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The Difference Between Superstition and Faith

Don’t tell me there’s no difference between superstition and faith. Because the sad reality is that many people, especially skeptics, like to brand faith as just another representation of superstitious belief. So, in this post, my goal is to outline the difference between superstition and faith to clear up all the confusion within our minds. And if you have questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section.

Superstition

What is superstition? Because if we’re going to discuss the difference between two things, we need to know what the two things are.

Superstition is the belief in the supernatural out of ignorance or fear. An example of superstition is when one carves a wooden humanoid figure and then prays to it for prosperity.

Isaiah 44:17-19 World English Bible (WEB)
17 The rest of it he makes into a god,
    even his engraved image.
He bows down to it and worships,
    and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!”
18 They don’t know, neither do they consider:
    for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see;
    and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
19 No one thinks,
    neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
    “I have burned part of it in the fire.
    Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals.
    I have roasted meat and eaten it.
    Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination?
    Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”

Why is that superstition? It’s because the wooden figure is something someone makes which cannot hear their words, thus, being an ignorant belief.

Another example of superstition is the sacrifice of human beings to avoid the wrath of deities. This is superstitious because the person who practises such superstition is jeopardizing someone else out of fear that disobedience to their deities will incur punishment.

Now, the million dollar question is… does Biblical Christianity follow the path of superstition?

My answer to that is “no, quite the contrary.” And I’m going to explain how instead, the God of the Bible forges a new path to follow Him, a path called “faith.”

It’s not superstition, because the God of the Bible does not want you to believe in Him out of fear or ignorance. Let me prove this in the next section.

The Difference Between Superstition and Faith

Firstly, He does not want you to believe Him out of fear. That’s why He almost always says “fear not,” whenever He approaches a person in the Bible.

I mean, look at the verse below, the first thing God told Abraham in his vision was to not be afraid. God always makes it clear that He is the last person in the world to associate with worldly fear.

Genesis 15:1 World English Bible (WEB)
15 After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Secondly, the God of Abraham does not force you to believe Him out of ignorance, although, He does expect you to trust Him when things don’t make sense. And I’ll explain the latter part of what I said in the next section, but, for now, here’s an example of Him warning us of ignorant superstition.

Jeremiah 7:31 World English Bible (WEB)
31 They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind.

God was so upset with the people who burned their own children as a sacrifice to idols, and He even admitted that such a deed had never presented itself as a thought within the omniscient mind of God!

Ignorant human beings thought that by murdering their own children, they would please deities of their own making, this is something God cannot stand.

Faith

So, how does God want you to believe in Him? It’s quite simple. And we better not muddle it with our theories, laws, and superstitions. We better see it as He depicts it in His Word.

He wants us to believe in Him by faith.

Ephesians 2:8 King James Version (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

What’s faith? It’s the belief in the God of the Bible where you trust Him through what He said in His Word (the Bible), and you know His grace and love.

His grace was revealed when God came down to Earth in the form of a human being as Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross so that instead of God punishing you for your blunders, He would be sacrificed for you.

John 3:16 King James Version (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Lord Jesus Christ healed the sick, delivered the spiritually oppressed and blessed so many people during His ministry, but the religious leaders out of jealousy and fear, decided to crucify Him. Yet, this was all part of God’s plan to make the sacrifice for those who trust Him as their Lord and Saviour. I talk more about it in this post.

Therefore, put your faith in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Saviour to enter a relationship with God Almighty.

Faith is not superstition. It is the trust you put in God that He will do what He said He would do. It’s the acceptance of the creator who designed you and formed you in your mother’s womb. It is the realization that you’re significant and that you hold value in the eyes of your Heavenly Father.

This faith in Christ Jesus does not depend on your circumstances. If things aren’t going well for you, you must still trust God because He will make all things turn out for your good.

Faith is just another way of saying that God wants you to trust Him just like how you would trust someone in any other relationship. The difference between superstition and faith is tremendous so trust God; place your faith in Lord Jesus Christ.

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Brokenness in the Eyes of the King in Purple

Jesus crucified for me

The focus of this post deals with the issue of brokenness. It is quite easy to adapt the belief that restoration is impossible. And that leaves many of us in brokenness or despair. Those who see themselves as permanently broken cannot progress from their depressed state. That is why we’ll be exploring a new angle on the mental health issue of depression, and despair, in this post.

