tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post2049973163022235464..comments2024-03-22T22:39:49.773-05:00Comments on I don't know, but . . .: Magicjameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3907216.post-5253787009316403432017-03-12T22:13:01.153-05:002017-03-12T22:13:01.153-05:00Tolkien and Lewis handle this in related fashions,...Tolkien and Lewis handle this in related fashions, that there are creatures whose natures and skills seem magical to others, are really not "magic" in divination and spell-casting sense. Other creatures can use some magical things, but it is generally dangerous and damaging. Plus, some sorts of mechanistic manipulations of the universe are right out.<br /><br />The OT had the Urim and Thummim, which seems to be a holdover from some pagan practice but are not forbidden, and practices that seem pretty darn close are allowed but not encouraged, like throwing fleeces. The Magi seem to be astrologers, which is forbidden to Jews but somehow not an obstacle in respecting those from Persia. All in all, there seems to be something of God meeting us where we are at but drawing us upward, leaving such things behind. The repeated lesson of the Other Gods of the OT is not so much that they are dangerous but they are powerless. They are deaf, dumb, can't help you. Unclean spirits seem to be something different, though we lump them together today.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.com