Superstitions—Do They Work?

People have practiced this behavior for a long time.

Superstitions have been with us a long time and are widespread. The story is told of an anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski, who observed some fishermen from the Trobriand Islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea during World War I. When the fishermen were close to shore in calm waters with a low level of  risk, there was little evidence of superstitious behavior. But out in the more dangerous waters of the open seas, the fishermen engaged in elaborate rituals in order to ensure success. Evidently, the superstitious behavior was practiced because the fishermen felt they couldn’t control things as well when fishing far from shore.

Sports, in particular baseball, is a magnet for attracting superstitious behavior. Babe Ruth always touched second base when running in from the outfield. Honus Wagner believed each bat contained only one hundred hits. Consequently, he would dispose of any bat after 100 hits and begin using a new one. Wade Boggs had many superstitions--always eating chicken on game days; practicing batting and wind sprints at exactly the same time each day; leaving his house at the same time on game days, etc. 

During hard times, superstitious behavior tends to be more common, when people feel they have done all they can do. During the war in Iraq, American soldiers, for some unknown reason, began avoiding apricots, refusing to eat them or even go near them. During the Great Depression, citizens of Richmond, Virginia,  even the more religious citizens, became superstitious and developed an interest in palmistry and the occult. “The Ouija board was a big deal then,” author Studs Terkel said. “They couldn’t afford to go to a movie, perchance, so they’d say: We’ll all play the Ouija board tonight.”

It may be easy for people to fall for superstitions. We may do something one way and get good results. We do something another way, and for no obvious reason, don’t get the same results. So we keep doing it the first way, at least as long as the practice seems to work. Perhaps the habit of a baseball player always stepping on a certain base when coming in from the outfield or a person carrying a good luck charm may not seem as serious as playing the Ouija board or engaging in a séance. But the Bible has nothing good to say about superstitious behavior. And it doesn’t seem as if superstitious people can rely on science to back up their behavior, either.

“You, Lord, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs” (Isaiah 2:6). When neither the Word of God nor science can approve of a superstitious habit, perhaps one should consider going another way for assistance, preferably to the Lord. God stands ready to help us at a moment’s notice. He will always hear the prayer of a righteous person and will do what is best for us, even if His answer isn’t what we might like.

Prayer is not a superstition, even though many an atheist might think so. The Bible says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). The God who thought enough of us to send His only Son to earth to become our Savior will not ignore us now.

Reference: Joseph T. Hallinan, “Why Superstition Works,” Discover magazine.

(Photo of an ouija board, from Wikipedia) 

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

Can cats really see in total darkness?

Not total darkness. But cats only need a sixth of the amount of light we humans need to see clearly. This helps outdoor cats when they need to hunt in the low light conditions of dusk and dawn.

Source: Jackson Galaxy, parade.com/kitty

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