Paul wrote, “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23). We are free to display art of all kinds, including sculpture and wall hangings, but some choices reflect disobedience to God. Is having a dream catcher a sin? Does the Bible say anything specifically about dream catchers?
What Is a Dream Catcher?
The Ojibwe people of North America are credited with making the first dream catchers. The specific origins are unknown because of colonial destruction and disruption, but “during the pan-Indian movement of the 1960s and 1970s, [dream catchers] were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different Nations in an effort to show solidarity.” They are symbolic of Native American unity.
A dream catcher is made from wood bent into a circle within which a web of fibers has been woven. Feathers dangle from the bottom.
Grandparents frequently hung them from the cribs of newborns to catch bad dreams. “Trapped, the bad dreams are then evaporated by the morning sun, as happens with dew on the grass. Good dreams, however, are peaceful and make their way through the web, down the feathers, and to the child” (Ibid.).
Gift Shop Wares
Native Americans and non-indigenous people in many cultures have embraced and adopted the image of dream catchers. They hang big ones over their own beds, in their living rooms, and from rear view mirrors. They have been shrunk to the size of key chains and earrings.
Dream catchers are fabricated en masse from non-traditional materials such as plastic and metal, making them cheap and easily distributed for sale in retail stores. One will also find the image of a dream catcher on blankets and quilts, in coloring books, and in paintings.
Modern manufacturers and crafters create a range of shapes and utilize numerous colors, which are not traditionally associated with this craft.
Many indigenous peoples consider dream catchers “tacky,” while others teach the original meaning and stories associated with dream catchers. They approach the making and use of dream catchers with respect for their ancestors, for nature, and with a deep love for Native American legends.
An Idol of the World
God said to Moses, “Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [...] Let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them” (Exodus 32:7,10).
Israel had melted gold into the shape of a calf, an idol of pagan worship. The Lord had given the people his commandments through his servant Moses, and within a matter of days, they had broken the first and second commandments: to have no other gods and to not make idols (Exodus 20:3,4). This was a grave error on the part of God’s people.
“Corrupted” or “shachath” in Hebrew can mean that something is destroyed, ruined, or in this case, something has been perverted. The straight is made crooked.
By their actions, the people of Israel had potentially destroyed their relationship with the Almighty, but Moses convinced the Lord to withhold his rage. God could have killed them where they stood; it was his right, as their Lord and Creator, as they had committed treason.
The people of God had no excuse — they had been given God’s command not to fashion idols of any kind out of any material, whether those images were derived from pagan imagery or from ideas about what angels or the Lord himself might look like.
Israel offered their worship to something physical and visible in order to assuage their fears, even though the Lord had just parted the Red Sea in front of them. An idol is anything, which one worships in order to meet an immediate desire for comfort or power.
Christians, like all people, do this all the time by using drugs or sex, or food to help them avoid their troubles for a period of time or by losing their temper so they can get their way and have control.
Symbols Versus Idols
Many self-confessed “non-religious” people employ superstitious objects and imagery as a way to cover all of their bases, to keep one foot in the world and one foot in the spiritual realm, just in case one of them proves insufficient.
What if a dream catcher actually does filter out bad dreams? What if it brings good luck or encourages good spirits in one’s home?
There is no harm, they say, in hanging a dream catcher if it does nothing, and if there is some truth to Native American legends, then a dream catcher will protect their children from having nightmares.
The symbol of the cross is often treated this way. Many individuals wear one without knowing that it represents Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary and that the empty cross reminds Christians of the empty tomb — that He is risen.
The item itself is without power. Wearing a cross does not save anyone or imbue an individual with good luck. One might wear a cross superstitiously, the way another person believes that going to church will get him or her into heaven.
Some people wear them because they were gifts from loved ones who did believe in the resurrected Jesus. Wearing a cross does not signify whether a person believes or not, nor does it indicate whether one is saved or is not saved.
Is a dream catcher merely a beautiful piece of art, or does it serve as a kind of idol? The problem is not with the item so much as it is with a person’s belief.
Displaying sculptures for their aesthetic value alone is not sinful. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
Idolatry begins in the heart, and one can commit idolatry without erecting a statue or hanging a Native American craft.
Protecting the Weak
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians exhorts, “if one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice,’ then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you” (1 Corinthians 10:27-28).
Imagine going to someone’s house for dinner and asking, “Where did this meat come from?”
That would be rude and unnecessary. Paul said that God made the meat, and there is no heart issue attached to eating it, so long as one does not know it was used as part of a pagan ritual.
What if a disciple were invited to a home, which displayed artwork of various kinds, and went to each piece asking, “Was this used in idol worship?” This would be offensive and also unnecessary. One can admire the imagination (created by God), which devised such ornaments, so long as it was not obviously created to be employed in pagan worship.
The problem arises when someone’s faith is weak. BibleRef.com offers a helpful explanation of this confusing passage. “Some may struggle to know idols are fictional. They may wonder if God will judge them for eating idol food. For these Christians to violate their own convictions is sin” (Romans 14:23).
What if one enters the home of a new Christian who has displayed dream catchers? The visitor might ask why they are on display. If the answer is “because it protects my family,” the mature Christian would lovingly caution against believing in the power of such items.
If this new Christian offers the gift of a dream catcher to a more mature Christian, saying it will provide protection, the recipient must indicate gently but firmly that a dream catcher has no protective value.
Some writers go so far as to refuse such gifts because, while “idols are false, the demons attached to them are real and powerful. No Christian should knowingly associate with demons in any way” (1 Corinthians 10:14–22).
Whether one agrees with this position or not, having a dream catcher in one’s home sets a confusing example. A worshiper of the Triune God cannot also be a worshiper or follower in even the slightest way of Native American spirits.
Christine Leigh Heyrman wrote that “Native Americans perceived the ‘material’ and ‘spiritual’ as a unified realm of being [...]. In their view, plants, animals, and humans partook of divinity through their close connection with ‘guardian spirits,’ a myriad of ‘supernatural’ entities who imbued their “natural” kin with life and power.”
Christ taught that he was “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
People and animals were created by the divine Creator; people were made in his image; believers possess the Spirit of God, but they are not divine, and neither is creation.
One cannot blithely say that all roads lead to God, that there is no single right way to obey him and be a Christian. Christ himself argued against this proposition (John 14:16).
A Question of Knowing
Christians are urged not to be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14).
No artifact will snatch a person away from the Lord, but a dream catcher provides no cover for the believer either.
Admire the craftsmanship; respect the culture, but remember there is a spiritual battle raging, and the Evil One will use seemingly harmless means by which to ensnare the unwary.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).
For further reading:
Does God Give Prophetic Dreams to Us Today?
Why Were Dreams More Prominent in the Bible Than They Are Now?
How God’s Provision Is Revealed Through Joseph’s Dreams
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