Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
bald,
and
Peter curses a man and woman who lied to him, and they die.
Paul curses a man pretending to be an Apostle/sorcerer, and the man goes
(You can read more about magic in the bible here, by the way)
It should be apparent, then, that the Bible doesn t contain only sweetness and lig
ht and the works of a good G-d the way many modern people might prefer it. Rather
, it contains a mix of history, folklore, philosophy, and even some occult infor
mation straddling the line of morality on all accounts. Rather than viewing it
through the lens of today, when we might not understand why anyone would resort
to cursing in the name of a higher power, it is helpful to have a little more pe
rspective. Theologian Tomas O Curraoin writes about curses in an article for th
e Irish Catholic digest The Furrow:
The stand taken by the Old Testament was certainly uncompromising; whereas the co
ntemporary world which influences us all is, to say the least, more accommodatin
g. The maledictions found in the psalms are merely an expression of that fundame
ntal attitude of the Old Testament to evil and to evil-doers. They take their or
igin in certain human situations, and express an attitude to God, to Life, to th
e cosmic struggle between good and evil, which is certainly not characteristic o
f the world-attitude today. In fact there is no question of justifying, in the s
ense of excusing, the use of curses in the psalms. The psalms are inspired, and
(from