Question of the Week: If witchcraft is a sin, would watching movies or reading books involving witchcraft also be sinful?
People who support this kind of approach to scripture usually cite Romans 1:32 for biblical support. And while they do have a point in that approving of those that practice a particular sin reflects a heart just as in conflict with God as those practicing it themselves, we need to be careful we’re properly defining what that sin actually is. The biblical word for witchcraft is pharmacea in both the Old Testament Septuagint and early Greek copies of the New Testament. We get our term pharmacy from it in reference to drugs and medicine. The abuse of these substances in pursuit of “spiritual experiences” is what the passages are referring to when condemning and even claiming capital punishment is due towards those that practiced these things in Israel. In context, it isn’t hard to see why drug abuse is sinful and why promoting and dealing drugs would be something Israel’s government was told to strictly prohibit. The question then is how this relates to modern witches and warlocks that are portrayed with supernatural powers, but in reality are more comparable to adherents of New Age philosophy. It certainly can be stumbling for people to hear false doctrine if they’re not prepared to show where and why it falls short of reality. But when it comes to movies, it defaults to Romans 14:14-23. If it is nothing more than an illustrative story to you, then it’s no more sinful to watch Chronicles of Narnia as it would be Harry Potter. If you personally don’t like the association with modern understandings of witches and warlocks having more power than they actually have through their chants and rituals, then you’d be better off avoiding things that stumble you on a person-by-person basis. Don’t condemn the people who watch the films and read the books with a clear conscience. And don’t condemn the people who avoid them for the sake of their conscience.
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