Dear Leodini,
May I ask you an impertinent question? Are professional magicians atheists?
I have talked to many magicians, friends and acquaintances alike. I noticed they were all skeptical of miracles and unexplained phenomena.
During their shows, they talk about psychic abilities, teleportations, apparitions, vanishes, and a host of mysteries, but in real life they doubt their existence. To them, miracles and inexplicable occurrences can be explained by secret methods and trickery.
Why the wholesale skepticism about things science has no definitive answers yet?
Yours truly,
Mr. Curious
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Hi Mr. Curious,
Your impertinent question deserves an impertinent answer.
Rejecting the concept and existence of a deity is not a requirement for pursuing a magic profession. Trust me, there are lots of abilities required of a performer to become good at magic, but atheism is not one of them.
Of course, not all professional magicians are atheists. For the part of Inner Magic Club, we always start our weekly meetings and annual public shows (usually staged in theaters) with a prayer. We also have members who are gospel magicians. They preach the teachings of the Scriptures, using magic as a visual aid.
However, a magician well-versed in his art will not easily accept unexplained phenomena as miracles. Over the years, most of them have developed pragmatic views of life’s mysteries. Just as a surgeon would become less squeamish at the constant sight of blood and gore on the operating table, a magician will regard miracles with disinterest, if not utter disbelief. This is because trickery, artifice, subterfuge, and illusion have desensitized him over the years of performing his own brand of miracles he calls magic.
I believe the sad thing about being a magician is that most of them have lost their sense of wonder—the very thing that drew them to magic in the first place. They no longer have the childlike readiness to marvel at wondrous things they don’t understand. This is true when they watch other magicians perform magic. This is equally true when they watch someone perform “miracles” or hear him claim supernatural powers.
In most part, a magician’s skepticism emanates from the loss of his childlike wonder. Don’t be surprised if one of these days you bump into a magician whose mind is so steeped in skepticism that he thinks the law of nature like gravity can be defied by the Balducci levitation.
Not a far-fetched possibility, because even I harbor this notion that I can make the sun disappear using the Black Art principle.
Stay magical,
Leodini
Leodini's Inner Magic 
I would say that magicians who are skeptics–like James Randi, for instance–feel the same way that Carl Sagan felt when he said that “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Having said that, I have often wondered: What would Randi say about a certain carpenter from Nazareth who was going around allegedly changing water into wine and feeding 5000 people with five barley loaves and two fish? Would Randi try to expose Jesus of Nazareth as a fraud?
But keep in mind that Carl Sagan also said: “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
—– Amado “Sonny” Narvaez
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Thanks, Sonny. As always, I always learn a thing or two from your thoughtful comments. Nice of you to stop by and share your thoughts.
Stay magical,
Leodini
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Very true Sir Leodini,
For over 10 years I have been using the Art of Illusions which are just puzzles to the eye, to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because each one of us has sinned, Christ came, died and rose again to pay the price for our sins, so that we could spend eternity with the Lord in heaven. Many of my fellow magicians believe in the Lord and some like myself put Biblical truths to their shows to create a more visual presentation and communicate the message of Christ, illustrate Biblical principles and explain different guidelines on stewardship and Christian maturity. I am honored and thankful to be a part of IMC and the magic community.
My understanding of magic tricks has taught me to be cautious and not just accept what I see at first look when it comes to what we see on some of the religious TV shows as some special healing or miracle, but to see if what is being shown on TV lines up with what the Scriptures really teach…….but at no time have I had to leave my faith in God at the door of any magic function!
Respectfully, Chaplain Steven Grew
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Thanks, Steve, for your thoughts.
When are you flying back to the Philippines?
Stay magical,
Leodini
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Andre Kole is a prominent magician who is a devout Christian.
In fact, if you go to his website:
http://www.andrekoleministry.org/outreach.htm
you will read that:
—–quote—–
Years ago, Andre Kole (one of the foremost illusionists in the world) was challenged, as a skeptic, to investigate the validity of the miracles of Christ from a magician’s point of view. That investigation eventually led him to receive Christ as his Savior and Lord. For more than 30 years now, he has shared this personal experience with audiences on five continents, seeing an average of over 100 decisions for Christ a night.
—–unquote—–
When he started his investigation, Andre fully expected to discover that many of the miracles performed by Jesus (e.g. changing water into wine) had been accomplished by the same kind of trickery that magicians use. But the more he investigated, the more he felt that Jesus was everything he claimed to be.
