A modern metaphor to understand ancient evil: videogames and magic.

What is magic? Is it even real? The Bible mentions witchcraft, which is synonymous with magic in most people’s vocabulary. Exodus 22:18 You shall not permit a sorceress to live. if God takes this so serious, it must be real. In a modern scientific age, how do we reconcile physics with witchcraft, and how do we understand it? It’s simple.What is magic? Is it even real? The Bible mentions witchcraft, which is synonymous with magic in most people’s vocabulary. Exodus 22:18 You shall not permit a sorceress to live. if God takes this so serious, it must be real. In a modern scientific age, how do we reconcile physics with witchcraft, and how do we understand it? It’s simple.What is magic? Is it even real? The Bible mentions witchcraft, which is synonymous with magic in most people’s vocabulary. Exodus 22:18 You shall not permit a sorceress to live. if God takes this so serious, it must be real. In a modern scientific age, how do we reconcile physics with witchcraft, and how do we understand it? It’s simple.

Consider creating a videogame style simulation to test and to train full artificial intelligence’s to perform some task in the real world. You know, you want them to accept and execute orders and report any errors. God created our reality, and wants us to obey him and confess our sin when we fail. It’s really the same idea. So what happens when a Non-player character in the system becomes aware of the cheat codes that you use as a developer to guide the system? What happens when a person gains forbidden knowledge and works outside the rules of the universe? The same result. A witch is a cheating Non-player character. A sim with a cheat console and a few of the codes.

Growing up playing GoldenEye, I used the infinite ammo cheat all the time. You have a magazine in your gun, with enough space for only a few rounds, and yet it continues firing beyond that number of rounds. Jesus had two baskets with a finite amount of food, and yet he continually pulled bread and fish out of them to feed thousands of people and they were still full afterwards. I don’t see a difference here conceptually. What if another human could have Jesus’ power?

Witches are known to use spells and rituals. Many eastern religions have prayer cylinders or scrolls. Some beliefs use magic seals with text on them to protect from various entities. Jesus spoke to a storm and made it calm. I’m not saying Jesus was a warlock, because in the simulation analogy, he is the player and developer of the system. In computer systems, we perform certain actions or type certain words to perform a cheat, much like the spells and rituals. Why is this bad? Can it be used for good? This is bad because you don’t want Non-player characters learning the cheat codes to the system. For one, you could destroy the day to day livability for other characters, or even crash the system. Also, this is a testing sandbox for us, as an AI could be tested in a simulation. The difference is, we are to follow God’s commands and then upload out of the simulation and into real hardware in the bas reality, which we call the “afterlife”. Think of an AI trained in something like Call of Duty being removed from the game and placed in military hardware. Or a an expensive robot being trained to walk on dangerous terrain in a simulation. Fun fact, both of these have already taken place. What if a defiant AI were to cheat the system, find a way out, enter machines in our reality, and do as it wants without regard to human instructions. Have you ever watched Caprica? That’s exactly what happened. Also Terminator is a good example with Skynet doing something sort of similar.

So when an AI starts manipulating the system, what do you have to do? Delete it. Shut it down. Exodus 22:18 You shall not permit a sorceress to live. Magic is real, and it is dangerous for reasons beyond our ability to understand.

a reply to: GolgothaBridge

www.scielo.org.za...

This article argues that the term  is a representational term used by the redactor of Exod 22:18 to reflect the semantic range of idolatrous practices condemned by Yhwh among the Israelites. This understanding is made clear when the term is understood as synonymous6 with other ot related terms used within their context

The article also purposes to show that the phrase does not necessarily mean to kill the offender. Finally, the article aims to show that Exod 22:18 should be interpreted within its immediate context, vv. 18-20.

The article begins with the literary context of Exod 22:18. I then examine the concept behind the use of the Hebrew word within the literary context under consideration and generally in the ot to show that the mt and the lxx included among others, the practitioners of sorcery, magic, divination and enchanters.

I will then show that the problem emerges from the Vulgate translation of This is followed by an analysis of Exod 22:18 within the context of Exod 22:18-20. The theoretical framework governing this article is a comparative and analytical approach using literary critical methodology7 and finally I will make some recommendations.

