Why did the Catholic Church ban alchemy?

Question

It's not evil, and it was one of the saints who was last to possess the philosophers stone. So, if some of the saints practice it, than why did they consider it evil?

Answer 1

Alchemy existed in the Middle Ages for hundreds of years. Alchemy was banned periodically, but not always. Many Catholic monks were alchemists, which is where the chemical and alchemical term "antimony" comes from. Though originally the word came from the Greek words 'anti' 'monos', which means not alone, antimony eventually became known for the meaning "anti monk", or more specifically, "monk killer". This is because antimony is poisonous. The Church was opposed to the magic spells required by alchemy. In essence, alchemy is a combination of magic and chemistry. By the way, no one ever successfully created the Philosopher's Stone, nor turned lead into gold. This is why alchemy faded away. The parts of alchemy that did work became chemistry.

Answer 2

The church has constantly supported technology in assessment to a pair could have you ever suspect. whilst a individual replaced into "persecuted" for their "technology" it wasn't simply by technology yet simply by fact the guy replaced into committing some form of grave sin or spreading heretical perspectives. The church no longer in user-friendly terms supported laypersons of their scientific examine, yet many advancements in genetics, astronomy, chemistry, and many different fields have been further approximately by utilising Catholic clergymen and different non secular. The church acted to suppress issues that have been the prepare of evil, the occult and superstition no longer technology. The church constantly regular shown scientific fact, no longer in user-friendly terms some theory. Church officers would possibly no longer have today regular new theories, yet that replaced into simply by fact the info weren't shown yet. whilst some thing replaced into shown the church regular it. in case you're thinking approximately some human beings the church supported: Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler or maybe Leonardo Da Vinci. The record is going on and on... once you hear a narrative concerning to the church being "irrational" or "evil", only study what easily befell and you will discover out it extremely is only trumped up rates against the church.

Answer 3

To the best of my knowledge the church did not "ban" alchemy, but it's religious tenets ban sorcery and through most of history alchemy has been associated with sorcery. The alchemy we think of today, the mythological practice of a primitive form of empirical science, was only a surprisingly recent development for alchemy.



Most historians believe alchemy began informally in ancient Egypt when craft guilds believed that the chemical changes they witnessed in the products they used (washing with lye cleansed fabric, certain chemicals cleansed metal, etc.) they saw these changes as magical and a direct action of the gods.



Through most of history alchemy was thus an attempt to communicate with spirits/gods in order to gain desired chemical changes. It was not until the Christian age that alchemists began to seriously study material reality apart from mythology. Many of the alchemsits of the late medieval ages actually used scientific tests to prove things, I can't remember the name but there was an alchemist who used cheese cloth to "prove" that water was composed of tiny particles, since that explained how it could go through the tiny porous holes of the cheese cloth.



-hope this helps!

Answer 4

Many elements of alchemy entail Divination, which is in violation of the First Commandment.



DIVINATION

The art of knowing and declaring future events or hidden things by means of communication with occult forces. It is always an act of a religious nature. There is no divination if the religious element is missing, as in any scientific investigation. The occult forces in divination are always created rational powers that the Church identifies as diabolical. Implicit in this judgment is the belief that neither God nor the spiritual powers friendly to God would lend themselves to frivolous practices or subject themselves to any evoking human force. Hence, evoking these powers, whether explicitly or even implicitly, is considered an appeal to Satan's aid. It is therefore a grave offense against God to attribute to the devil a sure knowledge of the contingent future, which, as depending on free will, is known to God alone.



This explains the strong prohibition in the Bible of any divining practices. "Do not have recourse," the people were told, "to the spirits of the dead or to magicians; they will defile you. I am Yahweh your God" (Leviticus 19:31). And again: "Any man or woman who is necromancer or magician must be put to death by stoning; their blood shall be on their own heads" (Leviticus 20:27).



In the history of christianity every form of divination has been condemned by the Church. Among the more common are augury (Latin augurare, to predict) by the interpretation of omens such as watching the flight of birds or inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals; axinomancy (Greek axine, axhead + manteia, divination) by means of the movements of an ax placed on a post; belomancy (Greek belos, dart) by drawing arrows at random from a container; bibliomancy (Greek biblion,book) by superstitiously consulting books, notably the Bible; capnomancy (Greek kapnos, smoke) by studying the ascent and descent of smoke and concluding that it was a good omen if the smoke rose vertically, especially from a sacrifice; chiromancy (Greek cheir, hand) by inspecting the lines of the hand, also called palmistry; necromancy (Greek necros, dead person) by consulting the dead or conjuring up the souls of the dead to inquire of them some secrets from the past or into the future, more commonly known as spiritualism. (Etym. Latin devinare, to foresee, predict, prophesy.)

Answer 5

I was thought as a child to study alchemy and it sounds beautiful but I started felling attacked by those spirits they call up on. The dead are dead and we wouldn't even open the bible and study the word of god. I rather go to a church and pray to my creator Jesus and try to do the best I can in that sexual field. Thank you for reminding me of this facts because I feel compelled to go back because I was brain washed. I feel that they try to do their will by using magic and that's where the devil comes in. Jesus uses mercy and is up to god not humans to do magic. Jesus is our creator not ourselves.

Answer 6

*** sh chap. 7 pp. 170-172 pars. 18-19 Taoism and Confucianism—A Search for Heaven’s Way ***

During the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.), the magical practices of Taoism reached a new peak. It was said that Emperor Wu Ti, though promoting Confucianism as the official State teaching, was much attracted to the Taoist idea of physical immortality. He was particularly taken up with concocting ‘immortality pills’ by alchemy. In the Taoist view, life results when the opposing yin and yang (female and male) forces combine. Thus, by fusing lead (dark, or yin) and mercury (bright, or yang), the alchemists were imitating the process of nature, and the product, they thought, would be an immortality pill. Taoists also developed Yogalike exercises, breath-control techniques, dietary restrictions, and sexual practices that were believed to strengthen one’s vital energy and prolong one’s life. Their paraphernalia included magic talismans that were said to render one invisible and invulnerable to weapons or enable one to walk on water or fly through space. They also had magic seals, usually containing the yin-yang symbol, affixed on buildings and over doorways to repel evil spirits and wild beasts.

By the second century C.E., Taoism became organized. A certain Chang Ling, or Chang Tao-ling, established a Taoist secret society in western China and practiced magical cures and alchemy. Because each member was levied a fee of five pecks of rice, his movement came to be known as the Five-Pecks-of-Rice Taoism (wu-tou-mi tao). Claiming that he received a personal revelation from Lao-tzu, Chang became the first “celestial master.” Finally, it was said that he succeeded in making the elixir of life and ascended alive to heaven, riding a tiger, from Mount Lung-hu (Dragon-Tiger Mountain) in Kiangsi Province. With Chang Tao-ling there started a centuries-long succession of Taoist “celestial masters,” each said to be a reincarnation of Chang.

Answer 7

They wanted to steer students into engineering.

Answer 8

Harry Potter is fake.

Answer 9

Well, it's completely fake anyway, so why does it matter?

Answer 10

It's not real.