As for myself, I remain a skeptic. There are too many inconsistencies in the Bible that make a hesitate to take it as divine truth. In the Old Testament, for example, Genesis 1:24-26 says that animals were created before Man. But Genesis 2:19 says that animals were created after man. There is evidence that Genesis was pieced together from at least thee different authors who sometimes contradicted each other.
So I’m a skeptic–but an open-minded one. So far I feel that neither the Bible nor science has succeeded in answering the question: “Why is there something rather than nothing?”—a dilemma eloquently phrased by the 20th century philosopher J.J.C. Smart thusly: “That anything should exist at all does seem to me a matter for the deepest awe. But whether other people feel this sort of awe, and whether they or I ought to is another question. I think we ought to.” (J. J. C. Smart, ‘The Existence of God’, Church Quarterly Review, vol. 156, no. 319 (April-June, 1955), p. 194)
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Thanks, Amado, for sharing your insights.
Stay magical,
Leodini
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Sir Amado, the alleged contradiction is refuted when we look more closely at Gen. 2:19. The NIV translates the verse, “Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”
You can see that the verse says that God had formed the animals, meaning that the animals were already formed before Adam. So the contradiction evaporates.
If you look at the focus of chapter 1, it seems to be on the order of creation, but the focus of the passages surrounding Gen. 2:19 is on the naming of animals and the creation of Eve. So in the more detailed account of the forming of man and woman in Genesis 2, there was no need to mention the animals at all until they were to be brought before Adam to be “introduced” to him, as it were, and then named by him. The superficial contradiction is removed simply by noting that there is no distinction in Hebrew between the past tense and the pluperfect tense, the context determining which to use. By replacing the past tense (“formed”) by the pluperfect (“had formed”) in Genesis 2:19, one can read the verse as follows: “And out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field….”
Hope this helps, Respectfully Chaplain Steve
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Chaplain Steve,
Thank you for your comments about the interpretations of Genesis. However, having studied historical linguistics, I am aware of how interpretations from one language to another–especially over centuries and millennia–leave a lot of room for interpretation. The word “elohim” used in Genesis for “God” is actually a plural noun and could be translated as “gods.” I know some Christians posit that “elohim” was used because God is actually three-in-one: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. However, in something as important as worship, wouldn’t a wise God insure that there is no ambiguity in interpreting His word? (I understand, too, that the verb used with the plural subject “elohim” is a singular form. But ambiguity should have no place in something as important as the Word of God.)
There are also times when I feel that the Hebrew God has been more than a little cruel. When God tells Abraham, for instance, that he is going to destroy Sodom, Abraham pleads for him to reconsider. They quibble back and forth about whether God would spare the city if Abraham can find 50 righteous people. God says he would. Then they quibble about 40 righteous people. Then 30. Then 20. Then 10. God should just say right up front: “I know what you’re going to say, and I’m telling you there are not 10 righteous people in Sodom, so let’s save us both some time. Just pack up your family and go!” I also feel it was very cruel for God to torture Abraham by telling him to go out and offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. The fact that at the last minute God tells Abraham, “Don’t do it. This was just a test…” does not make any difference to me. God put Abraham through a cruel test and extreme anguish. God is supposed to be omniscient. He shouldn’t need a test of any kind to determine whether Abraham would obey him. Also, by destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, I feel that God violated the free will of the citizens of those two cities. If he’s upset with their conduct, he should punished them in the afterlife, not while they were alive.
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Amado, thanks for your input.
Let me say that the Bible is a book that is not merely for reading alone….which alone can make Gods Word seem ambiguous, but to be studied! My favorite Bible verse is 2 Timothy 2:15 ” Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” It is a book for studying so that it can be applied. Otherwise, if only read it is like swallowing food without chewing and then spitting it back out again….no nutritional value is gained by it. The Bible is God’s Word. As such, it is as binding as the laws of nature. We can ignore it, but we do so to our own detriment, just as we would if we ignored the law of gravity. Studying the Bible can be compared to mining for gold. If we make little effort and merely “sift through the pebbles in a stream,” we will only find a little gold dust. But the more we make an effort to really dig into it, the more reward we will gain for our effort.
I have often debated atheists and agnostic who argue that the God who is presented in the Bible is cruel. By labeling God as cruel, they are appealing to our human, moral sensibilities, implying that God either doesn’t care about pain and suffering, or even worse, He actually enjoys watching His creatures suffer. The word cruelty is defined as “callous indifference to, or pleasure in, causing pain and suffering.”