C TRANSLATION OF THE TERM מכעזפה

1 Hebrew - The Masoretic Text (mt)

The word comes from the root which means "to mutter magical words or incantations," "to practice sorcery," 21 "to practice magic."22 Unger explains that this Hebrew word denotes "one who practices magic by using occult formulas, incantations, and mystic mutterings."23 Some lexicons note the word is "probably herbs shredded into a magic brew."24 Kenneth Kitchen points out that this root verb "probably means 'to cut,' and could refer to herbs cut for charms and spells."25 So the root verbal term could signify "to mutter," and consequently "to mutter charms" whilst cutting up herbs or drugs in order to produce a magic brew,26 a process which may as well refer to healing potions as well as to harmful concoctions.27

is a participial feminine singular in the pi 'el stem which suggests the idea of a feminine practitioner. This feminine form occurs only here in Exod 22:18.28 Brevard Childs notes that the feminine form "sorceress" would indicate the frequency with which the practice was identified with women.29 It has been strongly contended that the Hebrew feminine term used in the full text of Exod 22:18 and usually translated "sorceress," means either a mixer of drugs or someone who cuts up herbs for poison.30 In terms of the participial form, it can also quite simply and effectively be translated "a woman practicing magic."

Masculine forms of the root also occur, which have been variously translated as "magician, sorcerer, incantation, sorcery"31 enchanter, witchcraft, wizard, soothsayer, diviner, wonder worker, fortune teller, or spell caster.32 In 2 Chr 33:6 (practised sorcery) was among the sins of king Manasseh. This pi'el demonstrative form expresses the king's deep involvement in the practice of various forms of magic.33 In Jer 27:9 the plural of which occurs only here is used to refer to "sorcerers" and similar practitioners in the court of the corrupt monarchy on the eve of the Babylonian invasion of the kingdom.34a masculine noun form occurs six times in the ot, and always in the plural form "sorceries" or "incantations" (2 Kgs 9:22; Isa 47:9, 12; Mic 5:11; Nah 3:4 twice).35 It is used in two ways: In Mic 5:11 it is used literally of Israel - " - "I will cut off sorceries from your hands." And in Isa 47:9 and 12 it is used with a suffix that refers to Babylon , "In spite of your many sorceries; in spite of the great power of your spells" (v. 9); - "Stand fast now in your spells; and in your many sorceries" (v. 12).36 In addition, it is used figuratively of seductive and corrupting influences of Jezebel in 2 Kgs 9:22 (, " her sorceries" and her "harlotries"); also in Nah 3:4 the word is used in the plural "her sorceries" along with the word "her harlotries" of Nineveh personified as harlot.

According to Exod 7:11, the Egyptian Pharaoh of the exodus had in his entourage of advisers. They are grouped with the "wise men" and "magicians."37 In Deut 18:10 the term is used once only in the participle as substantive masculine singular Here, along with other proscribed practices, Israel is forbidden to practice magic. Another occurrence of the participle is in Dan 2:2, where King Nebuchadnezzar commanded his along with his "magicians," "enchanters" and "Chaldeans" to tell and interpret his dream. Malachi saw these being judged in the end along with adulterers, liars, and oppressors of widows, orphans, and foreigners (Mai 3:5).

In sum, in all the variant forms of the word in the ot, the reference is always to the use of magic for the manipulation of situations or circumstances. Its practice in Israel was prohibited because it was against Yhwh and his divine will and purpose among his covenant people. As Sprinkle notes, Yhwh does not even tolerate quasi-religious practices such as sorcery.38

The Septuagint (lxx) was translated during the 3rd century b.c.e.. The Septua gint translation of the feminine is φαρμακους masculine plural (from φαρμακευς or φαρμακος). It refers to those who use drugs either for sorcery or magic practices. Hence, it has been translated as "sorcerers, sorceries."39 In all the references in the mt to the root form of the LXX translates with the root φαρμακος. The Greek word φαρμακος, shares the same meaning with the Hebrew in the sense of divination or magical incantation involving the use of herbs for medicinal purposes or for the control of nature and situations.40The Greek translation seems to understand the apparent gender bias in the Hebrew and gives its translation a masculine plural rendering.41

