Serious question....what does the Bible verse "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" mean?

Question

Seriously.....and please.....I need info on this.....I have read extensively on Wicca....and I was raised Christian.....I don't believe in serving other gods/goddesses but I do know they exist....can it be possible to be part Wiccan and part Christian....??I love Mother Earth and I am passionate about God.....I believe and highly respect Jesus Christ.....I am confused....been told you cannot be a "witch"....and that my ability to be able to see in the future is wrong, too....but yet, isn't one of the 9 spiritual gifts insight?....please someone with an open mind and knowledge help....I am confused.....

Answer 1

I offer a reconcilliation : they are not other god or goddess they are spritual intellgence and the use of them is not about worship but control . these things you experience are God's gifts do not be scared and do not let those who are jealous of waht God has bestowed on you tell you otherwise

Answer 2

the verse is saying plainly that a person involved in sorcery should be put to death. (sorcery is drawing your powers from satan) But that no longer applies becasue Jesus came so that our sins can be forgiven and we can turn from the wrong that we do.
Other gods and goddesses I believe do not exist and according to the Bible there is only one God (Isaiah 43:10, I only use the Bible cause you are familiar with it), but I do believe satan and devils do exist.
Loving "mother earth" does not go against God in any way.
I am not familiar with wiccan, but Jesus says you can have only one master and you can't serve two Gods.
If the only reason you say you are a witch is because you see in the future then maybe you are not a witch. Yes, satan gives some the ability to see in the future, but prophecy is one of the gifts from God also (1 Corinthians 12:10). If you believe in Jesus then pray to him and ask him for the answer you need. If you have faith then you will know in your heart what is right. If you have been given that special gift by God then He wants you to use it to do good in this world. Maybe satan is trying to confuse you by making you think that gift came from him and he's telling you that your a witch to discourage you.

Answer 3

I'm not familiar with Wicca, or it's in/compatibility with Christianity, but it's wise to learn about it as much as you can, if you are to make a decision on the subject. If I knew what entailed Wicca, I would better know how to answer. Even being a Christian, I'd need to do some studying about the witches described in the Bible and the activities that made it wrong to be one. If you do some serious studying (all aspects of it), maybe you can more easily decide what is right. Do you know anyone/s who you can consult with on this subject? One thing I know - the way words are used changes with time, and what stood for something before may stand for something else now. Do you know that the founders of some religions would be very disappointed at what was being done in their names? One thing I do know is that if you do things with a pure heart God won't condemn you for it. Remember, also, that the Apostle Paul said that it was not sinful to eat meat that had been offered to idols. He also said that mature Christians shouldn't exercise such freedom if it causes the less mature to fall.

Answer 4

It means "kill the witch". However, you must take into consideration the context of the passage. Who, what when where, and so on. That passage does not apply today, and certainly not to you.
No, you can not be a witch and a Christian too. And, no it is not one of the spiritual gifts, you are extremely confused.
If you are a Christian you 'can not' have a desire to love mother earth and predict the future. If you have these feelings-then someone has lied to you, and you 'are not' a Chrsitian. You have believed the devil.

Answer 5

blended beliefs is errancy.

Exodus 22:18 is the verse source

The word witch there is also translated "sorcerer" which means trying to force a spirit to do the bidding or the witch or sorcerer.
This is not part of Gods plan.

But now in the new testament everyone... Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and everyone is guilty before God. That is why we need a savior....Jesus

Answer 6

I think that "witch" hear describes a person who tries to use magick or conjure or in any other way actively tries to affect anything by supernatural means. In the Bible there's a story of a woman called the Medium of En Dor. The Medium uses her gift for money and to make a long story short it ends badly for everyone involved. If you honestly believe that you have some ability to see the future and you honestly believe it's a gift from God then take it for what it is, a gift...as in something you were given to enable you to do God's work, not the work of another god or for your own personal gain...does that help any?

Answer 7

In centuries past the quote was meant to mean that withces must be executed. That's wrong. It actually means not to let a witch preach among you. Do not "suffer" a witch. That means that the witch is kind of getting in peoples faces and actively trying to convert people away from Christianity. So, if you're a witch and you act like one of those obnoxious street corner screamers - I mean preachers - then good Christians can refuse to invite you to church.

Answer 8

the people that wrote the bible didnt like witches they could see through them so to keep them from exposing their lies and treachery they decided to put that in there to justify their killing much the same as when the men were going to stone the adultress they were doing it so she wouldnt tell she slept with them so thou shalt not suffer a witch to live means if you find someone to be a witch you should kill them the real question is what if moses was a woman then he would have been a witch and been killed do you see it is gender biased by the men that translated the scripture

Answer 9

There was a time when God was training a nation to be righteous for a Savior to come from. This nation was Israel. The laws for them were such to make sure that all godless people could not infect that nation with evil. Those laws called for the death of those who turned to anything or anyone for guidance instead of their God. Those laws are now obsolete. The Old means the New has made those laws obsolete.

Answer 10

there are many that feel that this is a mistranslation...that the verse should read "poisoner to live" and it was put into English as witch because in England only a wiccan or "wise one" would have had extensive knowledge of poisonous herbs and minerals and the like.
In old Icelandic law it wasn't against the law to use magic or sorcery unless you used to do harm to another, so if you used your knowledge to heal you were safe, if you used it to poison you could be executed

Answer 11

What you're reading is ancient Jewish religious law from Israel thousands of years ago. It's pretty straightforward. It means the penalty for those who practiced what was considered witchcraft in that time and place was death.

But again, when you read this you have to understand that this was formulated by a people living in a completely different time, place (Unless, of course, you live in Israel), and culture. There's lots of ancient Jewish cultural stuff in the Bible that is a record of the beliefs and practices of those people. Not everyone who reads the Bible thinks some or any of these things have anything to do with people living today. I wouldn't sweat it.