No Graven Images...ten commandments pt 3

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.( Exodus 20:4-6)

The Second Commandment is not a prohibition against having other gods. The Commandment assumes that you have the right God, but it prohibits the independent use of the Imagination in the worship of that God. We are forbidden to imagine for ourselves, the person of God.

God is self revealing, we are to worship Him according to his own revelation, (The Word) and not according to how we imagine Him to be. Furthermore we are never to employ images in the Worship of God.

Thus whenever I hear a person saying something along the line of “I like to think of God as ….”, I cringe. It is irrelevant what we want God to be like, all that matters is what God has revealed himself to be. ” …God is…and he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him…” (Hebrews 11:6)

In Deuteronomy God contrasts the Image with the Word in His dealings with Israel,

And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. (Deuteronomy 4)

They saw no Image, but they heard Words. God reveals his perfections and attributes, His holy name and nature, by Words. Images cannot possibly do Him Justice. The basis of Worship is our response to the Revelation of God. The only Image of the Invisible God, is Christ Himself, but as Peter told us, “We have never seen Him but we Love Him, and rejoice with Joy unspeakable…” ( I Peter 1:6-9)

It would be impossible to accurately portray an Image of God, because no man has seen God at any time, God dwells in Light to which no one can approach, and is Spirit. Christ is the self revelation of God, so also are the utterances and writing of the Prophets of God. God has taken the initiative to reveal himself.

Images, such as Icons,staues of God, Jesus, Angels , etc, are not usually taken to be God himself, they are usually considered to be helpful as points of contact, something concrete and physical to help us in our worship. People mistakenly think they need to see something, touch something and surround themselves with Images to constantly invoke the memory of Holy things.

These things are all man made, and are productions of the Imagination,(thus Images). In a sense the creation of them puts us in control of the Holy, allegedly we can create sacred spaces, or Holy objects which can enhance our worship experience.

Inevitably, wherever these Images flourish, worship descends from being spiritual into superstition, and even into idolatry and error.

The Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Ikons are portals into the Spiritual realm, and Roman Catholics literally bow down and prostrate themselves, before the Monstrance and tabernacle on the Altar! they have made a graven Image of the cake, and bow down in “Eucharistic adoration” before a wafer!

How do Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox Christians deal with the second commandment, which they routinely violate? This is extremely instructive on the capacity of all of us to self deceive.

Roman Catholics have re-arranged the Ten Commandments, combining the first and the second , as being one commandment, a prohibition against “other gods”. They thus justify the use of sacred statues, and the adoration of the Eucharist, since they are not worshipping “other gods” , but the Father and the Son.

Then they split the tenth commandment into two,; prohibitions against coveting your neighbor’s wife, and the prohibition against coveting any property.

The Second commandment assumes you hav the right God, but prohibits “will worship”, worshipping God as you imagine him to be, Worshipping God in any form your imagination desires, the production of sacred ‘Images”, carnal aids to worship, and the attribution of Spirituality or spiritual properties to such things.

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth…” ( John 4:24)

Attribution of spiritual properties to carnal Images, even if it is Images of the only true God, or Jesus, soon leads to Demonic and occult manifestations. There are numerous “Eucharistic Miracles” now being recounted, in which The wafer speaks, or even bleeds when eaten. There are entire masses of Eucharistic devotion, in which the worshippers kneel before the tabernacle and the Monstrance in Catholic churches.

These worshippers would swear up and down that they are worshipping God the Father and His Son , Jesus Christ our LORD. They are not breaking the first commandment, but they are violating the second. These are “Will Worshippers”, they worship God according to their own will, or the will of centuries of tradition.

I have seen the same tendency in Charismatic churches, and in Evangelical churches as well. Wherever people stray away from the WORD of God, they become fixed on “Images”, symbols and feelings. The Evangelical church has a movement called “Ancient Faith” , or “the Emergent church” which has come to rely on candles, Midieval banners, labyrinths, and contemplative prayer, as innovative ways to revive their dying congregations.

These “emergent Christians” will tell you that they are worshipping the Father and the Son of God. They are nt violating the first commandment, rather the second.

