The Movement
  • Home
    • FAQ
  • Articles
    • Challenging Truths>
      • Cut Off Your Hand
      • Forsaking Your Parents
      • God Rules, You Don’t
      • Wise Doves
      • The Narrow Way
      • Unconditional Love
      • The Cult of Selfishness
      • Total Control
      • Bitterness
      • God's No Fool
      • Criticism
      • How To Hear What You Don’t Want To Hear
    • Inspiration>
      • Faithfulness
      • Let Your Light Shine
      • Conviction Vs. Condemnation
      • Forgiveness
      • Your First Love
      • Burying Your Talents
    • Jesus>
      • What is Faith?
      • What Would False Jesus Do?
      • Accept Jesus!
      • The Spirit of Christ
      • Believe In Jesus
    • Leadership>
      • Becoming Adults
      • Personal Renewal
      • Disagreements
    • Misc>
      • The Donor
    • Money>
      • A Unique Teaching
      • Why Was Jesus Crucified?
      • God or Money: A Bible Study
      • You Can't Mean All Evils?
      • The Principle of Forsaking All
      • Fear of Poverty
      • Job Myth
      • Wages & Gifts
      • A New Economic Policy
      • Forsaking All
      • Steps To Living By Faith
    • Prophecy>
      • Endtime Prophecy & the Revelation of Jesus Christ
      • The Mark of the Beast
      • Don't Take the Mark
    • Reflections>
      • The Creator
      • Seeing The Kingdom
      • Reasoning Together
      • Constant Prayer
      • Thy Will Be Done
      • Constant Fasting
      • The Answer to Intellectual Atheism
      • Christian Science
      • Blessed are the Merciful
      • Character
      • Titles
      • Spiritual Quietness
      • Ways to Know God’s Will
      • Baptism
      • Superstition
      • The Social Conscience
      • Learning To See
    • Religion & Sincerity>
      • So Who Are They Following?
      • Respectability
      • Living By Faith
      • Non-Christian Religions
      • Why Communes Fail
      • Tracts
      • Convenient Teachings
      • Kingdom of Heaven or Religion
      • Honesty
    • Sex Issues>
      • The Social Conscience, Part 2
      • Living in Community
      • Conquering Delusions
      • The 144,000 Army, part 1
      • The 144,000 Army, part 2
      • Maintaining The 144k Perspective
      • Sex Sense
      • Morality and Sex
      • Healthy Hugs
  • Discipleship
  • Freesources
    • Not For Everyone
    • Sermon On Mount>
      • Learning To Lead
      • The Law of Love
      • Religious Abominations
      • Living By Faith
      • Nobody's Perfect
      • False Prophets
    • 240>
      • 1st Page
      • 2nd Page
    • Faith Outreaches; Part 1>
      • Faith Outreaches; Part 2
      • Faith Outreaches; Part 3
    • Verse Cards
  • Media
    • Film
    • Music
    • Images
    • Links
  • Quotes
    • Advice
    • Boundary-pushing
    • Change & Choice
    • Children
    • Death & Persecution
    • Faith & God
    • Forsaking All
    • Freedom & Happiness
    • Humour
    • Inspiration
    • Leaders
    • Life & Purpose
    • Love & Kindness
    • Misc.
    • Money & Poverty
    • Obedience
    • Sincerity
    • Truth
    • War & Peace
  • Contact

Superstition

People use terms like superstition and magic when referring to non-Christian religions, and terms like faith and miracles when referring to Christian beliefs. Is there a difference? Or are these just loaded words to make us sound spiritually superior to the opposition? The answer is a bit of both.

Certainly there is little difference between the average Catholic's attitude toward crucifixes and holy relics and that of primitive tribals toward the trinkets offered them by their healers and holy men.

But this doesn't mean real faith is nonexistent. In fact the difference between superstition and faith is almost as dramatic as that between good and evil. Superstition is based on a desire to control and use God; while faith is based on a desire to let God control you.

Superstitious faith is the kind of faith the devil has (James 2:19). Rather than believing in and fully trusting an all-powerful, all-loving supreme Being, superstitious people believe in a Force which can be controlled if they learn which ropes to pull. They assume that their human intellect can outsmart this Force, in the same way that it is possible to learn to make electricity our servant. Their faith is in their ability to control the force.

Prayer chains or similar demonstrations are based on the assumption that the more people who pray and the longer they pray, the greater is their chance of wrestling God into conforming with their desires. This is superstition.

Rarely does churchianity ever rise above the level of superstition. If we aren't using religion to get health, wealth, or a good feeling, we're using it to impress people or to guarantee a seat in heaven.

But Jesus taught that the only way we'll ever get any of this is to let go of it all. He said a servant doesn't get a trophy just for doing his job (Luke 17:7-10). And our job is to serve God, not to use him.

God has, through Jesus, made a way for us to receive eternal life, but only if he sees in our actions proof of genuine faith in him first. It does not come through superstition. Faith in the 'sinner's prayer' or other salvation rituals is nothing more than superstition... the belief that you can do some trivial act or religious work that will bring God and all his forces onto your side.

What God wants is awesome respect for his authority, and humble obedience to all that he says. Faith without such obedience is superstition.
Powered by
✕