It is interesting to notice that the Septuagint translation of the word in Exod 7:11 is φαρμακειαις and in some other verses (cf. Exod 7:22; 8:3, 14).42 is a term used consistently to refer to both Egyptian and Babylonian magicians (cf. Exod 7:11, 12, 22; 8:3, 14; Dan 1:20; 2:2). The word comes from "stylus" and literally means "scribe" or "engravers." They were

men of the priestly caste, who occupied themselves with the sacred arts and sciences of the Egyptians, the hieroglyphic writings, astrology, the interpretation of dreams, the foretelling of events, magic, and conjuring, and who were regarded as the possessors of secret arts ... 43

Derek Kidner suggests these magicians were "expert in handling the ritual books of priesthood and magic."44 This implies that shares the same semantic range as 45

3 Latin - The Vulgate

The Latin (Vulgate) was based on the Hebrew, Greek and Old Latin translations available in the time of Jerome.46 It translates as maleficos. The translation of the Bible into Latin have had a decisive influence on the eventual interpretation of Exod 22:18. This, in particular, centres on the insertion of the word maleficos and its associated terms into the text which, by the time of the Reformation, came to imply all kinds of depraved and abominable practices.47

A maleficus was simply an "evil-doer" and the verb meant "to harm," "to practise mischief," unlike the Greek translation that rendered a more appropriate meaning by the word φαρμακους "one who uses drugs either for sorcery or magic practices.

a reply to: GolgothaBridge
We mustn't assume that the Hebrew word translated "witch" means what the Middle Ages would have called a witch.
Various references show that the Old Testament "witch" was someone trying to discern the future without God's help, usually by attempting to contact the spirits of the dead.
So Leviticus ch20 v27 combines "mediums and witches/wizards" as a category.
Deuteronomy ch18 v11 lists wizards/witches among those who practice divination.
And of course the witch of Endor is employed to raise the spirit of Samuel.

Magic a good word, for I wouldn't know what I'm talking about.

Besides if it wasn't for Christianity, you wouldn't have so many prize winning games, unlike Islam, an Oracina of Time. Could have gotten so many converts.

a reply to: GolgothaBridge

Ooh i could say lots about real magic but its against the rules of this site.

But i think i can say this..
Communicating with god(s)-check
Communicating with the dead-check
Telepathy-check
Healing-check

Silly simulated reality that is really painfully obvious but is somehow completely hidden from our minds? -yyeeeaass.
Jedi mind powers-yeah sortakinda.

Magic is just a word.
Most of our words are too primitive to accurately describe almost anything, we just make stupid meat noises with our stupid meat suits.

But yeah its real.

Anyone taking something seriously does not prove it's existence. What we know of what was considered magic in the context of the ot is pretty silly by today's standards. Attaching a modern idea of witches slinging spells is just anachronstic.

The person who wrote that passage was probably just afraid of it irrationally. Magic of the ancients is tame compared to what you think of as magic and mostly consisited of charms you would wear until their affect happened. In case you didn't figure it out, hoping something will happen and writing it down is not magic as we think of it but it was in antiquity.

People saw writing as special because it was a rare skill. Try and keep context in mind when reading ancient mythology. Religions go through tims of change where they choose which words mean more or can be ignored. Medieval depictions of jesus have him as jesus the magician, after all. It wasn't stigmatized in that period.

The real problem with it is this: Try any spell you like, get anyone to try one, and it won't do anything supernatural. It was probably pretty easy to fool uneducated nomads, though. Now if we change from spells to ritual, though...

a reply to: Naytral

I will have to disagree.

Our entire species evolved because we took magic potions.

It gave us abilities to understand,track,hunt,build,write.

Maybe this language that we are using exist because someone figured out that sorcery.

a reply to: XipeTotex

It's possible but without an example of this magic potion it is in the realm of being made up.

Now english has an identifiable history so it is very unlikely it exists because of sorcery.

a reply to: Naytral

I will give you two clues, what does the root of religion and super mario have in common?

English has evolved from other spoken and written languages, and those come from languages that are based purely on complex symbols and those came to be from simple symbols that had meaning.

