YOUCAT Question n. 355 - Part III. “You shall not have strange Gods before me.” What does that mean?
(Youcat
answer - repeated) This commandment forbids us: to adore other gods and pagan
deities or to worship an earthly idol or to devote oneself entirely to some
earthly good (money, influence, success, beauty, youth, and so on); to be
superstitious, which means to adhere to esoteric, magic, or occult or New Age
practices or to get involved with fortune telling or spiritualism, instead of
believing in God’s power, providence, and blessings; to provoke God by word or
deed; to commit a sacrilege; to acquire spiritual power through corruption and
to desecrate what is holy through trafficking (simony).
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 2114)
Human life finds its unity in the adoration of the one God. The commandment to
worship the Lord alone integrates man and saves him from an endless
disintegration. Idolatry is a perversion of man's innate religious sense. An
idolater is someone who "transfers his indestructible notion of God to
anything other than God" (Origen, Contra
Celsum 2, 40: PG 11, 861). (CCC 2115) God can reveal the future to his
prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in
putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns
the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence,
however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.
Reflecting and meditating
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 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 (Cf. Deut 18:10; Jer 29:8).
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.
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