The Bible’s Viewpoint
Are Superstitions Harmless?
WHEN a group of psychology students placed a ladder against a wall on a busy London street, passersby faced a dilemma: stay on the curb and walk under the ladder, or step off the curb and dodge the traffic. Seven out of every ten pedestrians avoided the ladder.
Indeed, many people, if pressed, admit to harboring one or two pet superstitions. What about you? Do you sometimes feel the urge to knock on wood, cross your fingers, or toss some salt over your left shoulder? And if so, did you ever stop to think why?
Superstitions are not viewed as all that serious by some. As author Robertson Davies explains: “Parapsychology, UFO’s, miracle cures, transcendental meditation . . . are condemned, but superstition is merely deplored.”
Others view superstitions as insignificant, not serious at all. “Let’s view them with tolerance and amusement,” says one book on superstitions. Many people do that. They reason, ‘If they do no good, they are at least harmless.’ But are they?
Harmless or Harmful?
“Behavior doesn’t exist without meaning,” says Dr. Alan Dundes, a university teacher of folklore. “People would not practice customs unless they meant something to the psyche.” These superstitious beliefs, say researchers, are no less than “a window into the psyche.” So why don’t we open that “window” and see what reasons lie behind?
Psychologist Edward Hornick says that “superstitions are one of life’s better props.” But do you not agree that the value of a prop, or support, depends on what sort of foundation it has? For example, the chair on your solid kitchen floor makes a fine, harmless prop. But would you sit on that chair if it was placed on quicksand? Of course not.
The same determining factor applies to superstitions, “life’s better props.” What is their foundation? Are they based on solid Bible teachings or, perhaps, quicksandlike false religious ideas?
‘That sounds farfetched,’ you may think. ‘I can’t see how avoiding a ladder, knocking on wood, or customs like that have anything to do with religious beliefs.’ Yet, there is a connection. Take the ladder superstition as an example.
Sometimes it is prudent to walk around a ladder to avoid a falling tool, yet is it not true that even when a ladder poses no danger, some people still avoid it to avert “bad luck”? But on what is the custom based? Well, a ladder against a wall forms a triangle. “And a triangle,” explains the Encyclopædia of Superstitions, “has always been symbolical of the Trinity.” Thus, walking under a ladder became tantamount to defying the Trinity, an intrusion into holy space, and that, notes the same reference, would “play into the hands of the Evil One.” However, is the Trinity a solid Bible teaching?
On the contrary, the Trinity teaching originated in ancient pagan religions. God’s Word, though, refutes the Trinity idea. It says that Jehovah is superior to Christ. (John 14:28; 1 Corinthians 11:3) Thus, the ladder superstition is based on a false religious idea. So is the superstition of tossing salt over your left shoulder.
Salt, a preservative, came to symbolize life and good fortune. If you spill some, so goes the superstition, you must appease the Devil and the demons. And since they are always on your left, the sinister side (sinister is Latin for “on the left side”), you have to toss some over your left shoulder. Does not appeasing imply making concessions? Yes, and that flies in the face of Scriptural warnings: “Oppose the Devil,” “neither allow place for the Devil,” and “stand firm against . . . the Devil.” (James 4:7; Ephesians 4:27; 6:11) Therefore, this superstition is also based on beliefs contrary to the Bible.
Harmful—In What Manner?
‘That may be true, but when I avoid a ladder or toss salt I’m not even thinking about the Trinity or the Devil, much less honoring those,’ you may object. ‘It’s just a habit. How could it harm me?’ In this way: If you know that certain superstitious customs are based on lies, but you continue to practice such customs, then you are like the person who knows that his chair rests on quicksand but says: ‘I just won’t think about the quicksand, so it won’t harm me,’ and sits on the chair anyway. (Revelation 22:15) He is in danger, and so may you be. Why?
You may begin to depend more and more on superstitions, and before you know it, they may rule your life. And since superstitions are based on lies, you could become, in effect, a slave of “the father of the lie,” Satan. (John 8:44) That, in turn, may lead to enslavement to another practice based on lies—spiritism.
True, at first glance superstitions seem harmless enough, but give them another good look and you will discern what they really are—at the least useless and at the most harmful.
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“Remember, too, that superstitions offer an immature individual an excuse for blaming some power beyond himself for his bad fortune.”—Superstitious? Here’s Why!