Fear of God, Fear of Witches

Hey, I just had a thought...

ISDAMan has made a comment that he is under the impression that I "fear" the word of God. This is not the first time this has been said to me here in this forum. (Sorry ISDAMan, not intending to single you out or anything.)

What I am wondering, Christians, are any of you afraid of Pagans or Witches? Do any of you fear our spells and rituals? Do we make you nervous, or feel threatened or uncomfortable on some level or another? (I'm just curious to see what your feelings are, I don't have an alterior motive here or anything.

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)

Thanks!

 

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Hey soul sis',
listen, you gotta know that the mere word 'witch' can send shivers up and down the spine of most folk, especially religious
folk.
Most modern Christians would consider you as hopelessly lost and under the influence of Satan and would probably spend hours praying for you and if you ever came to Christ they would expect you to manifest demonic excretion !(similar to the morning after eating chili)
but it would make them so happy to see you join them and Jesus.
The more traditional religionists would probably simply regard you with a mixture of contempt, awe, fear and ridicule.

Can I ask you a personal question? I mean, I will ask you a personal question cause you're my friend. 'Why d'you want to be a witch???'
I know that you've got a buzzy spirit and are aware of your inherent power but why d'you have to take such a conventional route and such an obvious nomenclature, with all it's dark connotations?

 

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I believe that the church feared witches because of the healing powers of witches. Why would an ordinary peasant make the pilgrimage all the way to a city, dragging a sick relative or themselves along a highway fraught with danger, and then wait in line with a thousand other wretched souls so a priest could slap them or their relative on the forhead, and then cop an excuse when the faith healing failed, i.e., "It was God's will...", when all he had to do with a witch was to pop over to her cottage (usually in the village) and get a tea or some herbs without having to jump through any hoops? It was all a matter of how to control the ungovernable, that is, the peasantry. There were so many more of them than there were city folk at the time. Convince them that going to the local healer was more dangerous than risking getting killed on the highway, and they'd be more than willing to make the trek.

 

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SkyeBlue,

Hay,can you do me a favor and let me know where I said that. I'd just like to know what context I may have said that in. BTW, how could I ever be upset you

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? Feel free to single me out anytime. Least of all, I may learn something new.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
ISDAMan

 

Skye,

With the gift of Jesus Christ in my life, I fear nothing.

Merry Christmas!

 

Tab'-

I figure if the shoe fits, wear it, y'know?

I'm going to be who I'm going to be, regardless of what others may think of me. I've never been one to worry too much about other people's opinions of me - I be the best person I can be, and if that's not good enough...well, there's not a whole lot I can do about that.

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I decided to study witchcraft in particular, because I needed some symbols to work with. It's like music, you can describe with math, or you can use musical score to write it. Or you could make up your own totally different symbols to describe it. The easiest thing to do is to learn how to write musical score. If you make up your own language, nobody will know what you're talking about. So I see witchcraft as a nice "language" I can use. I figure it's worked for thousands of people for thousands of years, so hopefully it will work for me as well. Plus, it makes it easy to find others that are 'speaking the same language', and we have a common ground to stand on and discuss our workings.

I'm no stranger to being an 'outcast' either. In high school I was one of those kids always dressing in black, wearing white face makeup and black lipstick. Even nowadays, at work my nickname is "Morticia". I take it as a compliment.

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I've never shied away from doing something a little odd or different.

Like Popeye says, "I yam what I yam".

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ISDAMan:

It was in the thread titled "Excuses", your post from 12/21

"Why let someone else's bad tactics defeat you in so much that you experience an uncontrolled response of fear? "

I assumed by this you meant that I experience fear at their words. Did I misunderstand you?

[This message has been edited by SkyeBlue (edited December 23, 1999).]

 

Hey True' -

What about uncomfortable? Would you trust a witch to babysit your kid? To house-watch while you were on vacation?

I hope this isn't coming accross aggresively. I'm kind of using you guys as a sounding board - I have a decision to make about 'coming out of the broom closet', and I'm just trying to get an idea of how this will make people react towards me.

Before I actually knew anything about witchcraft, I knew a woman that was a witch. I just thought she was kind of silly, and maybe a little batty, but there were a few in her neighborhood that were afraid of her. They would do stupid stuff like hide their cats from her, and her house and car were vandalized a few times. I didn't know her all that well, but I'm sure she never did anything to deserve that kind of treatment. They just didn't understand her, and reacted with fear and hate. I, of course, want to avoid that. This was about 10 years ago, and I'm trying to guage if the overall attitude towards witches has matured in that time.

