Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live…

[AutoliteParticipant]

I recently watch an interesting documentary on the ‘Salem VVitch Trials’. That’s some really crazy shhit that went on back then. But it also reminded me that executing witches is still mandated in the Christian bible (Exodus 22:18 King James Version).

I don’t ever recall this issue being covered when I went to Sunday School. How does the contemporary Christian church view this mandate today? I’ve never heard it ever being addressed or discussed in church when I was a kid. How does the modern believer reconcile this edict to kill witches? I would honestly like to know…

[AutoliteParticipant]

Also, has anyone seen ‘The VVitch’???

[Faust For ScienceParticipant 22521]

The Salem witch trials amounted to a group of teenage girls stirring s~~~ up with false accusations, to get attention, and whose actions got a lot of people hurt due to those in authority looking for scapegoats for the hardships of those times.

[Puffin StuffParticipant 24979]

#witchestoo morphed into #metoo with women no longer needing to provide proof of their accusations.

#icethemout; Remember Thomas Ball. He died for your children.

[AutoliteParticipant]

Faust For Science wrote:

The Salem witch trials amounted to a group of teenage girls stirring s~~~ up with false accusations, to get attention, and whose actions got a lot of people hurt due to those in authority looking for scapegoats for the hardships of those times.

No doubt. In the linked documentary they pretty much concluded that the accusations were false and/or malicious. Yet the execution of witches is still today a Christian mandate. I am wanting to know how the modern church addresses the issue…

[CPT ObviousParticipant 2726]

While you express genuine interest to know the answer, this feels like more like the start of a religion-bashing thread.

But since you asked, and since in a (pretty much) previous life I was a missionary, I will answer. (Side Note: I don’t believe there is a bearded Santa Clause figure flying around in space who is God).

Exodus is part of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses containing the Law of Moses in the Old Testament. These contain carnal laws, rituals, ceremonies for a primitive people. Often penalties were harsh for disobedience.

Christians believe the Law of Moses was fulfilled and done away with the coming of Jesus – the prophesied Messiah. That is why Christians no longer sacrifice unblemished lambs and heifers, have passover feasts, hold Sabbath on Saturday, require circumcision, and allow the eating of pork and shellfish, (and et cetera).

Christianity was meant to be a higher, simpler law based on loving God and loving your neighbor. Instead of killing people like in Old Testament for transgressions, the New Testament taught love and forgiveness.

A good example applicable to your question:

Leviticus 20:10
And the man that committeth adultery with ​another​ man’s wife, ​even he​ that committeth adultery with his ​​​neighbour’s​ wife, the ​​​adulterer​ and the ​​​adulteress​ shall surely be put to ​​​death​.

Christ demonstrated the old law was done away in the story of adulterous woman:

John 8:4-5
They said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

This elicited the familiar scripture, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

Last comment: People have a way of fncking things up, and all religions have their messed up sh!t. I learned to separate organized religion from spirituality for a positive affect in my life.

"You don't know a woman till you have met her in divorce court."

[AutoliteParticipant]

CPT Obvious wrote:

While you express genuine interest to know the answer, this feels like more like the start of a religion-bashing thread.

Nah, I was just a little worried about a gal I knew who professed to be a witch. I thought it might be a good idea for her to steer clear of fundamentalist Christians…

[CPT ObviousParticipant 2726]

Autolite wrote:

I thought it might be a good idea for her to steer clear of fundamentalist Christians…

It is a good idea to steer clear. The fundamentalists like to cherry pick scripture (Old or New Testament) and can be quite judgmental and extreme… altho I don’t think they would actually burn a witch at the stake.

"You don't know a woman till you have met her in divorce court."

[AutoliteParticipant]

CPT Obvious wrote:

People have a way of fncking things up, and all religions have their messed up sh!t. I learned to separate organized religion from spirituality for a positive affect in my life.

I found this angle that an apologist might want to consider. The author is saying that the bible doesn’t really mean exactly what it says…

Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: A Murderous Mistranslation?

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/thou-shalt-not-suffer-a-witch-to-live-a-murderous-mistranslation-1.5443682

[CPT ObviousParticipant 2726]

Autolite wrote:

I found this angle that an apologist might want to consider

Definitely an apologist’s slant.

Simply not the case. Law of Moses was harsh. Deviation from God’s Law often meant death. Checking other well-respected translations, they all agree on witch or sorcerer; i.e. someone practicing crafts/teachings not in line with strict biblical laws. This pretty much was a death sentence.

Again, keep in mind this was a primitive people with primitive views on God and religion.

"You don't know a woman till you have met her in divorce court."

[AutoliteParticipant]

CPT Obvious wrote:

It is a good idea to steer clear. The fundamentalists like to cherry pick scripture (Old or New Testament) and can be quite judgmental and extreme… altho I don’t think they would actually burn a witch at the stake.

