I’ve been looking for intelligent answers in cyberspace–and there aren’t as many as I expected. Jason Smith at Reformed Always Being Reformed has a review of a BBC show on Merlin that makes some good points. He zeroes in on what I think is the most fundamental issue: “The penalty for magic use was death because magic essentially is a rejection of the true God and an embracing of false gods or forces.” In that sense, magic is another kind of idolatry-seeking meaning or control through something other than God.

If magic is wrong because it rejects the true God to embrace other gods or forces, however, magic isn’t much different from secular materialism, Today’s technologists reject the true God and embrace other means to get what they want. Does it matter whether one uses a pentagram or a website, a potion or pharmaceuticals?

Jason’s definition is a little more specific: he says magic rejects the true God to seek false gods or forces. Chemistry and physics have the virtue of being real–magic isn’t based on matter or energy or any laws of nature that we know about. Any magic that relies on false forces is a fraud–if there’s nothing real at work, then “magic” is just sleight of hand and trickery. Is that what God forbids? It seems unlikely!

It isn’t “false forces” that make magic wrong–it’s false gods. If there is any reality to magic, then something must make it real. We know it isn’t the God of the Bible, for the Bible prohibits magic. It can’t be the laws of nature (as we know them), or it would be technology, not magic. The only way that magic can be real is if there is something else that is real enough and strong enough to overcome the laws of nature enough to produce magical effects. Magic may be just as real as Satan.