Superstition Ain’t the Way

“I need to get baptized.”

These were the words of a complete stranger. He had entered our church, found our office manager, and told her he desperately needed to see a pastor. He sat in my office, looking a bit worse for wear, asking me for baptism.

Now, I have preached evangelistic series before. I know how much work they are. So far be it from me to complain about walk-in baptisms. Yet something made me uncomfortable about this man’s request. I decided to press him for more details about his story. He responded with a tale of woe and misfortune that he ended with an even more intense “I need to get baptized.”

I thought for a moment and then asked him a question: “You know there is no magic in the water, right? It’s a symbol of giving our heart to Jesus, dying to self, and being reborn. It’s not going to suddenly make all your problems disappear.”

“Oh . . .” he said, looking dejected. Then he thanked me for my time, stood up, and left.

In his song “Superstition,” secular musician Stevie Wonder reflects on all the superstitious practices that make people nervous. He sings of walking under ladders, the number 13, and broken mirrors. The chorus contains the memorable lines: “When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain’t the way.”[1] Christians are those who follow Jesus, “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Yet sometimes the way of Jesus becomes laced with the way of superstition. When that happens, fear abounds, which leads to suffering.

So how can we tell if our faith contains superstition?

Faith Versus Superstition

The difference between faith and superstition is full of tension. After all, to someone unfamiliar with faith, the turning off of a television at sundown Friday night might look like superstition. While many Adventists would note that such an act has to do with honoring sacred time to engage in other activities, it’s complicated by some in the faith who attach divine displeasure or possible misfortune to not turning off the television.

Another confusing scenario might be the practice of not setting anything on top of a Bible. For people who want to maintain respect and reverence for God’s Word, this is a simple practice that serves as a gentle reminder. Yet for others, seeing something placed atop a Bible might conjure a superstitious fear of negative repercussions.

Social scientists have a variety of definitions for superstition. In Eva Delacroix and Valérie Guillard’s research on superstition, they point out, “Most authors agree on the fact that superstitions are beliefs or behaviours that are contrary to rational norms within a specific society.”[2] They note that in China the number eight is considered good luck, so many product prices end with an eight rather than a nine, as is common in the United States. They share how consumers in such places as Taiwan would rather buy something at a higher price that ends with an eight than something cheaper ending with a seven—or worse, a four, which is bad luck. Some people may find this funny, until the cashier at the store rings up their order at $6.66 and quickly asks if they want to buy some gum to prevent some unknown evil from taking place.

For Christians all over the world, the ideal is to have our worldview and cultural norms shaped by the Bible. The Bible translates only one word as superstition and only in the King James Version. It occurs twice in the New Testament, the most relevant instance in Acts 17:22. Here, Paul sees an altar made to an “unknown god.” This is because “the townspeople were careful to ensure the favor of the gods, living in constant fear of their anger and seeking to appease them.”[3] The Bible says, “Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious’ ” (Acts 17:22). King James renders the word religious as superstitious. The Greek term is deisidaimōn, made up of deilos (to dread) and daimōn (often translated “demon”). On the surface it looks like the fear of demons.

This kind of reactionary fear response is rooted in superstition, not in confidence in a loving God who watches over us.

But deisidaimōn is complex. In the ancient world it can mean piety or a perversion of piety. Monique Cuany’s exploration of the word reveals a variety of meanings. In general “the ancients simply described it as the ‘fear of the gods.’ This definition seems to prevail until the end of the second century C.E.”[4] In Paul’s context and many others, it means “an emotion or a disposition of fear of incurring divine hostility or retribution.”[5] Finally, “deisidaimonia thus refers to the concern or fear—admittedly with different degrees of anxiety—of having made the gods enemies and thus incurring their hostility, wrath, and retribution.”[6] Simply put, it’s an unhealthy anxiety and fear about supernatural punishment.

As the early church grew and theologies solidified, the Latin term superstitio was used to describe what we now call superstition. Several thinkers chronicled the church’s wrestling with superstitio among believers. In The City of God Augustine responds to Varro’s promotion of Roman civil religion. He calls Varro out on his argument that civic religion is needed, even if some of it is false and rooted in superstition, which pertains to people being told falsehoods to keep them fearful.[7]

Other scholars echo Augustine’s observations and add that superstitio was an insulting term for those not practicing official state religion. “In the late Republic and early Empire, superstitio [which originally seems to have meant prophetic ability!] generally referred in a contemptuous way to the beliefs and practices of popular religion, especially the popular religion of the countryside.”[8] Supersitio was used to describe “alternative views of the relation between this world and the other world to the limbo of peasant silliness.”[9]

For some Protestants, superstition became associated with Roman Catholic rituals such as praying to saints, mass, and indulgences to secure one’s soul or help someone else in purgatory.[10] As Christianity has grown, some elements of older pagan worldviews, such as animism, have fused with those professing faith in Jesus. Mensah Adinkrah, in his exploration of witchcraft in Ghana, observes, “Conversion to Christianity does not necessarily mean the complete abandonment of traditional beliefs” such as “animism, ancestor veneration, witchcraft, ghosts, and other supernatural forces.”[11]

Adventist missiologists have written about the “witchcraft mentality” in parts of the world that “blames misfortune . . . and almost every kind of problem on witchcraft.”[12] In other words, instead of seeing natural cause-and-effect relationships when bad things happen, there’s always assumed to be a supernatural agent working.

I remember attending a General Conference session years ago when we sat next to a family with a wiggly toddler. Instead of a loving approach understanding the reality that toddlers are, by nature, wiggly creatures, the grandmother loudly declared that the child had the devil in her. It was very upsetting to those around, most of all the child. Could this kind of reactionary fear response be rooted in superstition, rather than confidence in a loving God who watches over us, even when we can’t sit still on a Sabbath morning?