 

Skye,

An ex sister-in-law of mine was a gifted artist and a witch. Although she asked during her engagement to my brother, I would not let her watch my children. Not because she was a witch (I didn't know she was a witch at that time). I did not let her watch my children because she looked and acted very weird. Although her artwork was magnificent, I also found her to be very manipulating and deceitful, and I did not trust her to watch my children. I've been around some creepy people in my lifetime who I definitely would not trust to watch my children. She is the only one that I knew fairly intimately who actually practices witchcraft.

My brother married her even though he found out only two or three days before the wedding that she had been married three times before. The family tried to convince him that he should put off the wedding in order to get to know her better but he married her as scheduled, after a very brief engagement. Later, she claimed to have power over him... she claimed that she had cast a "love" spell on him to make him love her and want to marry her.

Shortly after they were married, my brother woke up from a sound sleep one night when he heard someone screaming "If you go to sleep, I'll kill you! If I'm awake, you have to be awake!" When he opened his eyes, he saw his wife standing over him with a shotgun pointed at his head, the safety was off and her finger was on the trigger... the gun was loaded. This was not the only time that she threatened him with violence.

My brother ended up being "afraid" of her. She was dangerous and would not seek help. He left her soon after that, under threats of her casting spells on him for the rest of his life. She promised that he would never shake the vision of her haunting him in her wedding gown. She promised to follow him in his dreams and during every waking hour... So that he would see her standing in front of him, her tattered wedding gown blowing in the wind and her crying out for him with her arms stretched out, whether he was at work, in a meeting, at play, awake, asleep, etc...

Although I was never afraid of her, I found her to be a REALLY creepy person to be around, even before I found out that she was a witch. It's really strange, too. The few times we have come across each other in the past ten years, when she sees me, she starts shaking. It seems as though she's afraid of me!?



[This message has been edited by truestory (edited December 23, 1999).]

 

TS,

Your former sister-in-law just sounds psychotic to me. Unfortunately, being a witch doesn't preclude being psychotic.

If you found out that someone you really liked and respected (and who behaved normally) was a witch, would you let her watch your children? (Please don't avoid the question by saying that you no longer have young children to be concerned about - I'm sure you understand the intent of the question.)

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True' -

I wouldn't have allowed that psycho to babysit a houseplant.

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Yah, no, I'm not talking about an otherwise deranged person. What I mean is, imagine you are about to drop your kids off with a babysitter - you've already checked this person out, and you feel pretty good about dropping off the kids. Just as you're about to leave, she tells you, "Oh, by the way, I'm a witch". Someone probably wouldn't do that, but just for the sake of argument.


[This message has been edited by SkyeBlue (edited December 23, 1999).]

 

Searcher,

You are absolutely right! My ex-sister-in-law was (is) mentally ill.

Unfortunately, being a woman, someone's daughter, someone's wife and a gifted artist doesn't preclude being psychotic either... So, what's the point?

As for your presumptuous and unnecessary aside comments:

Knock it off, would you please?

By the way, what is your answer to the same question?


Skye,

First, in looking for a babysitter for my children, there are many things I would consider. Before I go on, please understand that my requirements are probably a lot higher than most.

Second, you are right. The situation probably would not present itself that way. If it did and I was initially on my way to work, I would probably turn around, go home and look for another babysitter.

Third, although my husband and I did a pretty good job of organizing our career schedules so that at least one of us would be home with the children over the years, we did have a need for babysitters (and house-sitters) from time to time. We were fortunate, though, in that we both have large families and there were (and are) a number of family members who we trusted with our lives and the lives of our children. They feel the same way about us, too.

Fourth... If one of these trusted family members, who we believed we knew so well, had been watching our children and all of a sudden announced that they had decided to start practicing witchcraft, my husband and I would probably have opted for another viable, non-witch, alternative in the family. Why? Because, when you believe that you know a family member so intimately, such a drastic change sends up a red flag concerning the person's present state of mind and their judgement in general. Therefore, we would have needed to move cautiously before entrusting the lives of our children to someone who had just made such a drastic change in their life. We would have needed to reassess the whole picture concerning this individual. For example, I think we probably would have asked... If they were making this drastic change in their lives, were there any other things that were changing which we needed to know about which might affect our children, such as: the babysitter's value system, their morals, their view of themself as a role-model for children, etc... ???

 

TS,

I apologize for having accused you of avoiding the question before you actually did.

It seems to me that what you are saying, in a round-about sort of way, is that there are no circumstances under which you would allow a witch to babysit your children. Is that correct? Is it the Hansel and Gretel-type of stories you were indoctrinated with as a child? The Biblical edict not to suffer a witch to live? Are you even aware of where it comes from yourself?

To answer your question: yes, all else being equal, I would certainly allow a friend or family member who is a witch to babysit my children. I would also allow a Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Mormon, Catholic or what-have-you, babysit my children. I only ask that they leave the religious teaching of my children to me. If they can't follow that simple rule, they have no business babysitting other people's children.

