Witch Trials and the Bible.

[Gymnophoria]

Hey everyone.

I've just finished reading a fantastic book called Witchfinder: Gallows at Twilight. Part of it is set in 1645 during the witch trials (more information on them is here)
Matthew Hopkins (self appointed Witchfinder General) was trying to find proof that a boy in the book was a witch while a minister argued against him. Basically, during the actual court trial, Hopkins said that Leviticus states "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" and the minister mentioned that Leviticus also says "Thou shalt not kill"

I've never paid a lot of attention to the bible but this really made me think. I mean, I know the bible is up to the authors' interpretations and translations etc. but it just seems to me like "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" doesn't mean you should kill someone accused of being a witch. To me it sounds more like "Do not make life suffering for a witch" if that makes sense. In other words, if they're a witch, don't persecute them and make life hard for them.

Any other opinions on this?
Are there any other parts of the bible that blatantly say a 'witch' must die?

[Anthropomorphic]

Despite the fact that one of the Ten Commandments is "Thou Shall Not Kill", there is a starkly overwhelming number of times in which the killing of heathens, nonbelievers or sinners is condoned.

Setting aside for now the entire idea of hypocrisy and contradiction in the Bible, what allows a priest (or anyone else) to determine if a person is a witch? Are there standards? Symptoms? Signs? What happens if these are misinterpreted? If it really is a sin to make false accusations, then how do you get rid of only the witches and not anyone else?

The entire thing is completely illogical to me.

[Megan1]

There is a big difference between the Old Testament (which is what Leviticus is in) and the New Testament (which is what we are living in now and have been for almost 2,000 years). In the Old Testament (before Jesus died to take our sins away), it was okay to kill people for justice/punishment, but wrong for any other reason. However, when Jesus died for us, He took our punishments for us.....so it is no longer okay to punish people by killing- and it should not be done to anyone today for any reason.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

Although it's not in the bible, the pope did ask Christians (two monks in particular) to construct a book, named Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for Hammer of the Witches). It went through numerous versions but was centered on the idea that to figure out if someone is a witch, something horrible must be done to them and when it is confirmed they are a witch, they must either die or be tortured (which usually killed them anyway). Eventually, the pope outlawed the usage of the Malleus Maleficarum due to its savage brutal content but it was used throughout the witch trials. None of it is in the bible because it was a separate book and as I said, became outlawed and removed from usage. The techniques for interrogation and torture I don't think were inspired from the bible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum

[Anthropomorphic]

Originally Posted by Megan1

There is a big difference between the Old Testament (which is what Leviticus is in) and the New Testament (which is what we are living in now and have been for almost 2,000 years). In the Old Testament (before Jesus died to take our sins away), it was okay to kill people for justice/punishment, but wrong for any other reason. However, when Jesus died for us, He took our punishments for us.....so it is no longer okay to punish people by killing- and it should not be done to anyone today for any reason.

But if the Old Testament is subservient to the New Testament, why keep it? And furthermore, if the rules of God have been readjusted into the settings laid out by the New Testament, then why were the Witch Trials and executions carried out in such a manner? They most certainly occurred well after the writing of the New Testament.

[Epsilon]

Originally Posted by Devil

But if the Old Testament is subservient to the New Testament, why keep it? And furthermore, if the rules of God have been readjusted into the settings laid out by the New Testament, then why were the Witch Trials and executions carried out in such a manner? They most certainly occurred well after the writing of the New Testament.

The New Testament fulfills the Old Testament. Laws of the Old Testament were the legal system for the ancient civilization of the Israel and were written specifically for Israel. So Christians do not practice all of the minuscule and legalistic precepts of the jewish law in the old testament. There are however perfectly good moral laws contained within the old testament civilizational law that we still hold onto today and these laws are summarized in the 10 commandments and Jesus further summarized them in only 2: Love God with all your heart, all your soul,all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

The moral principles against practicing witchcraft still exist since Christians believe it is wrong. But back in the middle ages and up until the rise of democracies Church and State were often intertwined and religious offenses were prosecuted by the state. The Church would say that such and such is wrong, but it was the state that would actually enact penalties on people for these things through their laws. But with the fragmenting of Christianity in Europe after the reformation, and after the 30 years war, the peace of westphalia was agreed upon that states that every ruler has the right to decide what religion is practiced in his territory, and so from this a lot of witch hunts happened because individual rulers would go on their own witch hunts in their own lands and this eventually spilled over into America from the puritans. So I would say the witch hunts continued because a moral principle against witch craft was used as fuel for the states to go after people.