But those who claim that God is cruel have a large burden of proof. They are not merely claiming to know about the actions of God; they are also claiming to sufficiently know the circumstances in which He performed those actions, as well as His motivations, as well as knowing the very mind of God, ascribing to Him the attitudes of indifference or perhaps even sadistic pleasure necessary to define Him as cruel. But honestly they can’t possibly know the mind of God. “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
True sometimes God both allows and, at times, causes pain and suffering, but God’s goodness cannot be impugned because He commits an act that appears cruel to us.
Let me ask a question if I may, If a punishment is just, can it be said to be cruel? What nonbelievers usually do not understand is that God’s love is not diminished when He brings punishment on people. God is able to bring judgment on an evil group of people in order to spare those who are devoted to Him. To allow evil and wrongdoing to go unpunished would indeed be cruel and would indicate a callousness toward the innocent. Wrongdoing that does not result in punishment inevitably results in greater and greater wrongdoing, which benefits no one and is detrimental to the common good. Sometimes it takes pain and suffering to produce a greater good that sometimes can be brought about by no other means. The Bible tells us that trials and difficulties produce stronger, better Christians, and we should “count it all joy” (James 1:2) when we encounter them. God brings these about for our benefit, in order to refine us like gold in the fire of affliction. The Apostle Paul saw his own suffering…..beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, hunger, thirst, cold, imprisonments……as a means of ensuring that he would be ever conscious of his own weakness, would remember always that the power at work in him was from God, not himself, and would never be deluded into relying on his own power (2 Corinthians 1:8-10; 4:7-12). But against nonbelievers, God’s justice is vindicated when He causes pain and suffering to them because they deserve it….as we all do. Yet He demonstrates His mercy to them by warning them repeatedly of the consequences of sin. When, through their own rebellion, they bring upon themselves calamity, this is just punishment, not cruelty. The fact that He lets rebels go on shaking their fists at Him as long as He does indicates His love, mercy and patience, not cruelty. I know if we read the Bible carefully, rather than seeing God act out of cruelty, we see Him acting out of His love for us.
As a nonbeliever or skeptic, you bear a very large burden of proof in claiming that God’s actions are characterized by cruelty. In context, the biblical passages which appear to paint God as cruel actually do no such thing. In fact, with a proper understanding of the Scriptures, you would see that God’s actions, which are always motivated by, and consistent with, His holy and perfect character. I have learned through studying the Scriptures that our tiny, finite brains can’t even adequately imagine Him, much less call Him into question.
As you pointed out, when God revealed His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah due to the wickedness of those cities, Abraham asked God to spare the people. Perhaps because Abrahams nephew Lot lived in Sodom but even more likely because Abraham had compassion for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. While he understood God’s judgment of sin, Abraham’s compassion for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah reveals the heart of a man who cared greatly for others, including those who did not follow God. I believe that account is recorded for us there so like Abraham, we learn to have great compassion for others, including those whose lives do not follow God’s ways. But we must ultimately accept God’s judgments, even when His decisions are not our desired choices. Yes Abraham’s request for these cities to be spared was denied. God sometimes says “no” to our requests, too, even when we pray with good intentions. The Lord may have other plans that we do not understand, yet which are part of His will.
As for calling Gods test of Abraham as “Touture” I do not read it at all like that….on the contrary Abraham responded with immediate obedience; early the next morning, Abraham started on his journey with two servants, a donkey and his beloved son Isaac, with firewood for the offering. His unquestioning obedience to God’s confusing command gave God the glory He deserves and is an example to us of how to glorify God. When we obey as Abraham did, trusting that God’s plan is best, we exalt His attributes and praise Him. Abraham’s obedience in the face of this crushing command extolled God’s sovereign love, His trustworthiness, and His goodness, and it provided an example for us to follow. His faith in the God he had come to know and love placed Abraham in the list of faithful heroes in Hebrews 11.
Abraham’s faith was such that, even if he had sacrificed Isaac, he believed the Lord would keep His word and raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:17–19). God uses Abraham’s faith as an example for us of the type of faith required for salvation. Genesis 15:6 says, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” This truth is the basis of the Christian faith, as reiterated in Romans 4:3 and James 2:23. The righteousness that was credited to Abraham is the same righteousness credited to us when we receive by faith the sacrifice God provided for our sins…..Jesus Christ. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
God loves you very much Amado and it is my prayer that you come to know personally His love for you! I hope one day you can visit us at IMC. Until then…enjoy each day…they are a gift!
Respectfully, Chaplain Steve
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