Superstition

[Twilight]

Are you superstitious? Believe that walking under a ladder is bad luck? Nervous around black cats?

I, for one, am not superstitious in the least bit. I believe that God is in control of our lives, not luck or chance. Who comes up with superstitions, anyways? I walked under a ladder about a month ago, and life’s going fine, thank you. :p Things will happen to us, good or bad, anyways, no matter how many times a black cat crosses our path.

[The First Joke]

i firmly believe that it is bad luck to be superstitious.

[Shadow Hawk]

In some ways Yes......I believe that it would be bad if I walked under a ladder..........and it fell. :D

[hello mcfly]

In some ways Yes......I believe that it would be bad if I walked under a ladder..........and it fell. :D

Lol! Yes it would! Haha, I dont believe in superstitions in anyway, try me!

[Copperfox]

The nearest I come to being superstitious is a strong feeling that if I predict confidently some pleasant outcome that I'm hoping for, it WON'T happen. This flies in the face of name-it-and-claim-it, blab-it-and-grab-it theology; but that doctrine is a cause of too many blame-the-victim games anyway. I'm reminded of the life of Catherine Marshall: when she had tuberculosis, it was precisely when she GAVE UP hope of being healed--that God healed her.

[Miss.SunFlower]

I am best friends with somone who owns a blackcat and nothing bad ever happens to us.

[The First Joke]

i used to own an obese black cat named leslie. it was kinda nice when she died though. i hate litterboxes.

[Son of Adam]

No I am not superstitious at all.

[Miss.SunFlower]

No I am not superstitious at all.
the whole superstition thing is pretty dumb really.

[Queen Swanwhite]

I'm not superstitious at all. I don't believe in luck.

[EveningStar]

It's been shown in the lab that even a pidgeon can be superstitious. It's time we showed ourselves to be smarter than bird brains... :p

Befor you ask me how they asked the birds, SUPERSTITION is the associating of one event with another without just cause...such as horseshoes and luck. Pidgeons and rats will associate random events, such as a light turning on or a sound...that periodically happens anyhow...with a strong positive or negative reinforcer that comes along by coincidence at the same moment. Superstitions are observations that lead to inferences. Such as the bright full moon making it easier for robbers to break into a house thereby increasig the crime rate those nights. So it follows that the moon exerts an influence on our evil nature, right? Some sort of mysterious ray...oooh, I hear it pulsing....wwWWOOHM...wwWWOOHM..wwWWOOHM.... ;)

[Lila]

No, I am not superstitious at ALL. I believe that we as Christians should not have any superstitions.

[Sir Benjamin the Lion]

Aye!! I don't have anything to fret or worry about. We are safe in His arms.

[Copperfox]

In an unpredictable world, superstitions give superstitious people a sense that at least the dangers are defined: "I'm threatened by THAT and THAT, so I can protect myself by doing THIS and THIS."

[Ephinie]

The nearest I come to being superstitious is a strong feeling that if I predict confidently some pleasant outcome that I'm hoping for, it WON'T happen. This flies in the face of name-it-and-claim-it, blab-it-and-grab-it theology; but that doctrine is a cause of too many blame-the-victim games anyway. I'm reminded of the life of Catherine Marshall: when she had tuberculosis, it was precisely when she GAVE UP hope of being healed--that God healed her.Is this just a general feeling that you have, or do you feel this way because this is how things have happened for you on a number of occassions?

[PrinceOfTheWest]

I think much of superstition is based on what Lewis called historicism. He wrote an interesting essay about this which was published in Christian Reflections. Lewis defined historicism as follows:
I given the name historicism to the belief that men can, but use of their natural powers, discover an inner meaning in the historical process... The mark of a Historicist...is that he tries to get from historical premises conclusions which are more than historical, conclusions metaphysical or theological... When Hegel saw in history the progressive self-manifestation of absolute spirit he was a Historicist. When a village woman says that her wicked father-in-law's paralytic stroke is 'a judgement on him', she is a Historicist.The entire essay is quite lucid but mainly deals with broad trends of thought.

Where I think historicism touches on superstition is that it seems to me that superstition is sort of a "historicism lite", or "street-level historicism". Without thinking about it, people adopt the assumption that there's some kind of hidden order to the universe that one can stay "in sync with" by either performing or avoiding certain seemingly unrelated actions. The "classic" expressions of superstition often have to do with trying to avoid tempting catastrophe (e.g. not walking under ladders, not breaking mirrors), but there are also actions supposed to help "tune" on to good results. Sometimes this is explicit, such as an uneducated woman who might never leave the house without touching the picture of her grandmother by the door, or implicit, such as the stock broker with the MBA who always wears the same tie to work because that was the one he was wearing when he made his Big Killing in '98. The common thread is the assumption that there's some hidden pattern that one can somehow "work" to get the desired results, or at least avoid undesirable ones. This assumption that there are hidden patterns has historicist roots.

Those of us who are Christian know that the "pattern" of history that God wants us mindful of is His love for us, and how that love is constant no matter what the circumstances.

[Copperfox]

Yes, many times--including at least one crucial point in my Navy career--God has brought me deliverance EXACTLY when I gave up hope of the situation ever getting better. As for NOT getting good things that you DO say you expect, my whole family has experienced this. My sister Ricki, a Broadway actress and an accredited stage-swordfight instructor, has for decades been in the habit of saying after an audition, "That was a bust, there's no chance, they'd never cast me in that role"--in a half-joking effort not to jinx it.

