Coptic Orthodox View of Fortune telling?

confusedsoul

Okay so what i kno is that we don't believe in it, and its power from the devil? is there any more information?

Safaa

Dear charitablesoul,
This is from Coptic Diocese of the Southern USA:

Fortune Telling

Q) Concerning evil spirits and fortunetelling, St Anthony the Great writes: "to reveal secret things and to make known aforetime what is to be performed are matters which are in the hands of God alone." But what about fortunetellers who claim to "predict" the future? Could you please explain?

A) Fortunetellers pretend to foretell future events. Most of them just predict events to come. Some of them are actuated by evil spirits. These evil spirits do not know the future but they are very smart to predict it so they can dictate ambiguous answers to those who consulted them. God would permit such things to gratify the vain desire of wanting to know things to come. Fortune telling can only lead to deception.

[Deleted User]

In The Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius, St. Anthony is quoted saying that devils are smart to inform us of things that have already happened but of which we do not know. For example, a devil would see two brothers returning to the monastery; he would appear to another monk at the monastery and tell him that they will arrive later. In that way the devil can appear to be authentic or even a holy man to whom the future is revealed.

Unknown

From what I know, fortune tellers are possesed by unclean spirits. This is why the are all evil becaused they are powered by the devil. If you look at saints lives you will find about this more as delt with stuff like that.

Be Agios

what i learned is that the devil could pretict the future like this example...

there is a guy on a tall building and has a clear view of the whole city and he sees two cars going really fast towards each other.  he will then say, there will be a car crash soon, and what happens?  there really is a car crash.  but this form of future telling (by the power fo the devil) is very limited, the devil can "predict" just like the guy on top of the building, but only God can create the future.

i hope that helps.

so fortune tells are friends of the guy on top of the building (the devil) but what the devil predicts is not always true.

jydeacon

God does not create the future He just knows what is going to happen exactly and is not predicting it  not that i am limiting the power of God its just He does not create the future

Unknown

No- there is no past, present, future for God- time is not restricted for Him- He is beyond time. That is why "a thousand years is a like a day tot he Lord and a day a thousand". We measure time by the properties of light or space-time odometers; or simply dividing the cycle of the day in consistent, identical intervals; but for the Lord He is beyond measuring it. He created time- He created Space- He created all.

For Him everything is happening, everything will happen and everything has happened.

Time being relative is explained here: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/science/time_is_relative.html

If different observers in space can see events at different times, depending on their frame of reference, then obviously an outside observer has infinite references.

Anyway, enough with the physics- God knows the future not by prediction, but because He already has experienced it, is experiencing it and will be experiencing it. This is all part of Him being infinite.