. It would be even better than godzilla vs rodan.

“It has been this way, since evil was found in him.”

Since it was found so easy, couldn’t we just put the evil back?

“He seeks the souls of mankind.”

Is he a collector, like stamps? I mean how many souls does one really need? He could try Ebay.

“He does not play fair.”

Na na na na na na na

“He is evil, and he is deadly.”

As opposed to the non-deadly evil?

“He is the arch enemy of Christ.”

You mean like batman and the riddler?

“His way is dark and treacherous.”

Maybe he just needs a flashlight and a good pair of hiking boots?

“He is full of lies and deceit.”

The devil is George Bush?

“He is cunning.”

I guess not, Bush is a dolt.

“He is always on the prowl, seeking whom he may devour.”

So he is Elliot Spitzer!!

“His will is to turn us from the path that God would have us to walk. “

I guess he needs a map to go along with the flashlight.

“You can see his footprints all around.”

Not so cunning if he leaves his footprints all around

“In our homes.”

Not in mine, I have a security system.

“Our cities. “

Even vatican city? He has balls.

“Our nation.”

Just ours? Is he an american, or an illegal immigrant. I say deport the bastard.

“Our world.”

I guess alien planets are safe.

“Choose this day, whom you will serve. “

I’ll take door number 1, no 2, no 3, no 1. I damn, I can’t decide, you choose for me.

Experience. I have experienced God and have yet to experience ‘magic’. I know this sounds largely subjective and to a certain degree it is, however, Christians around the world have a single uniting experience in ‘something’ we call God. From slaves in China, to the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Europe. Forget for a moment all the crap in American Christianity - all the finger pointing, all the handwringing over ‘sins of flesh’ - and just read the Sermon on the Mount. No mystery there. Just something to ‘experience’ and it feels divine to me. Then consider that there is more extant manuscripts for the new testament than the Illiad or any other undisputed piece of literature and suddenly we’re not talking about pie-in-the-sky magic dreaming anymore. C.S. Lewis’ “Case for Christianity” is a great place to start understanding the Christian perspective on God. At the very least it will challenge you to examine your beliefs more closely without converting ;) Good luck with this. It’s an enormous thing to ponder.

when this site gets busy tonight this question will go off with a bang, people love answering these questions. you should get some good answers lol

lol jimahl. That got me giggling, but I hope you understand that this isn’t something believers see as a game. Making fun of the devil, that’s a new one on me… but please even if you don’t believe in God, please don’t make fun of silverwings

I don’t understand how creationism isn’t a form of magic… “god” goes BOOM with his magic wand and EVERYTHING is suddenly THERE? IT’S MAGIC! AND MAGIC DOES NOT EXIST!

“how is belief in “god” any different than belief in magic?”

  You need to define your terms. Which god(s) and what kind of magic?

in my opinion

Believing in magic allows one to accept deceit or trickery which one’s mind is not able to perceive.

Belief in a Deist God provides a logical answer to the beginning of the universe and time. God doesn’t physically reside within the universe but did provide the impetus for its existence.

Torikeene, I agree it isn’t a game. Organized religion has caused far more suffering in this world than good. But sometimes we need to inject humor into the argument to get the zealots (and silverwing sounds like one) off their high horse and to highlight the absolute ridiculousness of such belief. I will challenge it every time.

Believing in god is the same as believing in santa, the easter bunny and the tooth fairy. There is just as much proof they exist as there is that god does.

Magic is an occult belief, steeped in darkness.

God is truth. And light. And peace.

Satan is a counterfeiter.

He tries to copy everything that God does.

His will is to be equal to God.

It has been this way, since evil was found in him.

He seeks the souls of mankind.

He does not play fair.

He is evil, and he is deadly.

He is the arch enemy of Christ.

His way is dark and treacherous.

He is full of lies and deceit.

He is cunning.

He is always on the prowl, seeking whom he may devour.

His will is to turn us from the path that God would have us to walk.

You can see his footprints all around.

In our homes.

Our cities.

Our nation.

Our world.

Choose this day, whom you will serve.

Domzila,

Please show us some mathematical evidence of the existence of God.

Also, please clarify the statement that “…no one sees evidence of magic working miracles in their lives.” I’m sure many pagans would disagree with you.

Based on my experience and the evidence I’ve seen, belief in magic and belief in God require the same thing: that you suspend rational thought and don’t look to closely at what’s going on. Many of us would like to believe that some great and good power exists that will take care of us but there’s just no reason I can find to think it’s true.

vineire, people who practice magic claim the exact same kinds of experience that you do., which is teh same kind of experience everyone else involved in these types of systems report.

Experience resulting from belief does not indicate veracity behind the belief, it merely demonstrates that the belief itself results in experience.

Yes magic exists as God does but you don’t maintain a relationship with magic. Like “Torikeene” put it. It doesn’t give you a good feeling. With God it is a peaceful relationship. I take it you have never been raised with belief in God. I guess I would be curious too. Maybe you should look more into religion to get rid of doubt. I hope you have a peaceful and abundant journey. Mama K

Even the bible talks of fortune tellers - can’t remember the verse, but it wasn’t nice. I grew up a witch and turned Christion during my teens. I believe in magic, as I’ve seen my father perform it, but it doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t know how to explain it, it just gave me a really bad feeling.

I kow this doesn’t help much. But most of the christians I know believe that magic comes from demons.

Magic is a trick or an illusion or some arcane power that is wielded by man. God is an omnipotent being that serves his own purpose. They are nothing alike. In order for magic to have created the universe there would have to be someone around to use it to do so. You can judge the likely existence of God mathematically. You cannot do that with Magic. Some people see evidence of God working miracles in their lives, no one sees evidence of magic working miracles in their lives. Is that enough or do you need more because there are many huge difference that I could point out if you’d like to read a post the size of a small book. I doubt that you do though so I’ll stop here.

Magic is just one more thing that people use to gain power and influence , if they can get people to believe in it they will be important. God the one and only God doesn’t need that because he is power.

It is not faith that makes me beleive me beleive my employer will pay me. It is knowledge gained from experience that tells me that. Faith is believing in something that is impossible to prove, and is accepted without question. Kind of like believeing in santa.

I have been wondering the same thing. sometimes I belive in magic. its becuase certain religons dont want people to belive in magic becuase it goes back to “the witches” if you know what that was and wika and stuff. when women wanted a right in religion and some religions didnt want women to have power hope I helped :)

There is no difference.

I feel that people believe in magic in order to feel in control. Believing you have the power to curse your enemies is a really good pick me up. Believing in an all powerful God makes people feel powerless, pretty much like children. Believing in such a God seems to be a good way for people to forget themselves and make them more humble.

God is a being. Magick is a Science God creates from nothing, Magick needs tools. God is perfect, Magick has faults God can’t be manipulated, Magick is based on Manipulation. Man does not control God, Man can control Magick. And Religion does not cause suffering it is Man ( the human factor) that causes suffering.

that didn’t really answer my question at all.

the magic is a trick used by the devil to get what he wants

“Magic is just one more thing that people to use to gain power and influence, if they can get people to believe in it, they will be important”
Do you not realize that religion is the same thing? It is a scam. A scam for power, for money, for COMPLETE control over everyone who is willing to waste their life believing in something just so they can go to “heaven” which is a complete mythical place anyway…