Methoblogger Sally Coleman has recently been using tarot cards for spiritual meditation here, here, here, and here. This strikes me as syncretistic, as it directly uses an instrument of sorcery in spiritual practice.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Boiling Young Goats in the Milk of Their Mothers
Methoblogger Sally Coleman has recently been using tarot cards for spiritual meditation here, here, here, and here. This strikes me as syncretistic, as it directly uses an instrument of sorcery in spiritual practice.
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12 comments:
Not syncrenistic at all John if you care to look into the origins of these cards you will find they are not originaly occult at all but rather were commissioned by Italian nobles as palying cards and contain a lot of Christian imagery.
For More information on this I suggest that people read Beyond Preditcion by John Drane, Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson. It is a Lion Publication.
I use Tarot in out reach to New Agers as well as for personal reflection and there are a number of Christians who do so- theses images serve the same purpose as icons!
btw why did you pick that image and not the image of the garden or eden???
I am away for a training weekend but when I get back I will post a defence of the use of tarot in both meditation and evangelism to the New Age Community- all I ask of folk is that you do not judge until you have had a chance to consider the possibilitis and learned more about the origins of Tarot.
Sure, Sally. I'll be glad to wait until you've had the time to tell us about your point of view.
This is interesting ... and I look forward to real dialogue about it. Truth is that we need to reach out to people - and it seems to me that Sally is doing just that with new agers - but do the ends justify the means?
I have heard about the Jesus Deck and would like to know more. We must be careful not to offer fortune telling ... but if these means open up the Gospel to the people then who are we to say that God isn't behind it????
How is that goats get such a bad reputation in all things spiritual? They are so cute and cuddly...at least the ones in my backyard are. I'm starting a new organization People for the Ethical Treatment of goats (PETG). My first act as organizer will be to have goats replaced with sheep in all Tarot card decks henceforth. Think it will fly?
Unbelievable we wonder why churches have declining memberships but everytime you turn around you see someone of faith who can't follow basic biblical doctrine.
I've been holding off commenting on this, but it has troubled me all weekend.
I will not argue with Sally who states correctly that Tarot card were orginally a game and they do contain Christian imagery. My point is so what?
The swastika used to be a symbol used for centuries by Hindus, American Indians, and other Eastern Religions. It was even used as decorations in some Christian Churches. But I'll be damned if I would use it today following it use by the German National Socialist Party. It has become a symbol of hatred representing some of the most evil action ever perpetrated in the history of man.
The confederate flag is the flag of my ancestors. It is the flag of my second country, the South. But in the latter half of the 20th century, it has become a symbol of pure hate, used by the likes of the KKK and the Arian Nations to promote bigotry, racism, and spread hatred and racist doctrine all accross the United States. Even Ole Miss, the cornerstone of the Confederate Flag and playing of Dixie at SEC football games has banned it. Basically today, when you see persons waving that flag, they may claim it is heritage and for a few it might be, but it is mostly for hate.
So I now come back to the tarot card. It may have Christian imagery, they may look like Christian icons, but they are used for occultic practice. That are used for fortune telling. Tarot cards are right in line with ouija boards, wiccan rights and spells, chicken feet and blood and Voodoo. They are a tool for charlatans and soothsayers. Heck, Voodoo and Free Masonry are filled with Christian Imagery, but I'm not going to use that to spread the Gospel to pagan infadels either. As Bible believing Christians, we are to avoid such nonsense.
The Gospel doesn't need a crutch fabricated from new age occult religions to spread it's central theme. It stands on a firm foundation, the solid rock of Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness.
Sally, I am sorry if I have offended you, but I sincerely counsel you as a brother in Christ to stop using tarot cards or any other occultic symbols or devices in your outreach. I do not believe it is healthy to their faith and I do not believe it is to your's as well. I believe that the occult is real. It is not make believe. That is why the Bible tells believers to stay away from it. Completely and totally.
I seem to recall the apostle Paul stating he was willing to be all things to all people so that he might save some. Was he wrong?
We are using the tarot only among tarot readers, to introduce them to the gospel through the biblical images already there within their own culture, within their own cards. This sort of symbolic contextualisation is a bulk standard missionary technique in non-western countries, why the issue in western countries? Remember what the apostle Paul said about gentile circumcisers - there is also a danger in you insisting people adopt your cultural sensitivities before you share the gospel with them. What is so wrong with meeting them where they are at?
Follow the links. Sally is not only using tarot terms to speak to occultic folks. She's using tarot cards for her personal, individual meditations. That's syncretism.
There were recently some interesting synchronised blogs on syncretism. One thing I learned from them was that syncretism affects us in ways that we are often not aware of.
I would hesitate to say that someone else's use of Tarot cards was syncretism; I have enough problems keeping track of my own syncretism without taking responsibility for someone else's.
Playing with fire, what makes you think you won't get burned
Christian Tarot? You might as well say Christian Pornography or Christian Seances
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