The only religion that would send up any red flags for me is Satanism. I would definitely turn around and take my children back home if I discovered something like that. But witchcraft is not Satanism, contrary to what many Christians seem to believe - witches have respect for all life and live by a code of ethics that would put most Christians to shame; Satanists are a different story altogether.

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Searcher,

Grow up, would you please?

No, to sum up what I DID say is:

I would have to know the person with whom I am entrusting the welfare of my children extremely well. If I believed that I knew that person and they were all of a sudden to tell me that they had decided to "become a witch" or start practicing witchcraft, then I would need more information before deciding whether or not to leave my children with them.

"By the way, I am a witch" or "By the way, I've decided to start practicing witchcraft" are ambiguous statements to say the least. I would require more certainty, whenever possible, when the welfare of my children is concerned.


[This message has been edited by truestory (edited December 24, 1999).]

 

TS,

That was nice.

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TS,

If I could impose on your Christian tolerance and love for just a moment longer, I would like to ask for further clarification of your posts in this thread.

Please clarify, if you would, what you mean by "more information". Would it be correct to assume that you wouldn't need "more information" before deciding on whether or not to leave your children with someone you had known for many years and who had just informed you of their sudden decision to become a Christian?

Also, I had asked in a previous post if you had any idea of where your distrust of witches came from? Is it because of your former sister-in-law? Is it due to religious indoctrination? Childhood fairy tales? A combination of all of these things? I'm honestly wondering, because you do seem to be a person who is capable of thinking for yourself, but there is a definite hesitation when it comes to leaving your children in the care of a known witch. This makes me think of certain white southerners who protest that they are not prejudiced against blacks, but when it comes down to it, they would be much more hesitant to hire a black person to watch their children, clean their home, or whatever, than a white person.

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www.indigenousrocks.com

 

Searcher,
your latest animation est tres coool

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could I do that? know any more? will you share technique?

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Searcher,

No, it would not be correct to assume that... because... a sudden declaration, "I've decided to become a Christian" from someone who I thought I knew and who had never mentioned it previously, would also be an ambiguous statement.

It has to do with "knowing" the person who is caring for my children, Searcher. I would not leave my children with someone who I simply "checked out." I would have to believe that I know them extremely well. It is always prudent to get more information when someone who is caring for your children has made any sudden, major life changes... to try to ensure that you understand the babysitter's reasons for and the purpose of the sudden changes and to gain a level of confidence in how these changes might affect your children while in their care.

I am the type of person who would get more information if my child's single babysitter, who I thought I knew extremely well, all of a sudden informed me that they decided to get married... or if my child's married babysitter, who I thought I knew extremely well, all of a sudden informed me that they decided to get divorced. A major change in the life of your children's caretaker is bound to affect your children one way or another and, good or bad, it is important to try to understand the potential exposure.

Yes, Searcher, you are correct in deducing that I am a person who thinks for myself.

However, the questions posed in your last paragraph above are based on more incorrect assumptions.

See how we get to know each other better by getting more information?

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By the way, in case you don't realize it, your comments have NOT been "nice"...

May the peace, the joy, the love and the wisdom of Jesus Christ be with you, Searcher.


[This message has been edited by truestory (edited December 25, 1999).]

 

Merci beaucoup, Tab!

I am most happy to oblige! As a matter of fact, if you will look at my last post in the Aliens & Extraterrestrials forum, in the "Secret Base in Cornwall" thread, I gave you the basic instructions for using html code to include an image in your post.

To determine the location of an image you would like to use (which must already exist somewhere on the internet), right-click on the image and select "Properties". If your browswer will allow you to copy that image location to the clipboard (by highlighting the address and doing a CNTRL C), that will make it easier to copy and paste (CNTRL V to paste) the address into your command.

In general, the command must be enclosed in the "less than/greater than" brackets (<>), and will look something like this:

img src ="http://www.somewhere_on_the_internet.com/picture.gif"

where "img src" stands for "image source".

There are also other things you can do using html tags, such as centering your image. You do this by adding the CENTER tag (enclosed in <> brackets) before the command to insert an image, and the /CENTER tag, (also enclosed in <> brackets) following your insert image command.

Hopefully this is clear? I'm not very good at explaining these things, but it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You can also view the source code by right-clicking on this page and choosing "View Source". That may help some. Have fun with it!

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I am not afraid of witches or pagans and neither should other Christians.

"""""""""""""Searcher
witches have respect for all life and live by a code of ethics that would put most Christians to shame;""""""""""

What makes this code of ethics good or accurate? Are you implying that having respect for life is good? If so, why?

Vinnie

Praise Jesus!!!