Much Christian doctrine is centred on the magic and the supernatural.
Jesus is said to have performed miracles, risen from the dead,
Now be waiting for us in glorious heaven.
Such stories are rife in the Bible, endorsing childish concepts
of spells and magic, wizards and witches, endemic to the Helenic world.
They may be late additions to the Gospels to meet popular expectations
as the stories of Jesus were spread to the charismatic gentile world.
The ethos of magical transformation
within such stories as casting demons into pigs,
is repeated today by charismatic healers,
that deny the deadliness of the Corona Virus
and preach that they have defeated it
through the power of prayer -
so assisting its spread.
These stories represent the attraction of a childish faith,
drawn to the maternal figure who rights all wrongs,
or to the paternal who is all-powerful, conquers all.
Such a faith does not question its basis,
nor look its dubious reality in the eye,
but accepts what it is told
and follows obediently,
even blindly,
maybe.
As such, it can not be challenged
for it can only repeat the "truths" of what it believes.
It can not discuss beyond those truths, for they are foundational.
It dare not seek a reality that lies beyond its boundaries
nor stray beyond the lines that have been drawn.
Yet that is where life really lies
in practical terms.
MAGICAL MINISTRY
