I don’t think that you have an accurate statistic for the class of “all magic done”. Curses are more common than most people think.
So tell me, MtnDwellar, on what authority can you make this claim? I have many years of experience in Witchcraft, and the majority of communities are against, and often strongly so, doing magic exclusively for the purpose of harming someone else; a practice that is better known as “cursing”. Though it happens, most magic is not like that.
Don’t be so quick to label the religions of others.
Magic often ends up like a curse. The well intentioned witch or magician is selfish and others suffer as a result. In other words, the witch’s gain is someone else’s loss. The effect is like a curse.
This is a claim you can make, and it’s only partially wrong. So therefore it’s also partially correct. One of the most difficult things in spellwork is controlling what it is that you are doing. Therefore an unskilled Witch might try to cast a spell and let his or her mind wonder, or might not even have clear intentions for the spell to begin with. That has the possibility of yielding the type of results you are referencing.
However, these happen as a result of mistakes by the caster, and can not be blamed on magic as a whole. Using your logic I could also reason that knives are bad, because sometimes people cut themselves, though in that example, like with magic, it is the fault of the person, and is not inherent in the knife.
Those who practice magic generally have a perverse and always rudimentary understanding of the way magic works. Even though the witches intend no harm they often cause harm to others and ultimately harm to themselves.
Once again I ask, where do you get the authority to make this claim? You as a ** Christian** are saying that we don’t know what it is we are doing with OUR religion?
Tell me, what exactly would you do if I said that Catholics have a perverse and rudimentary understanding of Jesus? You would probably be furious, and rightly so. Just as I have no right to judge even those of my own religion, and certainly don’t have a right to judge those of another, neither do you.
I would appreciate it if you tried not to be insulting in the future.
To answer your statement though, yes, that can happen. Then again, I can also cause harm to myself when I walk outside, go to work, or read the paper. Though as I said before, that is often the product of inexperience. With proper guidance or experience (Though preferably both), such things are very avoidable.
Many of the things you cite about Witchcraft come not from Witchcraft itself, but rather some of the people who practice it. It is unfortunate, but there is a counter-culture movement towards Witchcraft, so there are a lot of people who call themselves a Witch simply because they don’t want to conform, and have no real interest in the religion. These are also the types of people who might buy a book on the subject, and then decide that they are now somehow a Witch. I’ve read books about history, but am I a historian? I’ve read books about geology, but am I a geologist? I’ve read books about math, but am I a mathematician? The answer to all of these is no. It’s the flaky people who want to use the term “Witch” for their own gain, but have no interest in Witchcraft that give us a bad name.
Nothing in life is free. There is no easy way. Most witches believe that they can avoid sacrifice and prayer. Their attempts at magic have a hidden price. They and those around them will pay the price.
Well, magic isn’t really a backdoor written into the source code of life either. It’s not like the movies where you say a few funny words and get whatever you want. Everything requires energy, whether we expend that energy the mundane way or the arcane way (and often both are done), the energy is still spent.
And the only hidden price in magic is the spell itself, and is therefore not hidden at all. Like I’ve said above, if you are inexperienced you may not be able to properly control what it is that you are doing, and consequently can have negative side effects. This is one of the reasons why I always try to stress the importance of learning. You can never learn all there is to know about Witchcraft, and I believe that part of being a Witch is a desire to continue to learn about their practice.
I do want to apologize if I came off slightly rough, but I happen not to like it when I’ve been insulted. I don’t know if that was your intent, but I’m afraid that’s how it came off.