Les Feldick Bible Study

Why do pagan religious leaders keep their people saturated with superstition?

The only way pagan religious leaders can keep their people under control is to saturate them with superstition. In a pagan society, such superstition surrounds idolatrous practices, including meat offered to idols, and it leaves weak consciences with reservations and defilement.

Les explains that in a pagan society, the only way pagan religious leaders can keep their people under control is to have them saturated with superstition. The surrounding context shows Paul addressing Corinthian believers who did not all have knowledge. Some, with conscience of the idol, ate meat as a thing offered to an idol, and their weak conscience was defiled. Even saved Corinthians still lacked comprehension of God compared to the powerless gods of idols. So superstition functions as a tool of control, while the weak believer's reservations illustrate how idolatrous practices affect the conscience.

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How do pagan religious leaders keep their people under control?

Under a pagan society, the only way pagan religious leaders can keep their people under control is to have them saturated with superstition.