My friend has been telling me that for the last month now, ever since the topic of religion became a common theme between us. That is why last week’s discussion of which is worse, murder or magic, took me by surprise. And then I realized that while in the eyes of god there may not be any differentiation between the two – in the eyes of man there is. Religious figures have constantly been trying to determine which sin carries more gravity than others and how to cleanse the soul of that sin.
If we look back to Burchard of Worms on page 63 of Kors and Peters it is plain to see that even he was trying to find ways for a person to repent. Depending on their crime, the punishment would alter. From that we can gather even in 1008, Christians were trying to level out just what sin is worse.
According to the church which is worse: magic or murder?
Martin Luther would have you believe that magic was worse. His argument for that is based on the first commandment, which is not to worship false idols. He states that magic is a form of worshiping the devil and therefore breaking the first commandment. But I do not overly agree with this sentiment. While the church did believe that all evil magic was the work of the devil, good magic was still done by the church. With that in mind, magic can be achieved by worshiping God.
Murder on the other hand is outlined strictly as prohibited in the ten commandments. "Thou shalt not kill." It is not arguable as to if a person is dead or nearly dead, unlike in the Princess Bride. Once you have committed the sin of murder, you have broken the sixth commandment and there is no arguing the fact. By that logic, the ten commandments state that the act of murder is more grievous a sin than murder. In conclusion: in the eyes of the church, murder is worse than magic.
Do you think that religious figures have been trying to find out which sins are worse than others because a mortal sin requires much more penance than a venial sin? You have to agree that saying God when you are not praying is not as bad as murdering someone. Also what was the good magic being done by the Church at the time?
ReplyDeleteI personally would agree that saying God's name in vain is not as bad as murder. But that is why I tried to differentiate God's view and man's view. To God, they may be one and the same. Shame we can't ask him!
DeleteBut some examples of good magic done by the church by that time: Moses parting the Red Sea, Jesus turning water to wine, ceremonies to bring fertility back to the land for crops. They were called miracles instead of magic, but they are essentially the same. The power just comes from a different source: God instead of the Devil.
But the difference between magic and miracles gets even more messed up when you think about things that Passavanti and Aquinas said about the relation of God and the Devil. Even though the Devil has a lot of power within nature, God has ultimate power over EVERYTHING. And God can use the Devil to achieve His own ends. So if God is forcing the Devil to do magic... is it a miracle?
DeleteIt could also be possible that since the big focus at the time was eradicating magic, church leaders might have put more emphasis on the evils of magic than on murder. They might have just been more concerned with magic, and thus upped to severity of it.
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