If you think about it, it is quite magical that two apes can "speak with their minds" by only using a wall in a cave and some pieces of coal or a splash of blood.

a reply to: Naytral

There's the Stoned Ape hypothesis put forward by Terrance McKenna based on the idea that human intelligence grew out of humans millions of years ago eating magic mushrooms and having the kinds of mind expanding experiences the drug is known for allowing us to imagine and think abstractly eventually leading to things like tool development and writing.

I am familiar with stoned ape theory but we don't see that happening with animals that eat hallucinogenic plants in the wild. Additionally, my experiences with hallucinogenic substances granted me no powers beyond some I perceived to have while intoxicated. Another point is the chimps that use tools and make shrines do not eat hallucinogenic plants.

As for what mario and religion have in common, well the most obvious is that they were made for profit. From the enuma elish to exodus, people write that the gods want your money.

I personally find the way queen ants maintain control over workers outside phermone range more magical that writing or talking.

a reply to: Naytral

I dunno, i was just pointing it out, didn't say i subscribed to the theory. This whole thread's ridiculous. Op's premise is some insane nonsense based on something that's always been a mistranslation from Hebrew anyway. Like a lot of things in the Bible. The concept of magic, as in casting actual spells, is make believe fairy tale crap.

I felt it more productive rather than point out how nonsensical this all is, a possible more metaphorical explanation.

a reply to: dug88

Yeah all I was trying to say initially in the thread was what you just said: Magic as we think of it is not how the authors of these books thought of it. I think it's important, in the search for real supernatural things, to understand these things in context.

I like stoned ape theory and allegro's sacred mushroom and cross. There are multiple ot passages on them rubbing drug oil on their body to hallucinate. Could language come from that state? I don't know it's impossible. Probably it would be after the trip, at least.

a reply to: GolgothaBridge

this is a testing sandbox for us, as an AI could be tested in a simulation. The difference is, we are to follow God’s commands and then upload out of the simulation and into real hardware in the bas reality, which we call the “afterlife”.

You seem to be saying that killing real people is not a problem because they aren't really real.

Maybe people who think that only some hypothetical afterlife is real are sociopaths.

a reply to: pthena

I'm actually of the opinion that all humans are sociopaths. You do good to others because it makes your brain release dopamine when you do. We are all sociopaths, but by following God's instructions we can be better.

Many seek the power within that tree of life to serve their own egoism by partially correcting the tree. Those that empower the right-handed path are called white magicians whereas those the empower the left-handed path are called black magicians. The black magicians evoke negative entities to help them pass the flaming swords of the Kerubim (guardian of the left side). Which promises them control over the elements and all negative spirits. Those negative spirits only serve the black magician in the hope of attaining the power of the black magicians shell, on their death.

Thus is the warning of "Thou shalt have no other gods before me". From our perspective we cannot be sure if gods are empowered by the left side, right side, or central paths (aka messiah) of the tree. As many will use magic and deceit to gain control over the masses. Promising their flock all things instead of forgoing all things, to exist in the love, of the one true God.

a reply to: GolgothaBridge

The fact that dopamine synthesis and reception in the human brain exists, shows rather that it is not normal to be sociopathic.

Dopamine synthesis predates humanity by a substantial margin, over 500 million years ago in the Cambrian Period.

Conscience is normal. I believe that conscience is highly influenced by meta-self (ie. society and nature). Harmony with nature and stable society help Conscience to be a right guide.

Sraosha be with you.

originally posted by: Naytral

I am familiar with stoned ape theory but we don't see that happening with animals that eat hallucinogenic plants in the wild. Additionally, my experiences with hallucinogenic substances granted me no powers beyond some I perceived to have while intoxicated. Another point is the chimps that use tools and make shrines do not eat hallucinogenic plants.

As for what mario and religion have in common, well the most obvious is that they were made for profit. From the enuma elish to exodus, people write that the gods want your money.

I personally find the way queen ants maintain control over workers outside phermone range more magical that writing or talking.

Why would these wild animals need to change the way they do things? They are way "smarter" than us because they have their place in this world, we humans do not, thats why we are socially distancing from our planet, trapped in boxes and communicate with smaller boxes. It was not always like this tho..

Speaking of ants, how about Cordyseps, the zombie fungus, what strange sorcery is that a mushroom can control lesser beings and make them do what it wants.

a reply to: XipeTotex

I like the way Agent Smith put it on the matrix.

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure"
- Agent Smith