Why is is it heathenish . . . ?

Question

Why is it heathenish to believe in fetishes and magic but supposedly all right to accept relics and miracles?

Answer 1

Good Question.

People have a need to belong to a group that satisfies the need for recognition, approval, acceptance, discipline, and ethical structure.

Groups do whatever it takes to get people to join. And one part of the psychiatry of groups is that a group has to make itself stand out from the crowd, to be percieved as better than other groups and worthwhile and prestigious to belong to, and a bit exclusive, so that people have to accept restrictions and put out effort to belong.

Christainity had to allow people to have familiar activities [from the old religion] and tangible things to touch, and explanations for the unexplainable, so the Church invented holodays Saints and miracles and relics. Many Christian holidays have roots in pagan rituals; it's pretty well documented that calendars have been changed, so it's impossible to know whether Jesus was born on December 25th.

Monotheists, [Jews, Christians and Muslims] refer to anyone who believes in more than one god as pagan or heathen; people who clung to prior religions as Christianity and Islam spread into Europe, were looked upon as ignorant, uncivilized and irreligious.

So, it's all just words, magic, miracle, fetish relic. You just have to know who claims a particular word.

Answer 2

I don't know about fetishes and relics but I do know that magic is deffinetely wrong. Because it comes from the devil. You are using spells and other things to praise and glorify other beings other than God. Miracles are believed to be sent from God so they are ok.I myself have had several miracles in my body and mind. I was very ill when I was little, and I even died four times and it was nothing but God that brought me back. So, why are miracles ok, You tell me?

Answer 3

It's not heathenish to believe in fetishes and magic. Everybody has a fetish for something even if they don't realize it. They might have a fetish for their "God." Magic can be construed as miracles or vise versa.

Answer 4

Just so people know, the word 'Heathen' originally referred to someone who lived in the 'heath'... i.e., out in the boondocks. It meant rural... unsophisticated... the same thing that we mean when we say something like hick, redneck, rube or country bumpkin. People living in those circumstances, who usually survived by subsistence farming, typically revered nature. Because of those religious tendencies, when Christianity was in its ascendancy, the word became synonymous with 'Pagan'.

Answer 5

Because the Catholic/Christian church wanted control over the masses, so they made things like Magick, physical representations of God or Goddesses (aka idols), fetishes and other "Pagan" practices evil and, at the time, illegal.

Answer 6

fetishes---are about glorifying/satisfying desires of the self alone.

magic---attempt to use power to altar the natural order by means of the self.

relics---bones or items belonging to people that lived their lives serving God.

miracles---crediting GOD ALONE with power to heal, create, or altar the natural order.

I guess it's the object....the former two are all about the self, the latter two are all about God.

Answer 7

Because the very definition of the word heathen is a person who does not believe in a Christian God.

Answer 8

Cause that's what those who were in power for the last couple thousand years (up to about 200 years ago) said.

Answer 9

It's not, thus the reason why many don't believe in organized religion, you might as well follow the laws of smurfdom, you'll be less confused lol...

Answer 10

Yours are not the ones sanctified by a bunch of guys wearing black dresses. That's why.


...love your avatar BTW