The Purple Robe

To approach this issue, I must start at the cross. In the landscape of the Biblical narrative, there is one event that ties EVERYTHING together. That event is the cross of Calvary where Jesus Christ was crucified.

Jesus Christ is God and He came down to Earth in the flesh as a human being with one purpose in mind. His purpose was to provide an atoning sacrifice for mankind. You see, humanity is flawed. And we have all sinned or done something which isn’t right.

And so, to accept an imperfect, far from godly-natured, beloved people into God’s presence in Heaven, is impossible without an atoning sacrifice. That is why Jesus Christ made it His mission to experience the hell which we deserve, on the cross.

Now, pharisees and religious leaders pressured the Romans of that time, to crucify Jesus. They could not help but be jealous of His perfect nature, and persisted in the belief that they are good enough to enter Heaven, all by themselves.

They detested change, and so, the same devil who tempted mankind in the garden of Eden, inspired a hellish hatred within the hearts of the people. But, God used that hatred to His advantage as the devil could not understand how Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for those who are lost.

And so, it is with this premise, that I want to introduce the below scripture to you.

John 19:5 King James Version (KJV)
5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

The Brokenness Behind the Crown of Thorns

So, as the above verse now states, Jesus stood on the platform after a cruel scourging. And as He stood, He wore a crown of thorns embedded into His skull, along with a purple-dyed robe.

Furthermore, the verse offers quite a few surprises to those willing to dig deeper. I looked at the HELPS Word Studies on the Greek word used for “purple” in this verse. The Greek word used for “purple,” transliterates as “porphurous.”

The interesting part of this word study is the conclusion that porphurous is a word describing a purple-reddish dye or cloth. So, this purple cloth was a mix between purple and red. And in the culture of that time, purple symbolized royalty. Whereas, red represents His sacrifice, His blood shed for you.

Even more, I believe God is communicating to us a message through this scripture. The message is that He let himself become physically BROKEN for you and for me. And to further emphasize His brokenness, I must call to remembrance a verse from the Old Testament of the Bible.

Numbers 4:13 World English Bible (WEB)
13 “They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it.

In the time of the Old Testament, the priests were responsible for taking away the ashes from the altar after a burnt offering. Then, they’d spread a purple cloth over the altar. God instructed more steps as to how they should conduct the burnt offering. But, for the sake of this post, I am referencing only this scripture from the chapter.

Nevertheless, I believe God was instructing Israel to do this seemingly strange act to symbolize the way in which He’d come to actually atone for us, permanently, as Jesus Christ. He was symbolizing how He’d be in ashes as the burnt offering when He wore a purple robe.

His instructions would serve as a prophetical image of the future, one-time, burnt-offering sacrificed for the people who’d choose to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

The Living God Among Us

And so, if you haven’t already, I urge you to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. But, the point of this examination of the scriptures is to really carve a proper understanding of the brokenness of Jesus at the cross.

As I mentioned earlier, many of you are suffering from depression, despair, brokenness, and more. You might just even feel like you’re in ashes. And I sense a very similar vibe through the picture painted of Jesus in the scene of His crucifixion.

Jesus became physically broken. He was in ashes. And He died, He actually died on the cross. But, that’s not the end of the story. After three days and three nights, Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. He physically resurrected.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 King James Version (KJV)
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

What am I getting at, then? I’m getting at the vivid picture of His resurrecting power! You may feel dead and in ashes, but, there’s always a chance to rise. I am declaring to you that there is life in the Christ.

You may have an excuse to despair or to sulk in depression, maybe it’s some kind of terrible experience or it could even be as petty as a mood swing. But, that’s why the cross is about dying to one’s self. And by dying to one’s self, I mean to put an end to the beliefs or mindsets which ruin your life.

Put depression to death, put negativity to death, put fear to death, and put the selfish appetites or behaviours to death! Furthermore, as Christ rose again, so also you rise again. You are a new being in Christ Jesus, and not even depression can stop you from being the child of God who Jesus loves.

Romans 6:8 World English Bible (WEB)
8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;

Therefore, Jesus Christ calls the brokenhearted to Him. He does not delight in your suffering, He delights in you realizing that you are His child. And that you’ve always been His from the day He let those rusty nails pierce Him to a cross, and even before then, in eternity, when your lovely image pierced the tender heart of His imagination.