Can’t a person be a Christian and a Wiccan?
Question:
I am a Methodist Christian witch. A few months after turning fifteen, I felt too pushed to believe in God by my church family, then a friend suggested giving Wicca a try. I felt free to be myself and learn from my mistakes instead of feeling guilty and being punished. Like all Wiccans and most Christians, I believe in helping the environment, and that there should be a goddess to join god along the way and to provide companionship on his intellectual level. I was extremely hurt by the fact that you indirectly stated in one of your sermons that the Bible claims that witches are Satanists. It was like a knife to my heart that someone would go with what a book said instead of learning from those who live it. By using magic to help people I am less tempted to sin. Is that a bad thing?
Here are some quotes I found quite moving:
"We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce people. We are not dangerous. We are ordinary people like you. We have families, jobs, hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. This religion is not a joke. We are not what you think we are from looking at T.V. We are real. We laugh, we cry. We are serious. We have a sense of humor. You don't have to be afraid of us. We don't want to convert you. And please don't try to convert us. Just give us the same right we give you--to live in peace. We are much more similar to you than you think." Margot Adler
"If you take [a copy of] the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind and the rain." Herbalist Carol McGrath as told to her by a Native-American woman.
"When one defines oneself as Pagan, it means she or he follows an earth or nature religion, one that sees the divine manifest in all creation. The cycles of nature are our holy days, the earth is our temple, its plants and creatures our partners and teachers. We worship a deity that is both male and female, a mother Goddess and father God, who together created all that is, was, or will be. We respect life, cherish the free will of sentient beings, and accept the sacredness of all creation." Edain McCoy
"Neo-Pagan Witches aren't Satanists. The Christian anti-God, Satan, has no place in Pagan pantheons, either mythologically or theologically. Plainly and simply, to non-Christians, Satanism is the dark side of Christianity." Otter and Morning Glory Zell
Do you think that it is possible to be both Christian and Wiccan? I mean, well I believe in the Bible and all, although not word for word, just the main ideas, and views, but I find sanctuary in the world of nature around me.
I just thought I would give you a more positive outlook on the subject after reading your sermon online.
Answer:
Christianity is not defined by the whims of those claiming to be its followers.
"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen" (Matthew 28:18-20).
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:21-23).
You might be a Methodist and you might be a Wiccan, but you are not a Christian. Your own words testify against you.
"I felt too pushed to believe in God by my church family"
"I believe in the Bible and all, although not word for word, just the main ideas and views ..."
"It was like a knife to my heart that someone would go with what a book said ..."
The last statement should have been a wake-up call. Of course, the Bible's teachings bother you. "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:12-13). You know that the Bible teaches that your beliefs are false. But instead of turning from them, you reject God's word by playing editor with your Bible. You don't follow God, you follow the imaginations of your own heart because you decide what is true based on the foolish standard of what you want to believe. "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise" (Proverbs 12:15).
You claim "there should be a goddess." Why? Because you think it should be so. You know that the Bible does not teach this. But you make things up to suit your own imagination. In this you are much like the ancient Israelites before God destroyed them: "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. "Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?" Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place-on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched"" (Jeremiah 7:18-20).
Contrast your quote from Carol McGrath with the words of Peter: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you" (I Peter 1:22-25). Both statements cannot be true. Carol McGarth proves herself to be a false teacher by God's standard.
The Bible is from God. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (II Timothy 3:16-17). Religious teachings not found in the Scriptures must, therefore, not be from God.
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron" (I Timothy 4:1-2).
"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ... For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works" (II Corinthians 11:3, 13-15).
"Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?" (I Corinthians 10:20-22).
"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Thessalonians 2:9-12).
No, you can't harmonize witchcraft and Christianity. Wiccan beliefs and practices are not found in God's Word. You've chosen Satan's doctrine over God's.
"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty." Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (II Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
I hope you will reverse your destructive course and become a child of God.
