You know these weekly horoscopes in the paper under your Chinese zodiac sign. Little blurbs of a couple sentences each
Are these a sin for Catholics to read or follow?
They always have positive advice it seems. It seems pretty clean. I mean, I could probably be doing worse things than reading my weekly horoscope. In comparison to all the bad news in newspapers, my Chinese horoscope is good news!
Or does “horoscope” in traditional sense mean the crazy lady in the booth with a crystal ball conjuring up spirits type of thing?
So True, Jacques horoscope’s spirit manifest from anything other than God. Logically, The fallacy in superstition is becoming from something other than God, to me.
We become Manifested by choice becoming from the power of the selected spirit to become again the image of the spirit’s father, OMNILogically, I believe.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 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. 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 honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
If you are reading them for your own amusement, then I would not say that it is sinful, but if you are looking to them for special knowledge or it becomes superstitious, then I would advise against reading them.
Horoscopes fall into the same category as numerology and personality tests. They can be fun, but not to be taken seriously.
Re: “the crazy lady”, these things do exist. There are people who can see what is up ahead. But spiritual science tells us that there is a process of “sewing and reaping”. “Do unto others as you you would have them do unto you.”, is not just a “nice” sentiment. It’s also a warning. Or, as the man in the street says, “What goes around comes around.” However, for one who has taken seriously to surrendering his heart of Jesus, there is intercession. He will arrange matters in our life, not so much for our enjoyment of the things of this world (what is referred to as worship of “Mammon” is scriptures) but for our progress in surrendering our hearts to God’s will for us. Some of the things that come our way, we will not have asked for. But God knows best. We are not here on earth to have a good time. We are here to cultivate surrender to God, and to say, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” A lot of church-goers think of religion and God as the big Amazon.com in the sky. Place your orders and wait for delivery. This is not what religion is really about. It is about aspiring to become God’s instrument with our thoughts, words and deeds. Chinese for-telling may be accurate to some degree. But for one who really wants to come closer to God, it is irrelevant, a distraction. Why would one desire to read such things with their spare time, if they could be using the same time for reading scripture, praying, and sharing the word with others? The fact is, there is only one sin…and that is doing anything other than trying to be a source of pleasure to God. Why would a devoted person want to willingly engage in that way?
I guess my weekly Chinese horoscope is out of my routine now!
The Equivalent for us is the pages in bibles that link to scripture connected to life’s issues, like Abundance, Assurance, Compassion, Contentment, Courage, so on and so forth
Not all Bibles have more than the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Some have, as it were, bonus features, and I guess that what you are describing is discussion of various aspects of life according to God’s revelation. If the Chinese horoscope merely advises certain virtues or good behavior to practice each day, it doesn’t sound bad. If it claims that there are things to do because of the position of the sun, stars, and planets or that these bodies in space predict what will happen in your life, that’s silly.