Are science and magic closely related?
I was on the campus of a
highly respected technical university reaching out through Gospel
conversations, and I thought it was ironic that an electrical
engineering student I talked with, named Chris, told me how he has been
conducting experiments in Wiccan magic as part of a required project for
a history class. One wouldn’t think that a science-based university
would take medieval magic seriously, but his class focused on the
development of science from medieval magic practices and beliefs.
Chris
said he had been intrigued and inspired by this class, because in the
same way that science relies on known physical laws to conduct
controlled experiments and predict outcomes, magic and sorcery rely on
prescribed spells and incantations said to control the supernatural.
God as the “higher power” is then believed to be more like an energy
source that can be controlled rather than a personality with a mind of
his own. In this way, both science and magic give a sense of power and
authority to man rather than to God. Man is given the decision to
select and use the various rules of science and/or magic to accomplish
his own purposes.
But isn’t that also what so many religious
rules tend to do? If we make the mistake of viewing religion like a
banquet table filled with rules and beliefs for us to take our pick of
which we will follow and which we will ignore, we are treating God like
an impersonal power to manipulate for our own purposes. We are building
our own personal idol rather than worshiping the living God.
Maybe
that’s why Jesus said “Follow me” (not just follow his religion); or
why He said to “Know me” (not just to know about Him). He invites us
to pray from our hearts, as a child to our Father, not just to babble
incantations, and He invites us to a relationship, not magical rituals.
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