Jinxed!!

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority (Colossians 2:8-10).” So, I am having an innocent conversation about baseball when I say, “The (Colorado) Rockies haven’t lost a series at home this year.” A coworker replies, “Don’t jinx it!” I laughed it off as nonsense. I told a story about how people seemed to think that the Denver Broncos would win the Super Bowl if I watched it with my brother in Mississippi. It was in Mississippi where I watched the two Super Bowls they won. Well, I said, “I was in Mississippi this year for the Super Bowl and we got hammered. Did I jinx the team?” I know people like to play around with this stuff and for the most part it is harmless. However, there are people who put more stock into it than the average person. My coworker suggested that by my mentioning the success of the Rockies, I had “jinxed” them to start losing. If they lose the series then this person’s belief system will be validated. If they win the series, you won’t hear another thing about it. It is a subjective belief system at best.  A jinx, in popular superstition and folklore, is: A type of curse placed on a person that makes them prey to many minor misfortunes and other forms of bad luck. Superstition. Bad luck. These are things that have no basis in fact; they only have basis in anecdotal stories (i.e. folklore) which people use to support a belief system.

 Ultimately, at the root of a belief in jinxes, superstitions, bad luck and so on is fear. We are afraid that something bad is going to happen to us or others we care about because somebody or something has “interfered” with the “cosmic balance.” Therefore, we come up with things like jinxes to explain away our fears and help us cope with them. It is this type of belief that leads to things like false religions and occult practices like astrology, black magic, divination, voodoo and sorcery.  The Bible condemns those who practice astrology. “And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven (Deuteronomy 4:19).” It condemns those who practice magic, divination and sorcery. “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead (Deuteronomy 18:10-11).” Most people, including my coworker, are not into any of these practices the Lord detests. However, they do serve as a good way of teaching how the devil can deceive people into things that lead them away from the truth of God and His Word. To me, it is a form of the “captive philosophy” and “empty deceit” so many fall prey to in this world. Alone, they don’t seem like much. However, when you constantly add little things to these false belief systems they become pretty big and can easily guide our lives if we are not careful. It is imperative that whatever we do and believe we check it against the Bible to see if it is “according to Christ.” If it is not, we need to discard it and ask the Lord to teach us His truth because He is the “head of all rule and authority.”