The bible clearly opposes to sorcery and magic because they are thought to be works of evil. As atheist who do not believe in the bible, do you favor the knowledge about sorcery and magic. Sorcery and magic does not always pertains to evil deeds but some of its practitioners use it for the good of themselves and other people like healing, vibrating good luck and calling good karma.
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The belief in magic and sorcery is an odd subject to tip tow around only due to the fact that there is no science behind it, much like god and most things related to him. I personally think there are things outside the realm of humans that are stronger than us, but I have no proof of this. It falls down to ones personal belief system as to accept supernatural events or not. Magic can be seen as evil, like you stated, mainly because it was linked to the devil. However, I don't see it being linked to healing but I have no grasp on the fact. So, in short, there are supernatural things occurring in the world but I cannot back up my statement because it's based on my faith and personal experiences.
sorcery and magic? Just like the bible, it's all "woo", meaning all smoke and mirrors, nothing real.
Isn't this the same as supernatural. Magic and Miracles are the same thing in that they both defy the laws of nature. I do not have a reason to think either are realistic.
I think those trades are both very much related to religion as well. So i dont see how it would make any sense for an atheist to believe in either one.
There are claims that they were attacked spiritually by a sorcerer who was their enemy. It caused them sickness and even death. I have met several people who claimed that they were victimized by individual who can perform sorcery and magic and I really don't know if I can believe on them yet sometimes I do.
No mysticrose, you cannot trust them. They are probably not lying but they are choosing to beleive something rather than admit they don't know why something happened to them. Stuff happens. If you are well educated you have a chance of understanding more of the stuff that happens than otherwise. Blaming it on sorcery by other people is very bad, since they are 100% innocent. There is no such thing as magic.
If by science and magic you mean science and physics that the general populous doesn't understand yet, then yes I do!
So much of what was once (less than a mere century ago) considered magic has now been proven possible by science, and has been integrated into modern life without much more than a double take. Can you imagine explaining to a person in 1913 that we would be operating automobiles with nothing but solar power, or that we would eventually be able to charge batteries wirelessly? And how? Witchcraft, of course :)
Science and sorcery one on the same? Now if only someone could show me how to turn lead into gold. :)
Coming soon to a 3D printer near you!
You may be kidding or not aware; but, it has been achieved.
I was thinking the same thing.
Nature is magic and for anyone to believe in magic they must have faith just like any religion. It's all up to each person individually what they want to believe in no matter how odd or different it might seem to someone else.
No. The belief in the supernatural, deities and miracles or magic and sorcery, stems from the same cause: Events are happening that are beyond an individual's understanding, so they try to explain them away with concepts and imagery that they are familiar with. This is why all religions were born from different cultures' creation myths. They all simply expand on the question 'How did we get here?'
And, for atheists, there is no distinguishing feature that separates the Judeo-Christian idea of 'miracles' from the overarching concept of 'magic.'
This doesn't mean that we can't enjoy a good work of fiction containing magic. I mostly read fantasy novels which are rife with the presence of gods and magic, and it is highly enjoyable to immerse one's self in these stories for the duration of the adventure. One of my favorite parts of fantasy literature is each author's individual take on magic, how it works in their conjured universe, and the limits it has.
But, after all is said and done, acts of 'magic' in the real world are always explainable by more commonplace causes.
Personally I have little interest in it because it is something that I assume is specific for each person, it does not apply to all. This is one of the reasons why I had trouble with metaphysical subjects - it just seemed like some people will naturally have balanced chakras, be in tune with auras and their spiritual side while for others it's the opposite. I have read about lucid dreaming and have said "Wow, that sounds cool, I should learn how to do that" but in the end I realized how much effort it would take from me to do that and for some people it simply comes naturally.
This is one of the reasons why I like science and skepticism altogether, you don't have to work at trying to obtain it, it applies to all.
I'm kind of, but not quite, in the same boat :)
On a scale of 1 to Tesla, I'm fairly well versed in basic scientific concepts, and keep fairly abreast of the developments in science in general, and just under the curve of cutting edge in my specific areas of interest.
I'm fascinated by metaphysics, but even more fascinated by seeing how much of the intuitive folklore knowledge has been rediscovered or reinforced by "modern" science.
For example, I love how every culture has this snailshell style dance that they do, and how the spiral imagery plays a part in their belief structure. Seeing DNA under an electron microscope, I wonder if this idea is something innate in our knowledge (we are the sum of our parts after all, though some will argue that we are more) or if it's the fragment of a piece of lost knowledge.