It’s this same fear that leads us to knock on wood when speaking of a possible misfortune, hang crosses over doorways to stop evil from entering, view an owl (one of God’s creatures) as a bad omen or a demon, or believe demons inhabit certain rhythms or films (though we should be wise in what we consume). This isn’t to deny real evils in the world; it is to fight back against one of evil’s most formidable weapons: fear.

We find evidence of a cosmic conflict in the Bible, but part of the enemy’s tactic is to make us scared of the wrong thing. The fear of a thing can magnify it, giving it more power over our hearts and minds than the One whose “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). The prophet Jeremiah, noting people’s fearful reactions to the “customs of the peoples” and to the manufacture of idols, reminds God’s people, “They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good” (Jer. 10:5). God is more powerful than idols and inanimate objects.

While the apostle Paul cautions us to be culturally sensitive to those steeped in idol worship, he also reminds his readers not to approach inanimate objects with fearful superstition: “Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live” (1 Cor. 8:4-6). We need to be mindful but not place undue fear and agency on idols, which might lead us to engage in practices steeped in superstition rather than faith.

In other words, our religious practices should be driven by connection to God, not protection from Him.

Biblical faith is contrasted with superstition in several places. One of the most striking is Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Notice that faith is placing confident trust in God for things we hope for, not fearful anticipation and assurance that the forces of darkness will ruin our lives.

Motivated by Love, Not Fear

Renowned New Testament scholar N. T. Wright has pointed out that the most frequent command in the Bible is “Do not be afraid.”[13] Jesus has noted that the mark of a disciple is our love for one another (John 13:35). I would put forth that any practice motivated by fear is at the root of superstition, whereas practices motivated by love for God and humanity are characteristics of faith.

Certainly, there is a place for fear. It often keeps us alert and alive in the face of real danger. Operating in a constant fear of divine retribution or of demons taking over our lives is, however, closer to ancient pagan superstition and animism than the way of Jesus. There are dangers in the world, but often these have to do with how our hearts and motivations are oriented rather than with physical places or practices.

There are some practical ways we can assess whether we are behaving superstitiously or faithfully. As we think through our spiritual practices and traditions, it’s good to ask, “Where did this practice come from?” and “What is motivating me?” Is it done out of love, respect, or a tradition that reminds of a loving Savior—or have we attached a magical quality to the practice, rooted in a fear of divine retribution if we don’t do it? In other words, our religious practices should be driven by connection to God, not protection from Him.

Second, we should emphasize grace over performance. When we see someone else engaging in a practice that makes us fearful, we can remember a couple things. First, Jesus reminds us not to judge other people by “mere appearances” (John 7:24, NIV). Second, we can ask ourselves what the probable reason is that our brother or sister is doing or not doing something. A superstitious, bad-faith attitude would assume the worst; a good-faith attitude refuses to assign nefarious motives to people we haven’t taken the time to understand.

Third, while Christianity is “intensely practical,”[14] we should be wary of turning faith into formulas. For example, prizing morning devotionals as having greater spiritual yield than evening ones, or assuming certain orders of worship service are more blessed than others, or believing that eating or avoiding certain foods guarantees perfect health, or even thinking that certain prayers must be worded just right. All these represent attempts to take personal control of outcomes rather than trusting in a personal God to take care of us.

Conclusion

All of us are immersed in our respective cultures. All of us have the potential to swirl our beliefs around with superstition. In The Desire of Ages, Ellen G. White writes: “There are Christians who think and speak altogether too much about the power of Satan. They think of their adversary, they pray about him, they talk about him, and he looms up greater and greater in their imagination. It is true that Satan is a powerful being; but, thank God, we have a mighty Saviour, who cast out the evil one from heaven. Satan is pleased when we magnify his power. Why not talk of Jesus? Why not magnify His power and His love?”[15]

It’s good from time to time to rebaptize our understanding by exploring God’s Word to ensure the fears and anxieties that haunt the way of superstition haven’t become confused with the love, peace, and joy that characterize the way of Jesus.

[1] Stevie Wonder, “Superstition,” Talking Book (Tamla, 1972).

[2] Eva Delacroix and Valérie Guillard, “Understanding, Defining, and Measuring the Trait of Superstition,” paper presented at the IAREP/SABE World Meeting, January 2008.

[3] Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, ed., Andrews Bible Commentary (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University Press, 2020), p. 1517.

[4] Monique Cuany, “Early Christianity and Greek Philosophy: The Argument of Acts 17:16-34 in Light of the Philosophical and Religious Debates of Early Post-Hellenistic Times” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, August 2018), p. 61.

[5] Ibid., p. 84.

[6] Ibid., p. 86.

[7] Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, Book 6.

[8] Mary Beard and John North, eds., Pagan Priests: Religion and Power in the Ancient World (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990), p. 237.

[9] Ibid., p. 238.

[10] Jean Delumeau, Sin and Fear: The Emergence of a Western Guilt Culture, 13th–18th Centuries (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990), p. 542.

[11] Mensah Adinkrah, Witchcraft, Witches, and Violence in Ghana (New York: Berghahn Books, 2015), p. 46.

[12] Bruce L. Bauer, “Cultural Foundations for Fear of Witchcraft in Africa,” Journal of Adventist Mission Studies 13, no. 1 (2017): 9.

[13] N. T. Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2014), p. 68.

[14] Ellen G. White letter 2a, 1892.

[15] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1898, 1940), p. 493.