Images mixed in with worship soon corrupt the worshippers, because the use of Images is not Spiritual, it is a substitute Spirituality. Experience based Spirituality may feel “genuine” and possible “fresh” but feelings are not a sure guide to worship, Te heart is deceitful, desperately wicked, who can know it?

Will worship is called “Iniquity” , and God promises to visit the iniquity down through the generations to the fourth generation!

Those who resort to images, rosaries, sacred objects, statues or any product of the human imagination , in their worship, Hate Him! (I am sure this would come as a shock to many many devout worshippers, who are sure that they love him). It is not how we feel about a matter that counts, it is what God says about any subject, that is what counts.

True worship is a loving and fearing response to the God who revealed himself in scripture and in Jesus Christ. It is based on faith, not feeling, Revelation, not visual aids, and is the pursuit of God himself, and not a particular religious feeling.

God does institute some symbols, such as the bread and the wine and the water of baptism, into Christian Worship. Worship does have a physical element to it, that doesn’t violate the second commandment. We are allowed to eat the bread, and to incorporate into ourselves the symbol of the bread of Life, nourishing ourselves n Christ, and to drink the sweet Wine, which symbolizes the covenant of our forgiveness and blessing in Christ.

But these symbols were ordained by Christ, they did not come about as a result of the Imagination of some church council somewhere.

We are not dualists, pitting the Spiritual against the physical, such as the gnostics. Sanctuaries can and should be beautiful places, Christians are allowed to produce Art, and to glorify God in beautiful music. God said that all of creation was Good!

But in the second commandment God lays claim to the way he is to be worshipped and even percieved, not as we merely imagine Him to be, but as He has revealed himself.

Catholics Worship ONLY one God. We believe in One God, the Father almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth.... Any attempt to assign anything other than that to The Church is fallacious.
It is Jesus Christ himself who gives us the ultimate example of the value of statues and icons. Indeed, Christ, in his humanity, has opened up an entirely new economy of iconography and statuary. Christ becomes for us the ultimate reason for all representations of the angels and saints. Why do we say this? Colossians 1:15 tells us Christ is, “The image (Gr.-icon) of the invisible God.” Christ is the ultimate icon! And what does this icon reveal to us? He reveals God the Father. When Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” in John 14:9, he does not mean that he is the Father. He isn’t. He’s the Son. Hebrews 1:3 tells us Christ “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature.” That is the essence of what statues and icons are. Just as “the word became flesh” (John 1:14) and revealed the Father to us in a manner beyond the imaginings of men before the advent of Christ, representations of God’s holy angels and saints are also icons of Christ who by their heroic virtue “reflect the glory of God” as well. Just as St. Paul told the Corinthians to hold up his own life as a paradigm when he said, “I urge you, then, be imitators of me,” the Church continues to hold up great men and women of faith as “icons” of the life of Christ lived in fallen human nature aided by grace.
Catholic Answers

It is Jesus Christ himself who gives us the ultimate example of the value of statues and icons. Indeed, Christ, in his humanity, has opened up an entirely new economy of iconography and statuary. Christ becomes for us the ultimate reason for all representations of the angels and saints. Why do we say this? Colossians 1:15 tells us Christ is, “The image (Gr.-icon) of the invisible God.” Christ is the ultimate icon! And what does this icon reveal to us? He reveals God the Father. When Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” in John 14:9, he does not mean that he is the Father. He isn’t. He’s the Son. Hebrews 1:3 tells us Christ “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature.” That is the essence of what statues and icons are. Just as “the word became flesh” (John 1:14) and revealed the Father to us in a manner beyond the imaginings of men before the advent of Christ, representations of God’s holy angels and saints are also icons of Christ who by their heroic virtue “reflect the glory of God” as well. Just as St. Paul told the Corinthians to hold up his own life as a paradigm when he said, “I urge you, then, be imitators of me,” the Church continues to hold up great men and women of faith as “icons” of the life of Christ lived in fallen human nature aided by grace.
Catholic Answers

Yeah..you all know what the word of God means and let us peasants know...YOU interpret the bible for us...no, you’re not just the messengers..you’re just the holier than thou translators of the bible...

