Expert: Rev. Stuart Woodward - 5/28/2007

Question
I have come to the understanding that once a person changes their way of thinking to the point of living a new life the they are reborn into that life...  I lived as a Christian for many years, not feeling like it was right, I consulted with God one night in my room , just me and God.  I found that closeness to be much more responsive for me than anything I had felt in CHURCH.  Before I am ridiculed, I'm not saying I've given up on Christ, He still guides me to a point, but I have found going directly to the source of all creation gets me where I feel I need to be a little faster.  That's not my question though, I just felt you should know where I am coming from...   My question is this, If magick is forbidden, then why did I spend all those Sun. in CHURCH performing what is nothing less than a mass ceremonial casting for the betterment of mankind? That is praying for God to make miracles happen.  What is the difference, as you see it?  Tell me cause as far as I can tell ... someone in the HISTORY of Christianity made a vast mistake in the recopying of GOD's word.  any way just some food for thought, I would appreciate hearing all you have to say on anything I've talked about.     Thank you  d.

Answer
Hello Daniel,
Thank you for your question, although I am not altogether sure what your question is. You don't tell me the kind of church of which you have experience so it is difficult for me to comment on those experiences.
I don't think anyone made any significant errors in copying God's word but there is no doubt the Christian church over the years has not always applied it as it should.
However there are certain things which are fundamental to Christian faith. You seem to make a division between Christ and God that the bible would never make. Father, Son and Spirit are in total agreement on all things. Also the bible is clear that salvation, that is the forgiveness of sin and acceptance by God, are to be found only through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
However, there is more. Many churches then fail to make the point that all this is appropriated through an experience of the Holy Spirit that Jesus, in John 3, describes as being born again.
Your description of church is nothing like what I experience all the time. The church is the community of those born again, committed to one another in passionate and sacrificial love and committed to taking the good news of Jesus' love to the world. Most of all it is a community of those who know the Lord, love Him and spiritually experience Him.
Over the centuries there have been many who had spiritual experiences that, because they failed to root them in the objective truth of the bible, have led those individuals into isolation, significant error or even extreme cultism.
The bible tells us that the human heart is deceitful above all things. We are quite capable of making God in our own image and sorting out a religion of subjective convenience that is dangerous.
The bible is clear that we are saved by grace through faith alone into a community of mutual accountability. This safeguards us from the danger of self centred extremism.
It is certainly true that Christian faith is all about a new birth by the Spirit of God and a continual walk with God that we experience. If you haven't been taught that in church or encountered that in church then I suggest you look around for there are many vibrant communities of faith that have nothing at all to do with 'magic' and everything to do with a living encounter with Almighty God through Jesus Christ.
I don't go to church because it is expected but because it is there that God is most powerfully encountered, in that living temple that the bible describes as the family of God.
I hope these comments are of some help and wish you God's blessing.
Stuart Woodward.