I completely agree with AlexDF....We are people, and we do what we do and believe what we believe.
A belief is not something that you choose. You can be flexible and go along with a belief system but your truth is specific to you.
I think it is hard to let go of what you were raised to believe but some things don't make sense if you examine your conditioning. Sometimes we don't examine our conditioning and we just believe out of habit and not conviction. It is hard to break a habit.
There is a lot of wisdom in the bible. I read a page once so I know.
Truthfully I never read the bible but bits and pieces. I know there is validity just as there is not. I am not at all knowledgable about the bible because I never read it. I can only claim ignorance but I know it's not my thing.
The word Pharmakeia is a greek word for sorceress and term was used in the bible. Pharmakeia is where we get the word pharmacy from. A pharmacist is a chemist. What the word Pharmakeia refers to is herbal witchcraft, or herbalism. Is that magic? It is more science but people were ignorant back then. An herbalist was an evil sorceress.
This is not a good article but it talks about that relationship in a biblical way. I didn't even read the whole article but it discusses the term and interpretation
http://www.theopenscroll.com/pharmakeia.htm
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