Does Catholicism have a stance on horoscopes?
score:2
The current Catechism has a "more modern take on the matter" which actually uses the word horoscope.
2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future.⁴⁸ Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honour, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
⁴⁸ Cf Deut 18:10, Jer 29:8
This paragraph appears in the section on the Commandments headed "You shall have no other gods before me". Constructing and consulting horoscopes indicates a belief that it's possible to divine the mind of God and predict his plans, which puts Man on a par with God.
I don't believe that astrology works and any belief that we can divine the mind of God is forlorn. However, disobeying God in "making ourselves gods" is what caused the Fall. God is God and it's not for Man to be.
Upvote:0
The difference between scientific prediction (like weather forecasting*) and divination is that divination is superstitious and involves associating with demons.
*(which Jesus does not forbid but actually commends, instead of not using one's God-given intellect and seeking signs; cf. Mt. 16:2-3 or Lk. 12:54-56)
As St. Thomas writes (Summa Theologica II-II q. 95 a. 2 "
Whether divination is a species of superstition?" c.):
superstition includes not only idolatrous sacrifices offered to demons, but also recourse to the help of the demons for the purpose of doing or knowing something.
St. Thomas Aquinas treats the question of forecasting vs. divination at length in his short work on "casting lots," De sortibus, the last chapter (ch. 5) of which addresses the question of whether it is permitted for Christians to use lots; it begins with him saying that "it is obvious that no Christian is permitted to have any pact of association with the demons."
St. Thomas Aquinas even explains why "astrologers not unfrequently forecast the truth by observing the stars" in Summa Theologica II-II q. 95 a. 5 ("Whether divination by the stars is unlawful?") ad 2:
astrologers not unfrequently forecast the truth by observing the stars…because a great number of men follow their bodily passions, so that their actions are for the most part (in pluribus) disposed in accordance with the inclination of the heavenly bodies: while there are few, namely, the wise (sapientes) alone, who moderate these inclinations by their reason. The result is that astrologers in many cases foretell the truth, especially in public occurrences which depend on the multitude (ex multitudine).
More post
- 📝 How is it that sinful people who do not believe, still get the blessings of the Lord?
- 📝 Did Jesus descend into hell in his living body?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians understand what it means for Jesus to grow 'in favor' with God?
- 📝 Is there a prayer to God for the supplicant to believe in Him?
- 📝 Did Mosaic covenants follow Ancient Near East Suzerain Treaties or was it the other way around?
- 📝 Martin Luther on the salvation of Christian Soldiers?
- 📝 Why did St. Jerome place Peter's letters after James's letter if Peter was the leader of the apostles and the church?
- 📝 How many different people in the New Testament are called or claim to be "Brothers" or "Sisters" of Jesus?
- 📝 How do Lutherans pray for the dead?
- 📝 Looking for a website with the 1984 NIV Bible version
- 📝 How is 1 Corinthians 9:27 reconciled with the teaching that losing salvation is impossible?
- 📝 Remarriage of divorced, where adultery doesn't occur until after the divorce?
- 📝 How did Satan get into Eden?
- 📝 Does Catholic Church condemn cruelty to animals?
- 📝 How does the Bible explain the existence of fossils that are millions of years old?
- 📝 Did Jesus ascend to Heaven twice?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians respond to passages in the Bible that seem to clearly distinguish between God and Jesus after his ascension?
- 📝 How would the four major eschatological views differ in their interpretation of Revelation 21:4?
- 📝 According to Christianity, to what extent can non-Christians develop and manifest the fruit of the Spirit?
- 📝 What do Bible lexicons, like Strong's, mean when they use the phrase, "by extension"?
- 📝 In Theistic Evolution when do the genealogies in Genesis become real?
- 📝 Request for an update on views about the Trinity doctrine as now held by the groups below
- 📝 Did God's essence enter time and space?
- 📝 Are there any Christian sects that allow for the existence of other "God" claims?
- 📝 According to Chalcedonian Trinitarians, why did Jesus not mention himself at John 4:23?
- 📝 How do paedobaptists address the argument that infants are incapable of doing what those of Cornelius' household did?
- 📝 How many practicing Canon Lawyers are there in the USA, and the world?
- 📝 What is the difference between a church and a social club?
- 📝 Were the Waldensians like a Protestant Church in the Middle Ages?
- 📝 What does it mean to shed blood in the name of Christ?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Does Catholicism have a stance on horoscopes?
- 📝 Why does Catholicism have priests but Protestantism does not?
- 📝 Does Catholicism Have Anything to Say About 'Physical Evil'?
- 📝 Does Catholicism have a notion of "the God in me"?
- 📝 Does Roman Catholicism teach that appearances of *Santo Nino De Atocha* have some particular meaning?
- 📝 Does God have a sense of humor? Does he laugh?
- 📝 Does believing in Jesus Christ save me, or do I have to do something more?
- 📝 If God controls our decisions, does this mean we don't have free will?
- 📝 Does the triune God have will by nature, or by persons?
- 📝 Why (how) does Jesus' coat have no seam?
- 📝 Does God have free will?
- 📝 Why does God have a chosen people?
- 📝 Why does the Messiah have to be God?
- 📝 Does Catholic doctrine teach that the Incarnation would have taken place regardless of Adam's decision?
- 📝 What doctrine does Family Radio have of the End of the World?
- 📝 Why does God command us to have children?
- 📝 Where does the Catholic tradition that Mary did not have pain giving birth to Jesus come from?
- 📝 Does the priest have the power to forgive sins?
- 📝 Why does a beheaded saint have the halo above the stump?
- 📝 Does one have to admit to not being a virgin when preparing for a Catholic wedding?
- 📝 Does the Pope's encyclical Laudato si' have a Latin version?
- 📝 What does it mean that John's Gospel does not have an account of the institution of the Eucharist?
- 📝 Does the Christian Old Testament have the exact same list of books as the Jewish Bible?
- 📝 According to Reformed theology, why does God tell people to repent if they don't have the choice to do so, as in Exodus 10:3?
- 📝 What does spikenard have to do with St Joseph?
- 📝 Why does Jesus have to be fully God and fully man? Is it not sufficient to be the son of God and fully man?
- 📝 How does Swedenborgianism understand Amos 3:2, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth"?
- 📝 Does Catholicism teach that there is a just interest rate?
- 📝 Does a Christian have a responsibility to participate in government?
- 📝 Does Satan have a physical dwelling place on earth?