My point, which I bobbled, is that (as some of the "Disciples of Christ" note) there is no explicit permission in the Bible to use musical instruments in Christian worship.That doesn't bother me. I'm not looking over my shoulder to see if I've broken some rule that wasn't stated but I should have known. This seems to me to be a paranoid way to be a Xtian.
NoGrayZone finds prohibition of the use of images in the Old Covenant, and, not understanding what we think our Lord promised to the Church, thinks that the OT prohibition is still operative. This seems to me to be an equally paranoid kind of Xtianity. The fault of idolatry does not lie in the image, but in the person who worships wrongly. Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Images don't constitute idolatry; people giving God's stuff to anything or anyone who isn't constitutes idolatry.
You all say that we are full of works and pride. I look at what you write about Mary, saints, and images and think that your faith means being fearful that you might offend God.
I like exuberance, myself. I love God. I love Mary, and Dominic and Anthony and Catherine and Therese and a whole bunch of folks.
So you all go ahead and be safe. I'd recommend burying the talent in the ground. Nobody will find it there.
God disagrees with you...
That position is heretical... God didn't say it was alright to build a statue and bow to it if you have the right motive...God said DON'T build the statue...PERIOD...
In fact, God said one of the reasons he doesn't want you to build that statue of Mary is because he is a jeolous God...He doesn't want to share any worship, veneration or praise with anyone or anything that is on earth or heaven above...
Yes, I am fearful that I might offend God.
My bottom line.....I do think bowing or praying to any statue, or praying to anyone other than God, through Jesus Christ, is wrong.
Now, I could be totally wrong here and you may be 100% correct; however, if I feel, in my heart, which He knows like the back of His hand, that doing so is wrong and I do it because others said it was okay, that would be sinful.
If I am incorrect about the statues and praying to others, He will not hold it against me. He see's I am trying, in my feeble human way, to praise and honor Him by following His word.
One theme I see over and over again in the Bible is about being led astray, deceived. It seems that most people, in the end of times, will be deceived into not following Christ.
I do not want to be one of those people.