Of Groundhogs and Other Superstitions: Part One

Happy Groundhog Day . . . or not . . . depending on how much credence you give to Punxatawney Phil, the famous groundhog who did indeed see his shadow this morning. As happens every year, crowds gather on Gobbler’s Knob in the town of Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, to watch the rodent come out of his burrow. And, as the tradition goes, if he sees his shadow on February 2nd, it means we’re in for another six weeks of winter. Or at least, Punxatawney, Pennsylvania is. How accurate is he? According to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (seriously?) he’s been right only 21% of the time. Not that good for an enduring superstition, considering the odds are 50/50.

But Phil is not the only superstition that people are dealing with right now; it is after all, Super Bowl week. Talk about superstitions! It seems everyone has a certain ritual to perform, a certain shirt or outfit to wear, certain foods to eat or a special chair to sit upon to ensure their team wins. They’re afraid to say certain things that might “jinx” their team. And that’s just the players we’re talking about! When it comes to fans watching the game (or not, if watching might jinx your team) the rituals and traditions are all over the place. Of course, I always wonder how it works: if all the superstitions are true, who wins, given that fans and players on both sides are doing them?

I’m glad to say I’m above such things (though I may have jinxed the Packers by loaning my cheesehead to a fellow Packers fan at church just before the NFC playoff).

In some cases, such superstitions are harmless fun. In Punxatawney, for example, it’s a tourist draw and a matter of civic pride for which the leaders play dress-up with top hats and long coats. I think hardly anyone actually believes the groundhog is a real prognosticator. But, unfortunately, many people are caught up in other superstitions which affect their lives, their decision-making, their finances, their families, and even their relationship with God.

This is especially surprising to see in today’s Western world, which supposedly left its superstitious beliefs back in the Dark Ages. People refuse to believe in God because “it isn’t scientific” to put faith in what we cannot see, yet they buy lottery tickets or read horoscopes or give offerings to “earth spirits.”

Superstitions come in two broad categories.

1. First, there is what I call, the “omen” type. This includes attempts to discern knowledge in ways beyond our senses and reason, such as with horoscopes, Ouija boards, I Ching sticks, Tarot cards, fortune tellers, seances, and yes, even groundhogs. It’s not that wanting to know things is bad; after all, we study the Bible to learn about God and science to learn about what he has created. The former is commanded by Scripture itself: (Psalm 111:12, Acts 17:11) and the latter reveals God’s power and divine nature through what he has made (Romans 1:20). The problem comes when we seek knowledge in ways which God has forbidden us to use. And God has clearly commanded us to avoid such occult sources: “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

While the things which God forbids sound extreme compared with something seemingly harmless like reading a daily horoscope, the two are actually of a similar nature. In either case, a person is seeking answers and directions for life decisions by putting some other authority above God. He wants us instead to look to him in prayer. Notice that it doesn’t matter if the forbidden source happens to yield information that is true; we are still to avoid seeking knowledge in that way. In fact, it can be especially dangerous when a forbidden source comes through with accurate answers, because then we trust it even more and can put ourselves into its bondage.

There is a classic episode of the Twilight Zone called “Nick of Time” in which a young couple’s car breaks down in a small town. While they wait for it to be repaired, they hang out in the local diner where the booth has a penny-operated “fortune-telling” machine that spits out cards with answers to the couple’s questions. The fact that there was a devil’s head on the machine should have been their first clue not to get involved! But they do, at first for entertainment, but then in growing fear and dependency on the machine as the answers it gives prove to be true, one right after another. Finally they realize the machine was coming to control them and they break away from its bondage and escape the town. On their way out, they pass an elderly couple who are coming into the diner with a handful of pennies, obviously still in such bondage.

Isaiah 8:19 says, “And when they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?”

It’s not that God cannot use various means to make his will known for us. The Bible does tell us that he has done so, such as when the apostles selected a replacement for the deceased Judas Iscariot: they cast lots and prayed for God to reveal his choice between two qualified candidates. We believe God did answer their prayer. But that was before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and before the writing of the New Testament Scriptures; now we seek answers in God’s Word through the guidance of his Spirit.

The second type of superstition is what I would call the “magic” type. It includes all attempts to influence or control the outcome of events and things by rituals that we do. This is the kind of superstition which will be rampant around the Super Bowl, and it is the kind of superstition which I will address tomorrow in my next post, “Of Groundhogs and Other Superstitions: Part Two”.

Until then, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Deuteronomy 13:1-3