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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chris land who wrote (30523)	6/30/2000 4:28:18 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 39621

>Now do you think you are more compassionate towards life than God? < Depends which God you are talking about. But I know you of old son, and I can tell you just about anyone on the planet is more compassionate than your God- mass murderers excluded.

To: Chris land who wrote (30523)	6/30/2000 6:37:40 PM
From: Jacques Chitte	Respond to of 39621

What place is crawling with witches? How do we spot the witch? What distinguishes an actual witch from some witch wannabe or a merely "doctrinally undesirable" person? Has there been even one single genuine verified witch in the last 1000 years? If the test of a witch is proving league with the Devil or one of his minions, the answer is a resounding No. In which case the Church has thousands of intemperate first-degree murders on her collective conscience. How do you prove that somebody is a witch??

To: Chris land who wrote (30523)	6/30/2000 7:34:16 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

Quite honestly, Chris, in my several trips to Salem, I've never met what I would have considered a "real" witch, at least what I think you mean by the definition. Lots of touristy displays, capitalism at its best. But nothing that gave me the sensation of looking evil in the eye, unless you count the way I felt hearing and reading about what the religious community did back in 1692. Is that what you mean by crawling with witches-? Because I think we come to a major parting of the ways definitionally if so.<p><br><br> Speaking of definitions, there has been a lot of debate regarding that verse of Exodus you quote. So maybe you had better tell me what it means to you or what you think God meant by it-- if He said it. The word "witch" may have derived from any number of roots, and could have had several different meanings. The more modern concept- the one which I think you may be using- really developed during the days of the Inquisition. Unfortunately it was used more to blame people for having better crops, healthier children, and an amazing ability to kill your cow by having their cat walk by it, than any of the original Old Testament etymologies.<br><br> But rather than have some logomachic debate, I think my question was only this:<p><br> Did you feel that the Will of God was being done during the Salem Witch trials, that these actions were sanctioned by God and were thus legitimate-- do you really feel that these people-- and the thousands in Europe-- deserved to be tortured and to die? And if so, why?< What IS a witch in God's eyes, please? ANd are you willing to sit in judgment on these purveyors of witchy sweatshirts and little bags of herbs and sentence them to death by hanging?

To: Chris land who wrote (30523)	6/30/2000 7:36:02 PM
From: Thomas C. White	Respond to of 39621

The record of the church in general on the subject of finding actual, bonafide, Satan-worshiping, baby-sacrificing witches was pretty weak. During the period of the Inquisition, about 75 percent of those accused were women. Generally, those accused were of the lower class of society (very few women of the merchant classes and nobility were accused, for some reason or another). Midwives were particularly vulnerable, since they were often blamed for the death or disappearance of a child. Both infant mortality and infanticide were very common, and the midwife was often made the scapegoat and denounced to the ecclesiastical authorities. Others who were often accused were the village "scolds," often crotchety old ladies that were unpleasant to people. The senile and mentally deranged were also often accused, as well as those with large numbers of moles and warts, which were thought to be marks of the devil. It is thought that, although Satan worship certainly did actually exist in small pockets, very few genuine witches were actually prosecuted. Conduct of the Inquisition with regard to witches was largely governed by a church-approved text called the Malleus Maleficarum, the "Witch Hammer," published about 1486, which detailed the proper methods for identifying, accusing, torturing, and passing sentence upon witches. It became for a century the second most popular book in print behind the Bible. Much of it has been translated into English online at the following link: paganteahouse.com In particular, the higher ecclesiastical authorities operated on something of a "body-count" basis, where each village and city was expected to come up with its "fair share" of witches. Many villages and cities over-reported their executions of witches in order to demonstrate their zeal for ferreting out witchcraft. Perhaps the most reliable estimate is that between 100,000 and 300,000 were officially burned over the course of the Inquisition. Interestingly, the execution of witches in England had ceased prior to the events of Salem, as the populace grew disgusted with witch trials. Although, to be fair, there was also a great deal of opposition to the Salem witch trials within the Puritan community outside of Salem, including Increase Mather. Many Puritans found the trials to be a travesty and an embarrasment.

To: Chris land who wrote (30523)	6/30/2000 7:42:44 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

So how many witches have YOU killed? Or are you all talk?

To: Chris land who wrote (30523)	7/2/2000 10:40:00 AM
From: SusieQ	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 39621

Hi Chris,,, what verse says "Thou show not suffer a witch to live"???? and what version of the bible are you using??? tia Susie

To: Chris land who wrote (30523)	7/2/2000 12:45:36 PM
From: mark silvers	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 39621

Chris, Perhaps a differnt viewpoint will help you relax your mindset. "Peace is not a rlationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a stae of mind. Lasting peace can only come to peaceful people." Jawaharal Nehru "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa Mark