Religious faith versus Non-conformist faith and the Sims 2
Lael:
Correct me if I am wrong, but the whole issue with witchcraft in the old testament had to do with what witches mainly did back then: communicate with the dead. (Solomon and the Witch of Endor for example)
I can see how god would be somewhat displeased if addressing a soul directly in heaven and that soul suddenly takes a trip downstairs when summoned by a witch. Perhaps even faintly peeved. After all, isn't god supposed to have dominion over heaven? And you have some mortal hauling out people without so much as an 'excuse me, can I borrow so and so?' Makes sense in that context. Now death is a bit harsh, but hey, god wants to discourage such impolite behavior, and that should get people's attention on the matter. Generally, the dead people summoned weren't exactly thrilled either. You get to ultimate bliss and some shmuck hauls you back to the dirt ball you thought you were finally done with for a chat? Talk about rudeness!
It was never directly stated that satan had a thing to do with it. This was purely an ability of an individual and apparently one people were supposed to leave unused. Most old time occult matters dealt mainly with ways and means of manipulating spirits. There is another subtle reason it would be frowned on and encouraged to depart. Shamanism.
Shamanism is one of the oldest spiritual practices on the planet. And it deals mainly with spirits and communication with places other than here. Naturally, if you are founding a religion, you cannot have a local shaman coming along behind you going 'so and so says you're getting it all wrong'. In grand biblical tradition, you put such people to death because they just tend to stick around and continue calling bullshit. Also, people tend to get very caught up with the possibility of communicating with lost loved ones. Takes energy away from worship of a deity, ya know? So, you stick those loved ones in a place of ultimate happiness and tell everyone to leave them alone. Then you come up with a new name for those that practice old ways you are trying to stamp out: witch. Why? Because shaman still had the respect of many long centuries behind them. People would balk at the new rules. With the name change, it made it different enough to slip past people.
Just a thought I had out of the blue. Thought I would share it as mildly interesting as a line of speculation.
ancienthighway:
Quote
Shamanism is one of the oldest spiritual practices on the planet.
Excellant point. There's evidence of shamans dating back to the Stone Age. So when you say " you cannot have a local shaman coming along behind you going 'so and so says you're getting it all wrong'", you may just have it backwards. Shamanism was there first :)
But it's not just the church that bullied shamanism aside, medical practice did also. Shaman's were the healers and spiritual leaders of their tribe. They focused, and still do, on healing mind, body and spirit. Modern medicine believes in healing the body, controlling the mind and ignoring the spirit. Modern churches focus on controlling the mind and saving the spirit. Naturally shamans, to include all the various names for the practice, would be seen as a threat to medicine, which couldn't provide the same results scientifically, and the church, which couldn't accept it's interference with control.
Lael:
Quote from: ancienthighway;1365106
Excellant point. There's evidence of shamans dating back to the Stone Age. So when you say " you cannot have a local shaman coming along behind you going 'so and so says you're getting it all wrong'", you may just have it backwards. Shamanism was there first :)
I meant the departed were saying it. LOL:happy8: Tongue in cheek, so to speak. Naturally, the person starting an actual religion wouldn't appreciate having the ancestors sticking their departed noses in it, so they would cut off the shaman to shut them up.
Leah:
OK, I was raised Christian, although I'm Jewish by birth.
I chose to return to the faith of my mothers.
Having said that, you'd expect that my sims are either Christian or Jewish. But they're not.
I simply made up my own Sim Religion for my sims.
To me, my Creator is too high and to holy to be put into a game. But I can't very well play without a religion either - it's a too alien concept to me. Religion is in my heart, in my soul, in my whole being. It makes me who I am and determines my actions.
And on a side note: we have children and don't celebrate christmas, easter or halloween. We do celebrate the Jewish holidays, though. Our children don't feel like they miss out on anything. Actually, they pity other children because they like our holidays infinitely much better. :)
CynicalSim:
Actually, Christianity was around long before the birth of Christ. It is an erroneous thought that it only began then.
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