Why I kept studying
I came back to Christianity and kept studying other spiritual systems.
I grew up with a broad rule: stay away from anything occult, mystical, or strange. Reading Scripture again gave me a more specific line.
Specific practices.
- Divination
- Sorcery
- Omens
- Mediums
- Spiritists
- Consulting the dead
Deuteronomy 18:10-12
Testing.
- Test the spirits.
- Test everything. Keep what is good. Reject what is evil.
- Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
1 John 4:1 · 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 · Matthew 10:16
The line
Studying a system is a different act from submitting to it.
I take the Deuteronomy warnings seriously. I cannot test something I refuse to understand at all.
The full reasoning
Deuteronomy 18 names divination, sorcery, omens, mediums, spiritists, and consulting the dead. I take those warnings seriously.
I read a specific prohibition as a specific prohibition. Studying what a system claims is a different act from submitting to it or practicing it.
The testing passages changed the question for me. I do not have to believe everything I encounter. I do have to discern, and discernment requires looking closely enough to tell the difference.
Then there is Jesus
Jesus teaches people to participate in the works.
He does more than perform extraordinary acts. He gives authority, sends, and explains failure.
Matthew 10:1, 7-8
He gives authority and sends them
The disciples go out to heal and cast out demons.
Luke 10:17
They return and report
They describe what happened when they went and did it.
Matthew 17:19-20
They fail and ask why
A failed attempt has a cause. Jesus answers them.
John 14:12
He expects the works to continue
Whoever believes will do the works he did, and greater.
The systems question
What makes the act work?
What conditions are present?
Before the act works.
What does the person actually do?
The action itself.
What changes when it fails?
The reason the outcome differs.
That is what I mean by a spiritual science: something underneath the act can be learned.
Why Matthew 17 changed how I think about miracles
Matthew 10 says Jesus gives the disciples authority over unclean spirits and disease, then sends them to heal and cast out demons. They do more than watch him.
In Matthew 17 the disciples fail, ask why, and Jesus answers them. A failed attempt has a cause. The disciples expect an explanation, and Jesus gives one.
The teaching process is distinct from the science itself. It is evidence that there is something underneath the act that can be learned.
How I practice now
I study. I test. I keep my allegiance to Christ.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21StudyWhat a tradition claims, asks a person to do, requires, and produces.
- 1 John 4:1TestAgainst Scripture, the character of Christ, and the fruit it produces.
- John 16:13Keep allegiance to ChristUnderstanding a system never means accepting its authority.
What that looks like in practice
I want to know what a spiritual tradition claims, what it asks a person to do, what conditions it says are required, and what those practices produce.
My Christian practice has two guardrails. I read Scripture and test what I encounter against it. I ask the Holy Spirit for understanding and expect to be guided into truth.
This is my reading
Other Christians weigh these passages differently.
Brothers and sisters I respect emphasize the text differently and disagree strongly with me. This page is the reading I have arrived at and the way I practice it.
Why I expect disagreement
I believe the Holy Spirit gives us understanding for the work and purpose each of us is called to. Different callings can read the same passages with different weight.