Perhaps she should just stay away from places where they still burn witches? That’s likely her best bet…

On 20 November 2010 at Tema Site 15, Hemmah was tortured by five people who had suspected her of being a witch until she confessed to them. Before her torture, Mary Sagoe caught Hemmah sitting in the bedroom of his sister Emelia after she had sent her children to school. An alarm was raised which caught the attention of the perpetrators, Samuel Ghunney, a 50-year-old photographer, Pastor Samuel Fletcher Sagoe, 55, and Emelia Opoku, 37, Nancy Nana Ama Akrofie, 46, and Mary Sagoe, 52, all unemployed. They drenched her in kerosene and later set her on fire.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ama_Hemmah

[CPT ObviousParticipant 2726]

Autolite wrote:

Perhaps she should just stay away from places where they still burn witches?

Uh yeah. That is some crazy sh!t. They have completely distorted minds. Is that “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?

"You don't know a woman till you have met her in divorce court."

[AutoliteParticipant]

CPT Obvious wrote:

Is that “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?

Except for killing witches. I guess that gets a pass. Maybe the bible needs some revision and update. The contradictions could maybe use a little editing I would think…

[Secret Agent MGTOWParticipant 22508]

Seems to me you are taking one verse and cherry picking it out to discuss, without the surrounding contexts and background as to why God made that a law in the first place.

Its a bit like armchair quarterbacking 4000 years after the fact thinking we have better insight into what should hsve been done or what it meant, than the people who actually lived under those laws and conditions.

Women want everything, but want responsibility and accountability for nothing.

[CPT ObviousParticipant 2726]

Autolite wrote:

Except for killing witches. I guess that gets a pass. Maybe the bible needs some revision and update. The contradictions could maybe use a little editing I would think…

I view Bible as a historical and religious viewpoint of a particular people and something to learn from (both good and bad). I don’t know any mainstream, normal Christians who would “give it a pass.”

Anyway, my preaching days are long gone, and I have found my own path. I will let other members hash this out with you.

"You don't know a woman till you have met her in divorce court."

[AutoliteParticipant]

CPT Obvious wrote:

They have completely distorted minds.

What about people who still believe that witches are real???

contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from Sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt

[Branched offParticipant 10926]

Witches are still going strong. I have known quite a few. They have had a real boost from all the films that make them sexy (when sexy and witchcraft really don’t go together). Also the nature of what is called witchcraft has changed quite a lot over the years. Devils and spirits have been largely replaced with femtard mother goddesses. I have never, however, met a witch who was not damaged goods. They all want to have some special tool in their armoury that others do not to boost some perceived inadequacy in them. They are also generally quite suggestible or sometimes prone to misinterpret reality or look for patterns in things that are not there.

What I think is most interesting about the past persecution of witches is that the victims of the persecution are always a less valued section of society and the persecutors are those who enjoy getting a chance to let their nastiness out in a righteous way. The herd follows along like a pack of hunting dogs. In the UK it was generally old women and women who were of loose morals who were a burden on a village (demanding charity) who were exposed as witches. Nowadays its less than super hot men who didn’t deliver what a woman wanted after sex. The victims of a “witch hunt” are always the expendables.

And yes there are plenty of African who are big into believing in witchcraft. My late African wife and her family believed her death was due to witchcraft. To me the ironic thing is that the African Christian pastors who go about hunting and combatting witches are clearly basically “witchdoctors who stole a missionary’s clothes”.

In short its all religious bulls~~~ from whatever side it is viewed. Persecuting “witches” happens when a dominant dogma is used to squash a weaker section of the people with an unthinking sort of pack mentality.

A woman is like fire -fun to play with, can warm you through and cook your food, needs constant feeding, can burn you and consume all you own

[MonkParticipant 16979]

Many trendy Christians embrace witchraft as an ‘alternative spirituality’. It’s all part of ‘diversity’.

[AutoliteParticipant]

Branched off wrote:

And yes there are plenty of African who are big into believing in witchcraft. My late African wife and her family believed her death was due to witchcraft.

Indeed. I mean witches must be real or the bible wouldn’t reference killing them. I’m going on the assumption here that the Christian bible is still considered the infallible word of God…

[AutoliteParticipant]

Secret Agent MGTOW wrote:

Seems to me you are taking one verse and cherry picking it out to discuss, without the surrounding contexts and background as to why God made that a law in the first place.
Its a bit like armchair quarterbacking 4000 years after the fact thinking we have better insight into what should hsve been done or what it meant, than the people who actually lived under those laws and conditions.

Well, we have people who believe that witches are real.
We even have people who claim to be witches.
And we have the Christian bible that clearly mandates the killing of witches.

I’m just trying to get a handle on where the contemporary Christian church today stands on this edict. I feel that it’s a legitimate question…

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