CURRENTLY TRYING TO GET THIS PULLED FROM THAT THREAD. I just went direct to your post without reading the heading and then posted a reply. Sorry. I didn't realize it was a caucus thread.
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I read every word thoughtfully with as much of an open mind as possible on the topic. I thought perhaps there's something I've missed. Didn't find anything I'd missed.
Doesn't wash. At all.
The cheribim and Moses example doesn't wash. God instructed those specific things. They were clear exceptions for God's reasons, ordered of God. Others are not.
To me, veneration is an excuse . . . a kind of soft-____ label for Jr worship.
I can venerate the wood pulp and ink I call my Bible teling myself all the time I'm truly worshipping the Living Word. Doesn't make it true; doesn't make it right.
I can venerate fishing as unto God on Sunday morning (though that would be a big stretch given my lack of affinity for the sport) But it wouldn't make it right.
"CURRENTLY TRYING TO GET THIS PULLED FROM THAT THREAD. I just went direct to your post without reading the heading and then posted a reply. Sorry. I didn't realize it was a caucus thread."
Doesn't bother me! :)
Your observations are what I expected. I am glad you read it though as I think its important that we understand each other as much as possible always recognizing that in the end we may disagree profoundly. +Gregory Palamas' comments on why we use icons is a short classic exposition of the theology of Orthodoxy on that subject. Christian Iconography such as we would recognize it, can be traced to the 3rd century, so its very old in the Church. The arguments you and others advance against them are among the same used in the 8th and 9th centuries by the Iconoclasts, those of +Gregory Palamas a condensed version of those of the Iconodules who, as you know, ultimately triumphed at the 7th Ecumenical Council.
Bottom line, as I said before, this is one of the devotions of The Church which simply isn't for those who are outside.