Shamanism, Percussion, and First Corinthians 6:12
The online Encyclopedia Britannica provides the following information about shamanism and percussion:
An important device of the shaman is the drum, which always has only one membrane. It is usually oval but sometimes round. The outer side of the membrane, and the inside as well among some peoples, is decorated with drawings; e.g., the Tatars of Abakan mark the membrane with images of the Upper and Lower Worlds. The handle is usually in the shape of a cross, but sometimes there is only one handle. The drumstick is made of wood or horn, and the beating surface is covered with fur. In some cases the drumstick is decorated with human and animal figures, and rattling rings often hang down from it.
During the trance brought on by the sound of the drum, the spirits move to the shaman—into him or into the drum—or the soul of the shaman travels to the realm of the spirits. In the latter case the shaman makes the journey on the drum as if riding on an animal, the drumstick being his lash. Sometimes the shaman makes the journey on a river and the drum is his boat, the drumstick his oar. All this is revealed in the shaman song. Besides the drum, the Buryat shaman sometimes makes the journey with sticks ending in the figure of a horse’s head. The shaman of the Tungus people, who raise reindeer, makes the journey on a stick ending in the figure of a reindeer’s head. Among some people, the shaman wears a metal disk known as a shaman-mirror.
In this thread, I would like to discuss what uses consecrated believers must make of such information in light of the many passages pertaining in various ways to biblical separation, beginning with the following:
1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
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So what exactly do you think is happening on a Sunday morning during a worship service when the praise band is accompanying the worship songs with "unacceptable kinds of music from occultists"? Do you think people are going into trances and losing track of their surroundings while in a "soul journey" and making contact with spirits all the while they are singing praise to the true God with "How Great is Our God" and declaring their faith "In Christ Alone"?
There is no biblical basis to answer these questions. God rejects the worship of disobedient believers who do not heed His commands to come out from among them, be separate, and touch not the unclean thing (2 Cor. 6:17).
Discussion