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Most of Christianity takes a dim view of itself being mixed with spiritualism (not to be confused with spirituality).
(Isaiah 8:19) And when they shall say to you, Seek to the mediums and to wizards who peep and mutter; should not a people seek to their God, than for the living to the dead?
Mediums are just skilled "cold readers" anyway. They aren't going to actually put you in touch with your deceased loved one, not without pumping you for a lot of info in advance. Try going to one of those folks and just say you have a loved one in mind you want to talk to but you aren't going to provide any other info. Then just sit back and fold your arms. They will ask you a million questions "... is it ... I'm sensing ... someone very close to you, perhaps a spouse ..." just say nothing and look bored. They will get nowhere if they can't wring little dribs and drabs of info from you. Although the really good ones may read subtle changes in body language almost like a lie detector would.
I'm sorry to inform you that death is final for your purposes, even from a Christian perspective. The more conservative Christians at least will tell you that you are just consorting with evil spirits if you get any result that seems compelling to you.
If you want closure with a loved one you'll get as much results by imagining an encounter in between your ears.
In Deuteronomy 18:10-12 mediums are prohibited under the Mosaic Law.
What is the Mosaic Law?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mordant
Most of Christianity takes a dim view of itself being mixed with spiritualism (not to be confused with spirituality).
(Isaiah 8:19) And when they shall say to you, Seek to the mediums and to wizards who peep and mutter; should not a people seek to their God, than for the living to the dead?
Mediums are just skilled "cold readers" anyway. They aren't going to actually put you in touch with your deceased loved one, not without pumping you for a lot of info in advance. Try going to one of those folks and just say you have a loved one in mind you want to talk to but you aren't going to provide any other info. Then just sit back and fold your arms. They will ask you a million questions "... is it ... I'm sensing ... someone very close to you, perhaps a spouse ..." just say nothing and look bored. They will get nowhere if they can't wring little dribs and drabs of info from you. Although the really good ones may read subtle changes in body language almost like a lie detector would.
I'm sorry to inform you that death is final for your purposes, even from a Christian perspective. The more conservative Christians at least will tell you that you are just consorting with evil spirits if you get any result that seems compelling to you.
If you want closure with a loved one you'll get as much results by imagining an encounter in between your ears.
To be fair, I've seen a couple of mediums (with skeptics who gave positive testimonies) who asked for no info from the person and then started giving out info that made the person's jaw drop. eg: if someone's dad passed away and their dad's name was "Jackson Rodriguez", there is no way you can easily guess. But if the medium said "for some reason, the name 'Jackson' keeps popping up", that would shock me if there is nothing in the room that gave a clue to the name.
By the way, what does that verse from Isaiah mean?
Most of Christianity takes a dim view of itself being mixed with spiritualism (not to be confused with spirituality).
(Isaiah 8:19) And when they shall say to you, Seek to the mediums and to wizards who peep and mutter; should not a people seek to their God, than for the living to the dead?
Mediums are just skilled "cold readers" anyway. They aren't going to actually put you in touch with your deceased loved one, not without pumping you for a lot of info in advance. Try going to one of those folks and just say you have a loved one in mind you want to talk to but you aren't going to provide any other info. Then just sit back and fold your arms. They will ask you a million questions "... is it ... I'm sensing ... someone very close to you, perhaps a spouse ..." just say nothing and look bored. They will get nowhere if they can't wring little dribs and drabs of info from you. Although the really good ones may read subtle changes in body language almost like a lie detector would.
I'm sorry to inform you that death is final for your purposes, even from a Christian perspective. The more conservative Christians at least will tell you that you are just consorting with evil spirits if you get any result that seems compelling to you.
If you want closure with a loved one you'll get as much results by imagining an encounter in between your ears.
Some Christians pray to dead saints for favors and expect a good outcome. The Catholic mass asks churchgoers to repeat "lord hear our prayer" and asks a deceased Jesus Christ for favors. So from a Christian perspective, trying to make contact with dead people is ok if it's done in church, but not by medium?
Some Christians pray to dead saints for favors and expect a good outcome. The Catholic mass asks churchgoers to repeat "lord hear our prayer" and asks a deceased Jesus Christ for favors. So from a Christian perspective, trying to make contact with dead people is ok if it's done in church, but not by medium?
There is always special pleading for Jesus, and besides, they have the doctrine that he is both fully god and fully man. So you are still praying to god, and the human aspect of him was brought back to life anyway, so he is no longer dead.
The prohibition against spiritists and mediums always resonated with me because it is just protecting you from the manipulation of charlatans, whether you believe them to be channeling demons or not. Although as you mention, Catholics communicate with saints, the protestantism I was associated with regarded that, along with spiritism in general, to be full of opportunity for deception. In our view, you had the Bible, you didn't need special revelation or insight beyond that. Of course we had an overdetermined view of how reliable and clear cut the Bible was, too, but that's a separate topic.
At this point though if I wanted to go to a medium for entertainment purposes I would. It just has zero appeal to me -- it is on a level with going to a circus to see the bearded lady. *yawn*
There is always special pleading for Jesus, and besides, they have the doctrine that he is both fully god and fully man. So you are still praying to god, and the human aspect of him was brought back to life anyway, so he is no longer dead.
The prohibition against spiritists and mediums always resonated with me because it is just protecting you from the manipulation of charlatans, whether you believe them to be channeling demons or not. Although as you mention, Catholics communicate with saints, the protestantism I was associated with regarded that, along with spiritism in general, to be full of opportunity for deception. In our view, you had the Bible, you didn't need special revelation or insight beyond that. Of course we had an overdetermined view of how reliable and clear cut the Bible was, too, but that's a separate topic.
At this point though if I wanted to go to a medium for entertainment purposes I would. It just has zero appeal to me -- it is on a level with going to a circus to see the bearded lady. *yawn*
I, too was, raised Protestant. My dad does not like the Catholic church. Though asking my dad to teach me the ways of the Catholic church is a bad way of learning about the Catholic church. I no longer identify myself any denomination now but fortunately, my wife, who is Catholic, is able to answer the questions I have about the Church and her faith in a way that seems reasonable. But anyways......that's for a seperate discussion.
I find mediums to be interesting, though I do wonder if mediums are aware that they could be channeling a demon spirit disguising themselves as loved one.
By the way, what does that verse from Isaiah mean?
I think its basic point is that you should seek god for information or wisdom you're after, not random spirits or dead people, or people claiming to "channel" them.
The quaint phrasing about "mutter and peep" refers to the fact that in the ancient world, it was often the crazy people who were thought to be channeling spirits, it gave them a venue in which to act weird that society accepted within certain limits. So essentially if you were seeing a medium you were consulting the town mutterer. It provided atmosphere and ambience so to speak.
Today though it's more like that kid on the reality show who goes around dazzling Hollywood personalities with his "readings". It isn't fashionable in our society to do some sort of 19th century style seance in a dark room with the person presiding over it going into some sort of trance and being possessed and ... again ... acting strangely. We like to do it in broad daylight with a patina of sophistication these days.
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