Expert: Dr. Tim Gladu Date: 6/13/2008 Subject: A Question about Neopaganism
Question Hello, I attended a Baptist church for most of my young life. I no longer agree with Baptist doctrine but I remain a Protestant Christian.
My question simply is, do you, as a minister, and a knowledgeable person of religious matters, consider Wicca evil or bad? I never realized that it was a legitimate belief until I learned Ft. Hood, TX has a church for it.
Answer Gregory,
I will be brief because I do not want you to think I am some kind of narrow minded fanatic. During seminary I had a class on cults and one of the cults I studied was WICCA. The main idea of WICCA is that there is no central teaching. You could go to many different places in the country and you will find that each group of WICCA teach something different. If you still believe in Christianity then the Bible speaks about witchcraft as bad and I know that the Old Testament speaks not to allow a which to live. This is a little harsh and does not mean that we should kill people. I have had encounters with a WICCA high priestess and we had many different discussions about religion. She was raised Catholic and was just getting away from the feeling that you are always guilty and always need to be asking some guy behind a screen to forgive you of your sins. Christ is our High Priest and He is who we speak to and ask forgiveness and that is all I need to know. If you truly want to get into WICCA then I will not say that you need to check it out before you even think about getting involved. Just because someone has a building and it says church on it does not mean that it is correct. The church of Satan has buildings and even a Satan Bible would you consider that something you would want to get involved with. Considering something evil or bad is a choice that you have to really consider for yourself. I would consider WICCA to be from men and if it takes you away from Christ then I guess it could be considered bad or evil. Check it out and make sure that you are well informed.
