Spiritual Danger?

I have met some new friends at university and we get along well. As our friendship grows, it is becoming evident that we have very different beliefs about the world, why we are here and what happens when we die. My friends are very interested in the afterlife, reading their stars and visiting psychics.

These practices are opposite to my beliefs and I am worried I could be inviting spiritual danger into my life, through listening to their stories and reading my stars with them.

Maintaining friendships when you have different beliefs can be difficult. It needs to be asked how much of their life is directed and acted out according to the information they receive from these sources. If every decision they make relies on information from spiritualism, and you join them in this, it is possible you could be influenced or affected by these sources.

The devil and his work is real and he will use any way possible to get into our lives. He even puts people in our lives to assist his work. It is not that these girls are dangerous, they just may not understand what they are dealing with. The problem with the spiritual world is that it can become addictive, as you feel you can have more control over your life and find things out about the future. You can become involved without even realising it. It interferes with the concept of faith and relying on God for direction.

Another question to ask yourself is “How much can I live as my authentic self if I am joining in?” Being your authentic self means knowing what is important to you and not waivering from this, no matter what outside pressures you come across.

You know you are not being authentic when you experience guilt, don’t feel comfortable about decisions you make or have more problems then usual.

You need to acertain how important these friendships are to you.

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself and your beliefs:

> Talk to them about your beliefs and how that part of their life makes you feel uncomfortable.

> Ask them not to talk to you about that part of their life and let them know you can’t participate in things that seem harmless, such as reading your stars.

> Pray for them to come to an understanding about the dangers of spiritualism.

> Choose to catch up with them on a more basic level

Are your beliefs important to you?

The great thing about this experience is that it challenges you to explore your beliefs, consolidate them and then be able to share your beliefs. So many of us adopt beliefs from our parents without really understanding the philosophy behind them.

It doesn’t matter what the different beliefs are we need to make sure we are always living in line with our authentic self.

And if we are Christians, we need to make sure we are living in tune with God’s plans for us. If we live with integrity, then we are a good witness for God.

We don’t have to keep away from people with different beliefs but we do need to make sure we aren’t attracted to lifestyles that could be dangerous to us.