I am a Christian.

And I am a magician.

To some Christians those two statements are incompatible. I had a conversation yesterday with someone who was extremely upset that magic was being performed at their church and rang me to complain. They didn’t know before they rang me that I am a magician and we were able to have an interesting conversation. The conversation was useful (to me at least) because we reflected on whether being a magician is incompatible with being a follower of Jesus. So let me share my thinking with you in response to the concerns that were raised. This is not a transcript of the conversation from yesterday but includes some of the points raised and others that I have been asked about in the past. I have reflected on what was said yesterday and it has helped me, I hope it might help you:

• Magic is prohibited in the Bible. Yes it is. But that is not the magic that I perform. When magic and magicians are mentioned in the Bible it is referring to something completely different to what I do. In the Bible the magic that is mentioned is either seeking to use the dark side of supernatural life to influence, deceive or gain power; or it refers to people to seek to replicate miracles to boost their own standing and gain political power or influence because of their apparent ability; or sometimes “magicians”, is better translated as ‘wise men’ and refers to advisers and what we might call senior civil servants. What is commonly referred to as magic today has nothing to do with tapping into the dark side of supernatural life and is not used to gain political power or influence, although I suspect that government advisers might like the ability to bamboozle others (and some may do that with rhetoric along the lines of Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes (Prime) Minister). If I ever look like I am heading to the dark side please tell me.
• But you call what you do ‘magic’ and that may lead more impressionable (young) people to dabble in the dark arts. This is not about the nature of magic, but the nature of words. There are many words that have two different meanings (Homonyms), such as: ‘net’ – net gain, internet, fishing net; ‘point’ – point of a pencil, making a point, pointing something out. I understand that ‘magic’ as performed by magicians today may appear similar to magic that invokes the dark arts and that some performers like to create the illusion that they have special powers but they are different genres. The Bible is not talking about magic in the same way that we use the word today. People called Jesus ‘teacher’ in the Bible but while we use the same word today we mean something a bit different by it. The King James Version of the Bible uses ‘charity’ in 1 Corinthians 13 (more modern versions use ‘love’) but ‘charity’ means something different today.
• Yes, but someone who is interested in what you do as magic could go down the wrong path. If you didn’t do magic then that would not be so likely. It’s possible. But then would we have to stop married couples from having sex because it might lead people to have sex with prostitutes; or stop people from driving cars because it might lead some people to drive recklessly; or stop actors from pretending to be other people because it might lead some people to steal someone’s identity for fraudulent purposes? Would you ask a musician not to play their guitar in church because some other songs are vulgar or misogynistic? Would you say that a computer can’t be used to project words or images in a church service because some people use computers for salacious purposes? Would you ask your preacher not to illustrate their sermons with incidents from current events that help us to understand how to apply what the Bible says because some newspapers are politically biased?
• Now you’re just being facetious. You may be correct. Sorry. But I was trying to point out that just because you do one thing does not mean that it will or could lead someone else down a very different path, and I was trying to show how distant the possible connection is between magic in our culture and magic referred to in the Bible.
• But when you perform illusions you are deceiving people deliberately. Isn’t that ‘bearing false witness’? Only in the same way that children are pretending to be someone from the Bible they perform in nativity plays, or actors in soap operas pretend to be another character when they perform. We know that child with the tea-towel on their head is not really Mary or Joseph, we know that the actor is not really the character they are playing. We also know that the entertainer who is a Magician does not really have magical powers. Magic as performed today is entertainment and audiences have an implied contract with magicians – the magician will try to entertain the audience by amazing and fooling them with illusions while the audience will be happy to be fooled in order to be amazed and entertained (some will try to work out how it happened, but that’s part of the entertainment for them).
• I’m not convinced. But even if you are right, why do we have to use magic in church? I can’t speak for all Christian magicians. But speaking personally I do explain that I have no magical powers and am not in league with the devil, and that all that people see is an illusion. I use my illusions to try to illustrate a point in a memorable way. It’s a bit like Jesus telling a parable to illustrate a point – the story is not true but because it’s a good story we remember it and hopefully his message gets through. I hope that my magic is good and remembered and hopefully the associated message gets through too. I am NOT suggesting that my magic is on a par with Jesus’ parables, by the way, but it’s a similar principle. If people enjoy something they are more likely to remember it.
• But why do you have to call it ‘magic’? If you called it something else you could avoid the confusion.  Maybe so. If it is a real problem for some people that I call it ‘magic’ I would be content to call it ‘illusions’. But all that does is change the name of what I do. If you’re telling me that you’d be happy with magic if the name was changed it does rather undermine a lot of your arguments doesn’t it? We’re back to semantics and homonyms.
• But can’t you just tell stories to make your point, why do you have to use magic? I believe that part of the way in which God made me is with the ability to perform magical illusions. That’s not a power: it’s an aptitude that I enhance with practice. When I create and perform illusions to me it’s similar to what Eric Liddell said when asked why he ran: “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” When I perform my illusions I do so to the best of my ability – as a tribute to my Creator – it’s an act of worship. My thinking about this is based on what Paul wrote to the church in Colossae: ^“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him…Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord…” (Colossians 3:17, 23).
• But I find it difficult and shouldn’t you avoid doing things that cause others to stumble? Well played, good argument. However I am not convinced that my performing magic tricks is causing you to stumble. It might make you uncomfortable but it’s not going to make you lose your strongly-held faith, which is what the ‘stumbling’ refers to. And I would also suggest that performing magic for the purpose of people coming to understand more about Jesus is not a bad thing. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:22-23) When he was in Athens Paul used ideas and objects and themes from their culture to get people interested in Jesus (Acts 17:16-34). I dare to suggest that it’s also what Jesus was doing with his parables. It’s what I am trying to do with my magic.
• Thank you, I think I have taken up enough of your time. You’re welcome. Bless you. I think we will have to agree to disagree, but we can do that as followers of Jesus without falling out. I understand where you are coming from and I have heard what you have said. I will reflect on it and see if I need to change my opinion.

You may or may not agree with me, that’s up to you. However, before we Christians get hot under the collar and start lobbing Bibles at each other perhaps we should reflect more and listen to the other person’s perspective for longer: they may have equally good reasons why they believe what they do and there may be things we need to change because we have listened to them.

And please let’s remain fervently committed to the most important thing: following Jesus and making him known to others: Let’s seek to remain united in him and not allow what the less important things we disagree about to divide us.

Be blessed, be a blessing