Yin Yang Necklace

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Talking about roots and origins
I’ve already mentioned the bishop mitre. But even the cross was not a symbol of God. It is a symbol of torture.
Don’t you see God is so great that it can make an occult symbol to be its own? The irony is just so wonderful. The Romans and Jews thought they can murder Jesus with the cruelest punishment and yet this very cross is now the symbol of Christianity. Isn’t it great!
The yin yang philosophy reflects simply nature. And who created nature? God Himself! So there is nothing wrong if one day Catholics adopt this symbol as well. Because nature is Gods creation.
 
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Didnt the early Church appropriate pagan customs? For example, the observation of Christmas on Dec. 25? There is no evidence that i know of that Jesus was born on that date, but it coincided with a pagan festival, so when the Church converted pagans, it just had them celebrate The Incarnation on Dec. 25 rather than the solstice.
 
Yin and Yang are basic principles; syzygy and binary of the universe. Male and female, good and bad, creation and destruction, Sun and Moon, these are syzygies. It’s not a foreign philosophy to Judaism or Christianity, though the symbol comes from China and Taoist philosophy. Its relation to I-Ching is that I-Ching is also binary. Before I was Catholic, I was a diviner with I-Ching, using the ancient stick method rather than the modern coin method. It is open and closed, broken lines and solid lines, and also represents the binary of everything. Divination is forbidden to Catholics, so even though the binary concept isn’t foreign, using it for divination would still be wrong.

I wouldn’t wear the I-Ching symbol, just for sake of not causing confusion in others. I don’t see anything inherently wrong with it, and I don’t think it’s a sin as long as you’re not using it as a symbol of following a different religion. (for what little my opinion is worth.) Most of our symbols were also symbols used by pagan cultures, but we use them to represent holy concepts. The Yin and Yang is modernly used by many different philosophies and religions. Again, the basic concepts it represents aren’t entirely foreign to Judaism and Christianity, even though the particular symbol is foreign.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
I Ching involves divination. It’s not an ok activity according to our Catholic values.
Yes it permeates chinese civilisation and society, yes the fruits it bore included occult doctrines.
Yes it is a book of oracles. And the book of wisdom.
What’s an oracle? What was an oracle when the I Ching was written.
What’s the relationship between the yin yang symbol and this book of oracles.
Whose wisdom? What wisdom is the source of this book.
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My favourite Oracle.
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Rub the belly of the Buddha or one of those other good luck symbols for luck.
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My favourite is Lucky Cat - brings my Chinese sister-in-law’s family lots of luck. Her husband’s European boss was so impressed he got one for his company entrance counter. It worked!

If there is nothing “occult” or evil about Christians having a lucky horseshoe over their door, tooth fairies for their children and teeth under the pillow or a Rabbits-Foot then I see no problem myself. Though many inexperienced Catholics do get fearful of cultures and groups they only know about by superficial third hand information.
 
I love Neko statues. I named my cat “Niko” as a play on it. Are they good luck? Nah, but they’re cute.
 
My Maternal Grandparents had a silver(?) Shamrock above their front door. Did they believe it actually brought them luck? Probably not.
Compare that to my Paternal Grandmother…new broom in a new house, spilled salt, and etc…But I think that was more cultural. As she went to Church…
 
Lol! I cannot wait till you hear what that is. Lol!
 
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As a Catholic I don’t believe in anything occult. Therefore I don’t believe the yin yang symbol has any special powers. I believe in God not the symbol. Anyone who suggests that the symbol has occult powers is implicitly believing in that occult powers.

Hence I don’t think there is anything wrong in the symbol per se. In fact I’ll go so far to say that it is a very good and profound symbol. However people have used in in other ways which I cannot control. So to answer the OP question is that I wouldn’t wear it if it may cause a scandal. I probably won’t wear it myself. But I’m perfectly happy to have symbols at home for example, only because I understand the deep philosophical meaning behind it. But for those who only have a superficial understanding of it, and that seems like majority of posters here, I would advise against. Which is a shame but it’s better not to cause a scandal.
 
I just meant that I used the I-Ching system for divination. It was the simplest way of phrasing it so it would (I thought) be understood. I-Ching uses a series of symbols composed of the binary of broken and solid lines, and each one has specific meaning. I was by no means a master, so I didn’t say I was a “master of I-Ching.” I still very much relied on my books (even masters do to some extent, but I to a large extent) and such to interpret. Modern readers use sticks or coins, though there was an ancient method using a turtle shell which has long been lost, and I used sticks for reading. I was not Christian for a long time before becoming Catholic, though I was Christian (Baptist) in my youth. I studied a variety of philosophies. It’s actually quite something, a true miracle of God, that I am now Catholic. Anyway, I digress, but I wanted to answer your question.
 
