Does the Bible says no to Tarot?

[tarotbear]

The Bible also says not to wear red, not eat shellfish, and lumps women in with cattle & property.

This is the only post I am making in this thread. There are 'way too many threads of late about Bibles, christian attitudes and other things I don't find healthy or necessary to talk about on this forum. I do wish the mods would create a separate category for them so that I could filter them out. Religion and discussions corncerning them - Tarot or not- should have their own forum the way politics does.

*off my soapbox now*

 

[Baroli]

That's the example I use when some of my fellow church goers go on and on about Tarot cards, divination, astrology, etc. I just wait until there really going at it, and then throw that at them. Stops them in their tracks
Then I launch into prophets. LOL

Baroli52

 

[Nevada]

Isaiah 19:3

"The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists"

The King James has this passage as:

"3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards."

Uses quite different terms. I'm suspicious of anyone's interpretations of whatever words were used for these types of activities back when the Bible was written, since our definitions can be so ambiguous, even today. Charmers and wizards have become spirits of the dead and spiritists?

Personally, though I find parts of the Bible quite beautiful and even strengthening or healing, I'm not a fundamental believer. I believe each person needs to interpret things for him/herself, remember it was written long ago and variously translated, and follow the dictates of the conscience and personal beliefs. To me a direct personal relationship with Spirit or Deity is much more important than what other people will tell you is good or bad. How you feel about it, and what it brings to your life is what's important.

I suspect most such Bible passages are just warning against being sucked in by bamboozlers and charlatans trying to scam someone out of her money (such as those who'll tell her she's cursed and offer to remove the curse for more money), when what she really needs (perhaps in a time of crisis) is a caring, healing person to talk to. We all know dishonest people exist and always have.

Nevada

 

[vernissage]

Think of this......God allowed astrologers to come and worship the new born Jesus. The 3 wisemen/kings/magi consulted the stars about his birth, and followed his star. Can't be all bad, eh.

Shaymus

Wasn't the star guided by one of Lucifer's angels?

 

[TheLovers2]

I am positive that nowhere in the Bible does it say that Tarot is the Devil's Picturebook.

Thanks, Marion. I was just about to post that. I'm not aware that the word "Tarot" is in the Bible at all and I certainly have never heard of or read that reference in the Bible. There are, obviously, people saying this, but, I'm not sure where it comes from.

TL2

 

[Zephyros]

I agree with others here who have said that in the end, it is all a question of personal preference and belief. If you do follow the Bible's guidelines to the letter, well then, you might very well give up Tarot. On the other hand, there are members of Aeclectic who are devout believers in one of the monotheistic religions, and it seems that they have found a way to sort these issues out. The good thing about God is, he doesn't usually talk back (at least, most people are quite surprised when he does), so you can interpret the silence as affirmation, if you should wish to do so

In any case, the term "false prophet" may have several different interpretations, from political spies to, yes, fortune tellers. Strictly speaking, Tarot readers might be considered false prophets, since they relate prophesies that do not come directly from God. The biblical term, prophet, means more "a messenger of God" than seeing the future. In a time where there are so few real prophets, mankind must make do with what it has, and Tarot is one of them

Anyway, enough rambling on and on. Do whatever feels right, whatever gets you through the day.

 

[Dannil]

Even if the Bible does forbid divination, we have to remember that the Bible also says that the Jews are the enemies of mankind, and that it is acceptable to have slaves.

 

[Zephyros]

And that Sodomy is a deadly sin! Well, that solves my problem. I'm going to hell anyway, so I might as well read Tarot until I get there

 

[catlin]

Wonders???

I am just wondering what all the nice folk here who try to drown us in Bible (mis)quotations against forecasting, etc do in this forum????

Aren't they afraid for their soul?????

I also wonder why they spend time here with us haggling against tarot, fortunetelling, etc instead calmly sitting at home and do some thorough Bible studies for the benefit of their soul.

It is nice of them to try to save our souls here but I reckon each of us is grown up and in full possesion of his/her wits to take care of his/her soul for him/herself.

If tarot and other means of soothsaying etc are not their cup of tea, ok, so it is not their cup of tea.

BTW I hope that most of the Bible fundies posting here know that also the Book of Books was used for divination purpose (it was called "Bibelstechen" in German: whenever you had a question on your mind, you took out the Bible, closed you eyes and flipped the Bible open and picked a sentence with a needle. The quotation you got was the answer to your question).

Ok, that's now my tuppence here on this topic.

 

[Ross G Caldwell]

Thanks, Marion. I was just about to post that. I'm not aware that the word "Tarot" is in the Bible at all and I certainly have never heard of or read that reference in the Bible. There are, obviously, people saying this, but, I'm not sure where it comes from.

TL2

I've tried to find the answer to this myself. The phrase "Devil's Prayerbook" and "Devil's (or Satan's) Picture-book" actually refers to REGULAR playing cards in all instances I can find of the phrase before the 20th century.

St. Bernardino of Siena used to preach against gambling, including cards, and called cards the "Devil's prayerbook" at least as early as 1423. He said that just like prayerbooks have little pictures, the Devil invented cards with little pictures to mock Christ.

Nothing about Tarot cards though; he mentions four suits in some sermons, and the four court cards, but doesn't mention the trumps. So I think he didn't know about tarot cards.

Other radical preachers like Bernardino preached like this throughout the 15th century, and at least one later in the century mentions "triumphs" - but I haven't seen the sermon, so I don't know if he calls "triumphs" a devil's picture-book. But, I think the idea would be there, and so many were influenced by Bernardino that it is almost impossible he wouldn't think this way.

But I haven't found any direct mention of tarot as "Devil's Picture-book" yet. After the Reformation, with the rise of Prostestantism, it seems Protestants took to calling playing-cards the Devil's Picture-book and the like. One Protestant thinker, close to Henri IV (French King), said that cards had been invented by Mercury, the pagan god, in order to lead men to idolatry. He said the court cards were originally pagan gods, and that Christians had changed the names to Christian subjects, but the idea remained the same, and Christians should avoid cards.

This author only mentions 3 court cards, however; he is talking about regular cards again. He doesn't talk about tarot anywhere.

Since most of the sources after the 15th century are Protestant, and since Protestants by and large didn't play tarot, I have little hope of finding references to tarot as the Devil's Picture-book. Playing cards, yes; but tarot, no.

Tarot is a largely Catholic phenomenon, and Catholics are historically very tolerant of card games, even during the time of the radical preachers in the 15th century.

In the Papal States, the only cards that really offended the Church were the Popes and Emperors. Bologna was the last to change these four cards, to Moors, in 1725. Other places changed only the Papal cards, into Bacchus and a Spanish Captain, or into Juno and Jupiter. But the deck itself wasn't considered an evil thing, just some of the pictures were offensive.

Ross