Astrology in the Bible

Editor's Note: This article is by About.com Guest Author Carmen Turner-Schott, MSW, LISW.

I remember sitting in the front pew at the Baptist church with my friends when I was young. We would all sit in a row with our feet dangling as we giggled and talked to each other. Every Sunday the preacher would ask us to come up and be baptized when we were touched by Jesus. I remember sitting there one day when he said to come up if we “felt Jesus in our heart.” I remember wanting to go up there, but I did not feel anything different or a change inside. I felt it was wrong to go up there without feeling something special. I remember my friend looked at me and said, “Let’s go up.” I said, “Do you feel anything in your heart?” She replied, “No, but my mom wants me to get baptized.” I watched as she ran up there with the other two girls sitting next to me to get baptized. I felt it was wrong for me to go up there that day because I took what the preacher said literally. I interpreted the meaning of baptism to consist of an emotional movement within my heart to accept Jesus and based on what the preacher said, I thought I would have to feel different and that I would know when to go up there.

It was not until years later that I had that experience and it felt right. Later, I learned the difference between Protestant and Catholic beliefs concerning baptism. I was taught that you had to be old enough to allow the Holy Spirit to move you and accept Christ, but my Catholic friends were baptized as infants. There are different interpretations of the Bible within the Christian faiths and this causes many concerns. Certain denominations of Christians take certain verses literally, while others interpret them more subtly. If you look at the Catholic mass and the ritual of eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ each Sunday versus the way I was raised when we only did that on Easter things can get confusing.

The most important thing to me is to look at what Jesus said. Jesus himself told us not to judge others. His primary teaching was that the old was stripped away and he was bringing two new testaments to his people. The first was the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would have done to you” and the second was “to love God.” All of the verses in the Old Testament were to be transformed and he urged us to follow his new advice. Out of Jesus mouth he said, “There shall be signs in the sun, moon and stars.”

It is not documented anywhere that he said it was wrong to look for signs in the sky, it was actually the opposite. Yet so many Christians and society focus in on one or two negative verses in the Bible and condemn astrology. Ignoring so many other important verses is not only wrong but unfair. We must truly take a look at all verses and respect that different interpretations can be gained by each individual.

I remember taking religion and philosophy courses in college. My friend Trevor and I would debate about certain verses. He was a Calvinist and took many verses literally and I always could see different opinions and meanings in the mystical verses in the Bible. He would tell me that only 144,000 souls would be allowed to go to heaven. I simply could not accept that and it did not make sense to me. Even when I read that verse, it was foreign, cold and unloving. The God I knew would never only choose a certain number of souls, it was opposite of many verses and things Jesus taught. My friend believed that verse and interpreted it to mean literally that only 144,000 could go to heaven.

Who are we to say what is right or wrong? The meaning human beings derive from these verses could be completely misinterpreted. Only God truly knows what point he was trying to get across to his people through inspiration. We must remember that God inspired the Bible, but men still wrote it down. We also need to take an honest look at the fact that the Bible is lacking important books. Even the Catholic and Protestant Bible’s are different. There were many sacred books written at that time and many things are not allowed for us to read or accept. There is no need to fight amongst ourselves or to judge one another’s beliefs. Interpretation of religion has caused every major battle, war and aggression in our society from the beginning of time.

Religion is the one thing that is at the root of most wars. Unfortunately, we often find we are not living the teachings that Jesus asked us to. He told us not to just to say we believe and quote scripture. He said to, “Take up your cross and follow me.” He wanted us to live our life as he lived his, serving others. He wanted us to love our neighbor, forgive each other and be good to one another. Just imagine how wonderful and safe the world would be if more people lived by what Jesus taught, truly acted and behaved like him. Saying we believe and truly walking the path of spirituality and compassion are two different things. It is good to ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?” Jesus did not condemn astrology; he actually supported it. In Psalm 147:4 it states, “He has all the stars numbered and named.”

• 1
• 2
• 3