Is there a difference between Christians praying for someones salvation and black magic?

Question

This may sound like a strange question but in general many practitioners of some form of magical art would follow some ethical standard to not interfere in the free will of others. For example ask almost any witch following the principles found in Wicca if it is right to cast a love spell on someone and they will say that it is not right to interfere in the free will of others or coerce them in any way. Why is it ok to pray for people against their will?Especially in regards to changing their opinion in matters of religion and basically passively trying to force them into something. Isn't this just an attempt at magic of the blackest kind? Spells and prayer do share some basic principles. This is not to say that either of these forms of trying to get something actually work. More about the ethical aspects of having something forced on you.

Thanks to all that replied. Some remarks: if you are a different religion than Christianity you may not appreciate being placed under the "care" of their God. Many would consider this deity as not exactly benevolent. How would a Christian feel if a magic practitioner asks if they can put a protective spell on their children, of course the intention is good but of course the Christian parent would object believing the source used in magic is not benevolent. Christians ask before praying to someone?I have this housemate who had gotten this idea from her pastor to draw pictures of her desires she actually put the initials of all the people living in our house in little circles and drew a cross through it, like a binding. She later revealed that we were to put our "worldly knowledge" aside and listen to her "absolute truth". This is but one of many experiences with this kind of thing. It sort of looked like some imitation of primitive sympathetic magic, drawing pictures on cave walls etc.

Answer 1

In black magic you are asking dark forces to prevail, when praying for someone you are asking for God's will in the situation. If God wants to do it He will, but if He doesn't He won't. When I pray I am not forcing anyone to do anything just that God's will will be done! Black magic is calling on a whole other force than God's. Two totally different things!

Answer 2

Magic, by nature is neither black nor white. It is merely the intent for which it is used. Usually when a person is praying for the salvation of another, they tell them so first, or ask their permission. This is something that wiccans do as well. When the person's best intentions are not at heart is when problems arise. Most wiccans wont cast love spells as that's a can of worms they just don't want to deal with. THat's my opinion, at least. You'll probably hear a slew of different answers.

Answer 3

Magic is just a method of thought-messenging, psychic people use it as a tool to easily impose ideas or thoughts to an choosing target.

If a thought is pure,christian and tends to good ,then it is white magick we are talking about,and if the thought transfered is rage,despair,sadness,depresion,anger,fear then it is a form of dark magick.

In any case it is a tool,and should be used with caution and well awarenes of the consequences which it may bring if it be used

Answer 4

True. Christians do pray for someone's mind to be changed, and see their religion is the right one, however, in the end that Person has to listen to the holy ghost and except what the Christian told him or taught them.
Black magic, I know really nothing about, except for what is written in fairy tales and movies. Though in the end, no amount of prayer or magic can change someones mind like you said, the person has to change their own mind about the religion or magic they choose.

Answer 5

I consider Christians praying for me to loose my faith in my religion to be what I call "Fundie Prayer Sorcery". I often notice that Christians will tell people they are going to pray for them to convert to Christianity, even though the person has made it very clear they have no interest in converting. Since prayers to deities can be seen as a form of magic and asking a deity to have someone abandon their own religion/beliefs is interfering with their free will, wouldn’t such a prayer be tantamount to putting a curse on someone? I think so.

Answer 6

a bit off topic, but i don't really care until the christians or whoever else starts telling us to repent and to follow their religion or else they'll kill us or we're going to hell, one of the above. otherwise, they can pray as much as they want, and as long as their prayers are positive, let them go at it. if they're trying to make someone do something against their will though, that's kind of wrong ( imagine a wiccan casting a spell upon one of them to become a wiccan, i doubt it kind of).

Answer 7

It would be insulting to a magician of the Left Hand Path to have the feeble attempts of Christians to change someone through prayer compared to their more practiced methods of coercion, but yes, I can see where you're going with this.

Answer 8

A huge difference. For one, I'm calling on a Holy God to move in someone's life so they can benefit from His grace, which is why there were created in the first place. I'm not summoning some demon or other principality to force someone into doing what I want them to do. Man, where did you get this!!? It's all the difference in the world!

Answer 9

Right, but as you say, these things obviuosly don't work, so nothing is actually forced on you.

It's the poor believer or practitioner that is fooling him or herself. But if they do it in good faith, well, just leave them. Makes them happy.

Answer 10

Very refreshing...something I've never thought of. I don't really have an answer for you, except to say that I basically agree, but I do want you to know that I find this question refreshing!!!