Witchcraft

first inquiry

i think this page is completely wrong. I know that christianity is one
of those "the only way" religions but you sholudn't blame
witchcraft. The true meaning of witchcraft is to premote harmony and
life. In perfect love with nature and the people around you. Many
people like yourself like to blame witchcraft for the basic problems
in life, but my brother, your treats about "stopping witchcraft" are
not going to succed. We love our religion. And that fact that you
associate witchcraft with evil is in my opinion "really messed up". We
worship life.

second inquiry

im sorry to bother you but i truly think that you are somewhat wrong
in labeling all witches as evil and satanic. i am a christian, and i
also believe in god, but i practice herb rituals for peoples' well
being and health. i never have a benevolent cause when casting and
spell. many other witches are celtic... druids etc., or a religion
that worships nature, not satan by any means. i think you must be a
shallow and close-minded person to think your way, and the next time
that you do publiclly view you opinions... get the facts right
first. i doubt my friend and fellow wiccan will treat you with as much
respect as i have. when i read your side-of-view on "witchcraft" I
wanted to take your horrible website off the web personally.but I did
not do so in the thinking that I don't want to seem like a totally
rude person and trust i could take it off the net as simple as
snapping my fingeers so the next time I see that you have made another
putdown about witchcraft i will lobby my friends and send e-mail to
everybody i know telling them you are a dishonest man. May I also tell
you i am 30 and my friend is 29. It is a young age I have realized
that but I don't care . Let me add babe have sweet
dreams...literally. ;)

response

So why do Christians view Wicca as a mere front for Satan?  It has to
do with how we perceive the purpose God created man for. An underlying
principle of Christianity is that God created man for a purpose.
That primary purpose being for us to intimately know God and share in
all that He has. That means that we are called to know Him as a person
and have an intimate relationship with Him on that level.

Witchcraft, on the other hand, seems to have an underlying principle
of treating God (or the spiritual realm, if you prefer) as if He is a
commodity or a force to be harnessed by us, like electricity.  God is
sovereign and nothing but true humility can manipulate Him.  Treating
God as a "force to be harnessed" goes against the purpose God created
us for and hence alienates us from Him.

One reason I say this is because of an incident in the life of King
Saul of Israel.  In the Hebrew Scriptures we are told that King Saul
was guilty of a sin of the same character as witchcraft.  The prophet
Samuel confronted King Saul because Saul had failed to obey the Lord.
Samuel told him, "for rebellion is like the sin of divination
[witchcraft], and arrogance like the evil of idolatry" (1 Samuel
15:23).  Saul thought he could manipulate God to fulfil his own
desires.

Since Satan is depicted in the Bible as an adversary of God always
looking for ways to circumvent God's plans for his own, then anything
that draws men away from the purpose God created men for is seen as a
tool of Satan's.  Thus, anything that draws men away from God is
considered evil.

There is an erroneous impression concerning the history of witchcraft
that the Encyclopaedia Britannica points out in the article
"Witchcraft" in volume 19, p.899 (15th ed.).  It refers to the article
by Margaret Murray in the 14th ed. of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1929)
"...which put forth in its popular form her [Margaret Murray's] theory
that the witches of western Europe were the lingering adherents of a
once general pagan religion that has been displaced, though not
completely, by Christianity.  This highly imaginative but now
discredited theory gave a new respectability to
witchcraft...contributed to the emergence of do-it-yourself
prescriptions...of the self styled witches..."

I would be happy to respond to further questions you have.