Once I came back to the Church, it was like a veil , a secular veil, the smoke of satan if you like, began to be lifted from my eyes.
Things that had been so innocently presented…
Even down to questioning the most benign looking , benign activities, etc.

satan works in very subtle, very polite ways to slowly and gradually lead us astray and corrupt our thinking. So for example, using my tattslotto example. People go in to an agency, buy a ticket to what they hope will turn them into instant millionaires. They rub the belly of the Buddha or the cat type lucky charm. And go off happily to continue shopping.

I go into toy shops or book shops to buy gifts, I see at Christmas, nativities and the rare bible or catholic writing displayed right next to new age, divination, wands, wizards, faeries, occult, mediums.
These seem so innocent, right? To the secular world, right.
But what is it, what’s at work here?

If wearing an icon, should we be wearing a yin yang etc or a crucifix.

Monday 4th week of Eastertide in the office of readings the Bible reading states clearly reject mediums and divination.

Or in the words of a famous man

What is truth.
 
Catholics don’t rely on or believe in luck.

We don’t believe in fate, fortune, or luck.

We believe in and put our trust completely in God.

We do the Will of God, not our will.

We accept our joy and our sufferings and trust in God.

We do not put faith in the false god of luck.

Are you really a monk? You would know then that luck is not truth.

Again

What is truth.
 
Btw one Chinese philosopher said if one knows the I Ching perfectly then one does not need to divination.
Confucius learned the I Ching at age 50 and he said if you follow the philosophy behind it then you won’t make any big mistakes in life. Confucius did not advocate divination. It is a manual of how to live as a person if you like. The ancient Chinese weren’t interested in god or origin of universe etc. they were more exploring how humans should relate to each other, a facet which I find lacking in Western philosophy.

There is a revival interest in the ancient chinese philosophy and we may well be heading towards a Chinese renaissance. All the misuse like divination over the centuries is a bit like the Dark Ages. Confucian philosophy has been twisted by the dynastic Emperors of China and the true meaning has been obscured. If only people care to explore the true philosophical basis behind Confucius and I Ching then one will find some profound ideas that I think will make the world a much better place.

I’m waiting for an Aquinas equivalent in China.
 
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adgloriam said:
Only by Divine Revelation and through the tradition of the church can we indeed distinguish (through the deposit of the faith) what is sin…
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Strange then that same Tradition says the very opposite of your own idiosyncratic, personal theology above that you are trying to peddle here. Allow me to introduce you to the, also, secular philosophy of “natural law” now endorsed by the Church:

“The principles of the moral law … are written in the conscience of everyman.” (CCC 1860)

“The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil… The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin” (CCC 1954)

The CCC can be downloaded free. I suggest you read the above sections and nearby sections which are very good and clear on this theme.

I trust you don’t also believe those who choose to live a Religion other than Christianity are doomed.
 
ratio1 said:
Btw one Chinese philosopher said if one knows the I Ching perfectly then one does not need to divination.
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If one seeks to know God perfectly, one is truly on his pilgrimage path home to God.

If one has Sacred Scripture and Sacred tradition, then one rejects all God has commanded us to reject.

There is a saint who studied and learnt all he could of other philosophies, religions, cultural beliefs. Why? So in conversation, in his evangelism, he could intelligently, patiently and practically show how each concept or framework was against God.

Look at the didge. You know it was and still can be an instrument of sacred worship by Aboriginal people. It’s use was in Corroboree , and only ever used by males. A female can never ever touch a didge in Aboriginal culture.
Catholic and Christian Aboriginal peoples have now incorporated the didge as an instrument to worship God.
You will see this if watching any of the masses we have had in Aus with Popes.
ratio1 said:
if you follow the philosophy behind it then you won’t make any big mistakes in life.
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Jesus teaches us no one is perfect, and we will sin, we will make mistakes. We have the Sacrament of Reconcilliation so after we do make mistakes, we can reconcile with God.

So clearly that Chinese philosophy is against Catholic teachings. God doesn’t teach a she’ll be right mate attitude. God teaches us to reconcile when we make our mistakes, big or small.
ratio1 said:
All the misuse like divination over the centuries is a bit like the Dark Ages.
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God clearly tells us, in the Bible and in His Commandments NOT to employ divination, whether we are using or misusing it.
 
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I was under the impression that “yin” and “yang” don’t always refer to good and evil, but could also refer to 2 good things, like female and male. Am I correct?
 
I don’t understand your point.
But I do understand they made use of allegedly superstitious symbols.
The only reason cultural Catholics on this thread reject Asian philosophy and symbols holus bolus is because they aren’t part of their European culture so they don’t understand them and have no tools or skills to discern the sheep from the goats.

Its sad that the ignorant pontificate and reject everything just because they themselves are ignorant…and honestly believe they speak for the Catholic Church. Its a risable hubris.
 
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I was trying to add to the conversation and I obviously failed…
 
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