heh for russians too there are many superstitions.  i've found the reason they are less common in western traditions is the pervasiveness of reformation attempts.  

I don't buy into superstitions

I have as much faith in superstitions as I do my big toe, lol, :) I don't buy into the black cat one, the Friday the 13th one, or even the unlucky 7 or 13 ones.

On another note...Before being a Christian, however, I was into the astrology thing and such and amazingly though a Christian today, I did find that my daily readings were always on the money.

And when I was single and not a Christian, I went to a tea-reading pyschic. I still am amazed that she was right on the money. I had planned to have NO more kids than my one son, never get married again, etc. She told me I would marry again, a man whose named started with a "K" and she told me that she saw him standing next to a big semi truck right beside a man that looked just like him. Well the "man that looked just like him" thing really threw us off, even though I didn't believe any of it at the time and was just curious, lol.

Well come to find out, about 4-5 years later, I married a triplet. My sister married one of his triplet brothers even. His name was "Keith" and he was a truck driver. I ended up divorcing him and married again about five years ago, and with that marriage, I had my 2nd child, a girl. So though I don't believe in that stuff now, psychics, etc, I still am amazed at the accuracy of her call, lol, :)

Also,in addition to the superstitious stuff, I don't believe in "luck, chance, accident, or coincidence" so that's why I don't believe in superstitions.

And regarding your question, I don't think it makes you less a Christian, but rather I believe God has His perfect time to deal with us on convictions, etc.  Shoot, I was raised to believe that the KJV was the only correct Bible and taught not to use the paraphrased versions, etc. It's taken me some 20 years now to realize it's not changing what God says, it's simply making it easy for me to understand better. And now I'm okay with it, lol, but it didn't happen overnight, just as I didn't learn to crawl, talk, or speak overnight. I just know EVERYTHING comes in His time, :)

Excellent post and question!

Cheryl

Gosh, I'm SO sorry I wrote SO much. I'm a medical transcriptionist and I also can talk a lot...what a dangerous combination for you fellow xangians, lol, :)

I think the cultural pull must be quite big.

I wonder if it is a bit like Peter in Galatians going back to practicing Jewish traditions, when he had had the truth of salvation revealed to him?

We KNOW we don't need them, yet we do them just in case, it is like we hedge our bets.

Or they are just so in ground that it is hard not too.

Either way.... no I don't buy into them, and try not to place faith in anything other than God.

But I can understand the journey when it is inherent and in ground in culture and upbringing.  I would imagine that may make things harder.

x

@JUSTAVAPORHERE@xanga - lol no worries! you made very interesting points!

Dude! You totally swiped my post that I did some months ago....

http://www.xanga.com/MC_Shann/667369174/item.html

LOL @ the star counting one..

hm..I was never superstitious xD..I open the umbrella indoors because i need to dry them out. I see a black cat and think nothing about it..as for ladders, well..i never see any =.=

@mamma_sez - I think you're right about the cultural aspect of some superstitions. I think for many people religion and superstition almost go hand in hand b/c it's so deeply ingrained with their life and the way they were brought up.

Great example you brought up with Peter in Galatians.

i'm also a christian (catholic) and i don't believe in superstitions.  i dont necessarily believe they're "sinful" but at the same time, i don't think as a christian anyone should be entertaining them.  it sets expectations and a lack of trust in His plan, and basis events off of wishes and 'magic' and things like that.

they are fun and i also find myself entertaining them every now and then, but i've learned to separate the superstitions from the events that are supposedly caused by them.

i think if we do superstitious acts to make something happen, we kind of in a way indirectly saying that we're more powerful that Him b/c we're in control.  it defeats the purpose of surrendering to Him.  i dont know if that makes sense, but it does to me.

Superstitions are not rational. I think traditions are okay if they're not too disruptive of your life. I would think Christians would avoid belief in superstitions as it's faith in the superstition rather than faith in God.

I think what  can be most difficult is when superstitions are so ingrained in our lives that we don't even recognize them as superstitions.

I'm also a Christian. a Roman Catholic. I previously believed in all of those things. But when there came a time that I am fed up with these things, I stop believing in them. For me, its not a sin if you believe in those stuff because it depends on the person. But for me, based on experience, believing in such just hinders you to do the thing that you want and need to do. Their is no proof that these things are true. But I'm always irritated whenever my family would follow these things. I mean, it's not true, why follow? and it just scares the people.