I would like to ask you about your attitude to horoscopes. Can they ever be useful for knowing a man's character, and then using this knowledge for better communication, even to determine marriage compatibility ? -- Vlad

The Bible speaks against astrology in a couple of passages (e.g. Isaiah 47:13), and for good reason. Not only is astrology associated with idolatry, but it is based on illogic. Your "fortune," they say, is determined by the sign under which you were born--that is, your luck depends on your birth date. But individual existence surely precedes actual birth date! (How do the stars know whether you are still in utero or have already been delivered?) Moreover, distant stars have virtually no gravitational or magnetic effect on our bodies. In fact, the computer screen through which you are reading this e-mail has far more physical pull on you than any constellation in the heavens! (There is a slight gravitational attraction between objects in the room where you are sitting and your body--millions of times more influential than the effect of, say, the planet Mars or the constellation Leo.)

Finally, horoscopes are impossibly general. What is said about the Scorpio could equally well apply to the Pisces or the Taurus. There is a simple reason for this: the more specific these pseudo-scientific prophecies, the oftener they are seen to be nonsensical. Those whose income is bound up with the gullible public's belief in horoscopes are not likely to risk their own fame and fortune by moving out of the realm of the vague.

So, actually, I do not think horoscopes are useful for anything--other than for a good laugh! Marry freely--any "sign" of the twelve will do. As long as a marriage is spiritual in its foundation, it should succeed. Good luck!.

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