That lucid dreaming and chakra thing isn't quite as far fetched as some would believe, though I myself would have no way to truly grasp the concept without the interpretation of science. You might find some of the brain mapping things they're doing now interesting - there was a nice NY times piece on this last October-ish.
Seems to me accepting the possibility of magic would compromise your ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.
No.
Basically, some of Christian or other religions' rituals is connected to sorcery and magic. For example, they do weird things during good Friday, there are religious faith healers and their masses are secretly embedded with sorcery rituals.
You can be an atheist and believe in magic, but it is more likely a theist would accept such things. Either way I would say, again, "no". Atheists are not more open to jigger-pokery.
Next time someone shows me a card trick, I'm going to ask them to teach me that jigger-pokery :)
Magic from the stance of a magician is an art of using science or a mix of sciences not commonly understood by your audience to create illusion or entertainment the same can sometimes apply to art. From the stance of the audience when properly delivered magic is impressive and beyond the audiences comprehension. To share your scientific technique would be to loose your audience. Healing can be interpreted as magic by people who do not understand it but actually would be more aptly described as an art form and is usually not used for magical effect.
Illusion is not "magic" it is illusion. We call it magic in entertainment. But the art is illusion, performed by and illusionist (called in entertainment a "magician"). Now I agree that this can be "splitting hairs", but the question seemed to me to be pertaining to the "real McCoy" of actual magic and or belief therein. That is what I was basing my points on.
I believe that none of this is important really... It asked if atheists favour of sorcery and magic... A resounding "no". In at least there is no inclination to favour it more so than the non-atheist groups.
I can agree with what you put out here. I can't speak for everyone else but I am an atheist and I guess I don't believe in the real Ma Coy as you put it! My stance is that if magic is possible its either and the art of illusion, science or a mixture of both for example auto-suggestion which has been proven to use suggestion to achieve scientific result, I don't believe there is such a thing as magic that can not be classified or explained by science or an art form either already in existence or someday to be. Magic the way I understand it is to me very important because it forces us to expand our minds and ask questions or at least wonder how unexplained things are done.
The hairs split so thinly that it can't possibly matter.
Most of what we see in the world today that we now recognize as chemistry, physics, illusion, and just deeper knowledge than that of the common man was once decried as sorcery. Bring a cell phone back to the year 1500 and you'd instantly be a witch! By extension, show today's world that you somehow got back to 1500 and people will be inquiring about your magical skills :)
When you don't understand what is going on, it may as well all be magic. There's a lot of things that go on in this world that are still unexplainable, even as science works it's butt off to find explanations for everything. Completely outside of the entertainment "magic" that we all know isn't real, there's still plenty of things left to figure out about this world.
There are atheists who still believe in spiritual magic. I wonder how they do that and yet they don't believe on the spiritual existence of god.
Easily. There are atheists who believe in the power of themselves (I wouldn't call it a spiritual power) and in the greater power of multiple life forms with a common goal. I don't see how a god would have a thing to do with that.
I could say that I do not know anything about atheist or those atheist before joining this forum since I also thought that atheist are believers of sorcery. There are nice thoughts on this thread. :)
Again, people imaginatively stretch the definition of things. Magic is simply an explainable illusion. Something that is not a part of reality. Like walking on water or raising the dead. Or a God that is in the sky. Or the magicians explanation of their trick. Mysteries however, are what we could define as repeatable(by anyone), real phenomena that we have yet to find an appropriate commonly agreed interpretation. Things like love, the evolutionary case for tears of joy.
So are Biblical Prophecy and Miracles magic or mystery. I vote Magic, but where's the explanation?
To answer that we have to go back to the roots of Magic, the Zoroastarian MAGI and the MAGIc they worked when they helped Cyrus the Great write the major Biblical Prophetic work titled The Book of Isaiah in 538BC to con a captive audience. An illusion that persists to this day, believe it or not.
Here's the evidence that shows how Biblical Prophecy is indeed an illusion or a work of MAGIc :-)
http://blur.by/15rOspO
Atheists, to be consistent, should not favour MAGIc or Sorcery.
You should start a forum topic about the book you wrote, and see how it goes from there, and engage with the forums in ways that have nothing to do with pushing your book, otherwise if you keep plugging your book you will likely be kicked off the site by the admins for spamming the boards. Sad, because it appears a lot of the people on here really seemed to like what you were writing about :(
Oh come on now. At least he's finished his book.
Hey, how's that novel you've been working on?
http://youtu.be/X_BqW0Gw0bU
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