If you thought you detected an angry note in my reference to the name-it-and-claim-it faction in Christendom, you were right. I have seen too much of sick persons being told it's THEIR fault they're sick because they didn't believe hard enough. And often, the people chiding the sick for unbelief are themselves wearing eyeglasses, and have dental work, and certainly got their vaccinations as children.

[Elendil]

You make your own luck! :D

[Ephinie]

If you thought you detected an angry note in my reference to the name-it-and-claim-it faction in Christendom, you were right. I have seen too much of sick persons being told it's THEIR fault they're sick because they didn't believe hard enough. And often, the people chiding the sick for unbelief are themselves wearing eyeglasses, and have dental work, and certainly got their vaccinations as children.There is a lot of stuff you say that I don't agree with, but on this point I'm going to have to go with you. My family is deeply entrenched in the name-it-and-claim-it stuff, and they are always very critical of me for not buying into it. And yes, they do wear glasses; and all of us kids had our vaccinations.

[Wunderkind]

Are you superstitious? Believe that walking under a ladder is bad luck? Nervous around black cats?
Well.....no,not really..

[fishoutofwater]

I'm not superstitious, but it's funny to hear what people believe/believed. I would rather trust God.

[office]

I am not superstitious. I think that beliving in superstition is dealing with the devil.

[Natasia_Vae]

Yes, many times--including at least one crucial point in my Navy career--God has brought me deliverance EXACTLY when I gave up hope of the situation ever getting better. As for NOT getting good things that you DO say you expect, my whole family has experienced this. My sister Ricki, a Broadway actress and an accredited stage-swordfight instructor, has for decades been in the habit of saying after an audition, "That was a bust, there's no chance, they'd never cast me in that role"--in a half-joking effort not to jinx it.
My mom is the exact opposite. She always says that if you say good things will happen to you then they will. You put it out into the universe and it comes back to you.

I'm not sure if I really believe that but I wouldn't go around saying that bad things are going to happen to me.

[Lucy the Marshwiggle]

I am not superstitious. I believe that God is in control of our lives.

[The First Joke]

My mom is the exact opposite. She always says that if you say good things will happen to you then they will. You put it out into the universe and it comes back to you.

I'm not sure if I really believe that but I wouldn't go around saying that bad things are going to happen to me.
that's karma

[Samwise Gamgee]

I don't believe in that stupid stuff. I say it is where magic and all that poppy cock came from. People just say that stuff because it is something they believe in and that is just them. That dosen't mean I have to, hey i have walked by black cats and under ladders, nothing has ever hurt me. And if it did then I would not call it bad luck I would call it a very good blessing.

[Elendil]

I'm not superstitious, but it's funny to hear what people believe/believed. I would rather trust God.
Yeah same here.

[SimonW]

I dun really know. No, if you are talking about bad karma or something.
As for Supernatural superstitions...nope, lol.

I do know there is bad luck and good luck, just dun see them as signs (like a four leaf clover or a black cat crossing your path).

[Elendil]

I don't belive in luck, but for some reason I still cross my fingers! :p

[furcoats]

I not superstitius at all..In fact, whenever our ladders out I walk under just cuz I know nothing will happen to me....and black cats, I've been bitten by one and nothing happened.

[NarniaPrincess1024]

I very much believe in superstition I actually have an example.
When I was little I used to walk under ladders tons and tons of them.
And so one day I walked under one and the that night I broke my ancle.

[Red Roses]

Are you superstitious? Believe that walking under a ladder is bad luck? Nervous around black cats?

I, for one, am not superstitious in the least bit. I believe that God is in control of our lives, not luck or chance. Who comes up with superstitions, anyways? I walked under a ladder about a month ago, and life’s going fine, thank you. :p Things will happen to us, good or bad, anyways, no matter how many times a black cat crosses our path.

ditto. the other day i stepped on a crack and my friends r like "OMG u just stepped on a crack" and im like yeah i know

[SpiritedWolf]

I'm sometimes superstitious... but not all the time. Funny story for the crack one. Me and my little brother would ONLY step on cracks when we were younger (now we don't care) and one of those days, I fell and so did my brother and we both got skinned knees and wrists. And I wont even think of walking under a ladder anymore. But the cat one, that's just... just not true.

[office]

Beliving in superstition is in a way dealing with Satan so no I don`t belive in superstition.

[star trooper]

If you believe in God, superstition is not a factor.

[The Half-Blood Prince]

Believing in superstitions puts irrational thoughts and ideas on a pedestal--it gives credence to things that are unimportant to our lives. I wouldn't say it is wrong to believe in them, but it is utterly unnecessary in the scheme of life.

I very much believe in superstition I actually have an example.
When I was little I used to walk under ladders tons and tons of them.
And so one day I walked under one and the that night I broke my ancle.
An event like this is called coincidence. Of course, if I happened to have a habit of walking under ladders frequently, then why would I be surprised if I accidentally hurt myself later in the day? Life still goes on, and things like breaking one's ankle happens. But if you made a habit of walking under ladders, why would you be shocked to see that life indeed goes on and you will most likely never evade a natural childhood occurrence like breaking your ankle?