Christians always get snarky...”kick over your sandcastle” if you dare make any comment except total agreement.
You can keep your elitist christianity... we peasants will just slog along...and we’ll do just fine without you telling us what to do” go out and glorify God “..whatever that means ...oh I forgot, I’m supposed to ask you.

“We are forbidden to imagine for ourselves, the person of God.”

And yet churches are filled with representations of those they worship...and they fret when these symbols are “desecrated” (God cannot be desecrated)

Johnny was in 1st grade and it was art time - he was drawing with a singular intensity and the teacher asked what he was drawing.
He said, “I’m drawing God.”
The teacher responded, “But nobody knows what God looks like.”
Johnny responds, “That’s because I’m not done drawing my picture yet.”

Psalm 135:15-19
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
17 They have ears, but cannot hear,
nor is there breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

Col 1
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
-
Ex 25
18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.

19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
-
“You shall make the tabernacle with . . . cherubim skillfully worked” (Ex. 26:1).
-
“The Lord said to Moses, `Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole” (Num. 21:8-9).
-
“[The brazen sea] stood upon [statues of] twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east” (1 Kgs. 7:25).
-
“And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about” (1 Kgs. 7:36).

Col 1
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
-
Ex 25
18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.

“The Lord said to Moses, `Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole” (Num. 21:8-9).

“[The brazen sea] stood upon [statues of] twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east” (1 Kgs. 7:25).

“And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about” (1 Kgs. 7:36).

Are you building a Temple or an ark with those symbols?
I look forward to understanding all of those symbols regards to His Kingdom someday ,but they aren’t there as worship items.

Those cherubims you references can be seen to be prophetic for something/someones, not an object of worship/icon/statue..

Same thing with that bronze serpent in the wilderness.. prophetic symbols. Again,not an object intended to be worshipped (until it was and destroyed I believe in Hezekiahs reign)

The oxen, lions, palm trees, were not objects of worship. They do have a prophetic meaning in regards to the Kingdom of heaven,however.
All those measurements and details have a prophetic meaning. may be understood now,or at some point, when the fullness is revealed.

But ala carte scripture picking to sidestep idolatry warnings is certainly one way to go through this wilderness journey.

It is wise to pay attention to those symbols, like the bronze serpent on a pole,in the wilderness.
The bible predicted The rod/staff the church was to carry was always going to turn into a serpent, just like Moses and Aaron’s rods did.
Fascinating symbolism that could give hints to the Kingdom of Heaven.

And Why did Hezekiah destroy it ? Because it had become exactly what it was not intended to be... an idol of worship..... Against God's commandment.... Clearly in ala carte scripture, God is involved with imagery....just not the worship of it...... Or Christ would not have made the reference:.......... John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ..........the. Crucifix - or the Pieta - are not idols of worship.... No more than the empty cross is worshipped...... We do go to the foot of the Crucifixion every Mass to proclaim that We believe in ONE God, the Father Almighty...maker of Heaven AND earth.... And a Crucifix in the home is just one reminder of Gods sacrifice made for us.....not for worship... You might as well say a beautiful Cathedral is an idol of worship for that matter....

“Yeah..you all know what the word of God means and let us peasants know...YOU interpret the bible for us...no, you’re not just the messengers..you’re just the holier than thou translators of the bible...

God wrote His word for us all without the class distinction you are referring to. You can read His word just as we all can and tell anyone what your thoughts are on it all. You are not reading it. That is evident. If anyone knows Christ as their Savior they shine!

Some could/would say a cathedral, to some, is an idol of worship.

If someone knows ‘Friday’ is named after some false goddess,maybe a ‘meal’ at TGIFridayscould be seen,by some, as eating food sacrificed to an idol.

The thing about worship is that it is to be done in Spirit and Truth.
And the world of believers of any and all stripes tend to lean towards the age of Judges:
Everyone does what is right in their own eyes.

Our King isn’t here to lead the sheep. So we all tend to follow traditions of those that came before.

The image of about 2,000 demon possessed swine was certainly a hint of the last about 2,000 years of unclean doctrines and practices while the King has been in heaven.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.