Another thing is my whole family and extended are Christians, and would probly burn me at the stake (haha warlock joke) if they ever caught wind of this... (my magick)
Don't be so sure,Tons of Magick and Mystic paths are Christian based,I'm Roman Catholic and I practice Hoodoo,My GF is Roman Catholic was Born into Santeria,you never know what people are into behind closed doors unless you ask them
Many of us do many things that the bible sees as a sin,including Divorce.Not many of us follow a book with viewpoints outdated by 1000 years to the T anymore,it's more used as a system of beliefs and practices adopted to keep us as in line as we allow it to.
TPD I think what some are trying to say is that many Christian religions practice ritual magic without realizing it. I grew up going to some extremist churches who practiced trance states, basically, using them as ways to contact God. But they would all tell you that meditation -- even non-spiritual mindfulness -- is evil amd from the devil.
The communion ritual is also symbolic transmutation. That is something very much akin to high magic, in some cases.
Beliefs of deeper spiritual experience, based on the structure of the Hebrew Temple as laid out in the laws of Moses are also a type of mysticism.
Remember this: every time Israel was captive, their practices adopted some new aspects. Abraham left Ur leading a cult of what had been the Babylonian war god, which Abraham felt should be elevated above the rest. Between then and some centuries later, the religion grew into something a bit more. The nation of Israel adopted many aspects of Egyptians' practices while there, and excepting literal idolatry, many aspects (especially symbolism) remained.
Levitical law was contradictory on many points. Divination is the most apparent example, as it is both forbidden in practice as well as mandated of the priests.
The Bible has gone through so very many edits, and older versions are basically impossible to find. A former emperor, determined to keep some sort of power for Rome, conveniently converted to Christianity and assembled a conclave of priests to reject whatever did not fit the narritive they wanted to tell the masses. The Gospels originally ended with the empty tomb, but the stories of visitation and subsequently ascention were added at later dates, when people needed better convincing. Earlier accounts of Jesus were rejected for later works which were more allegorical in scope.
There is evidence in some works rejected by the Catholic church that quite possibly the historic Jesus taught finding Christ within one's self. Bits of this remain in the New Testament.
Basically it all comes down to faith anf personal belief. Many people will just listen to their ministers, and never actually study their religions. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that. But there are other options.
