Dear Christis,

I am writing in praise of Sean Wordingham’s article The Occult in Issue 34. I was impressed by Sean’s argument which seemed to consistently point out the fact that the response of many Christians to the Occult, and particularly at York to Spooky Soc. and the Occult Society has not been a helpful or loving one.

Sean writes that we should remember that people who are involved in the Occult are still people; I think we often fail in this. When Christians on campus heard of the presence of the Occult Society and Spooky Soc. the overriding reaction was one of judgment. Many saw them as not only misled, but as almost evil people who were working to deceive the minds of the students here. This is untrue; the Occult is to many of them just an interest. They are not aware of the reality of the spiritual realm and therefore cannot be expected to know the evil that they are caught up in. The self-righteous attitude of some Christians which leads to the desire to ‘pray against’ the Occult Society (although I am not rejecting the usefulness of this kind of prayer), seems to be far less helpful than a loving and compassionate attitude which leads us to pray FOR and love the students who are involved in these societies.

Our God is a God who “wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Doesn’t this verse show that the students involved in the Occult Society and Spooky Soc. are not irredeemable? Let us, therefore, start reaching out to them in faith and love as God commands us.

Yours in Christ.

Kristin Malet