Upfront April 30, 2012 Issue

'Written in heaven'

Jeff Ward-Bailey, Staff Editor

“A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life . . . .”

That famous line from the opening stanza of Romeo and Juliet captures a feeling of inevitability. The characters’ lives are “star-crossed,” their good intentions thwarted by forces beyond anyone’s control. Broadly speaking, we’ve come a long way since Shakespeare’s day in terms of societal beliefs about the stars, but there are still plenty of similar superstitions floating around. Besides astrology, think of garden-variety superstitions like avoiding cracks in the sidewalk or throwing a pinch of salt over one’s shoulder after it’s been spilled. Or more insidious beliefs, like witchcraft or voodoo.

There’s a better way to live. Rather than putting stock in cosmic forces with the supposed ability to influence one’s life, let’s affirm that God, who is all and only good, is the only power. Lyle Young writes in this issue’s lead article, “We defend ourselves against superstition by recognizing the nothingness of any mind apart from God that could believe in, be affected by, or fear those thought clusters [such as astrology or witchcraft] or those who think and act on the basis of those systems” (p. 4). And elsewhere in our lead section, Evan Bryant adds, “Whenever we are confronted with . . . superstitions about the stars and planets, or more broadly, the fearful claims of sickness, lack, or our own shortcomings, we can turn with childlike receptivity to the healing truths of the Bible and Science and Health” (p. 8). 

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