Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 355 – Part VII.

YOUCAT Question n. 355 - Part VII. “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 2123) "Many… of our contemporaries either do not at all perceive, or explicitly reject, this intimate and vital bond of man to God. Atheism must therefore be regarded as one of the most serious problems of our time" (GS 19 § 1).    

Reflecting and meditating 

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2124) The name "atheism" covers many very different phenomena. One common form is the practical materialism which restricts its needs and aspirations to space and time. Atheistic humanism falsely considers man to be "an end to himself, and the sole maker, with supreme control, of his own history" (GS 20 § 1). Another form of contemporary atheism looks for the liberation of man through economic and social liberation. "It holds that religion, of its very nature, thwarts such emancipation by raising man's hopes in a future life, thus both deceiving him and discouraging him from working for a better form of life on earth" (GS 20 § 2).      

(This question: “You shall not have strange Gods before me.” What does that mean?  is continued)