Some translations use the word stock and others say tree. Stock can mean tree or animal. It is interesting that you limit this to only mean a physical item carved from wood or stone. The next verse is:
For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ 28 But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, If they can save you in the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah.
Idolatry is not about the object it is about the worship. Ascribing anything to any object or false god or false doctrine that should be ascribed to God is idolatry. So carving a piece of nature and thinking we came from nature or just thinking that we came from matter and time and lower life forms are the same exact thing.
Indeed, the Bible arguably confirms evolution theory when it says: Genesis 2:7 "Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."
It is very disappointing that you read the bible and think the word dust translates to a whole 15 billion year theory of evolution which is in a completely different order from the 6 days of creation.
FRiend, the Hebrew word is "Etz" as in "Etz Chaim", the Tree of Life.
That's why, if you look up all the various Biblical translations, only seven, including the old King James render it "stock".
All the rest, including the new King James Version translate Etz as "tree" (22 translations), "piece of wood" (8), "wood" (6), or some variation such as "sacred pole" or "wooden idol" (6).
None -- zero, nada -- suggest that "Etz" might have something to do with non-wooden objects.
So, again, the point is: what our Bible condemns is worship of idols or any other false objects not of God.
But what the Bible never says, to pick an analogy, is: since some humans make idols out of clay, therefore all humans are forbidden to study, work with or produce useful object from clay.
It's not study and use the Bible forbids, it's worshipping false gods.
Of course I agree that nobody is truly atheistic, and that by denying true God "atheists" simply elevate something else into God's place -- atheists may worship false idols, such as science.
But as in the case of clay I mentioned above, God does not forbid us from studying nature, so long as we recognize Him as its & our God.
DungeonMaster: "It is very disappointing that you read the bible and think the word dust translates to a whole 15 billion year theory of evolution which is in a completely different order from the 6 days of creation."
Sorry, but it does not bother me in the least to suppose that for Infinite God billions of years can pass by like a single day for us, or that God planned & executed from the beginning the natural & human history leading to us.
Nor do I think God objects to us studying such matters, so long as we recognize Him as their & our Creator.
Psalm 90:4 : "A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night."