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kalt
Guest
What does “graven image” mean to you?
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cfrancis
Guest
photograph, statue, carving, painting, sculpture, lithograph, painting, etc…
I think that covers it!
I think that covers it!
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AgnosTheist
Guest
artificial constructs that falsely represent heavenly beings?
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water
Guest
- pornography
- look at woman and a lusting image pops up in your head.
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Enoch
Guest
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kalt
Guest
Does that include nativity scenes and angel pins? What about pohotographs of people in your family?
Does it also include statues like David? Paintings like the Mona Lisa? Or is it just images of things that are in Heaven? But, if so, does that mean that pictures of your deceased relatives are graven images? O rmaybe it’s OK if the photo was taken while the person was alive? What about the photographs of dead children that families used to have made? What if you commision a painting after the person’s death? Would that be a graven image?
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cfrancis
Guest
KALT,
You didn’t ask for any context - just what are graven images.
I believe my answer covers the above and all your examples.
Are you thinking of a specific context for your question?
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Charlie_Zeaiter
Guest
How does one interpret that answer in the context of the ten commandments - particular, “Exodus 20:4 - Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor 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”?
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cfrancis
Guest
Again, the question was without context - I simply replied with what I believe a graven image to be.
To answer your question, I interpret v4 in context of v3:
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
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Marsha_Adams
Guest
That is an excellent question, particularly when you consider that the Ark of the Covenant which contained the Ten Commandments you are quoting from had graven images on it and was placed behind the veil which had graven images on it. That same ark was finally placed in the Temple that Solomon built that had graven images in it and outside it.
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bpbasilphx
Guest
When I was a Baptist, we said prayers to piece of cloth.
They would be brought up front in a solemn procession, and worshipped with ritual gestures executed in unison on command.
The funny thing is that both prayers started with the same words: “I pledge allegiance…”
They would be brought up front in a solemn procession, and worshipped with ritual gestures executed in unison on command.
The funny thing is that both prayers started with the same words: “I pledge allegiance…”
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Publisher
Guest
Well, as I understand it…a “graven image” was a material representation of a diety in which it was believed the diety resided.
A statue of Molech was not a graven image UNLESS one believed that the god resided in the very substance of the statue and the statue itself was worshipped as the god himself.
A graven image is not a picture, statue, icon, or any other material item UNLESS it is believed the diety it represents actually resides, inhabits, or in some way is “connected” to the diety by some magic means.
A statue of Molech was not a graven image UNLESS one believed that the god resided in the very substance of the statue and the statue itself was worshipped as the god himself.
A graven image is not a picture, statue, icon, or any other material item UNLESS it is believed the diety it represents actually resides, inhabits, or in some way is “connected” to the diety by some magic means.
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Gabriel_of_12
Guest
Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial, George Washington on the dollar bill, The American eagle on a budwieser can, The 10 commandments written on stone, Moses made a pole with a serpent on it, that saved them from the bites from the serpents. Jesus on the Cross, My baby shoes my mother had bronzed, The ark of the covenant, the angels on the ark.
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Charlie_Zeaiter
Guest
Is the Eucharist a graven image?
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Gabriel_of_12
Guest
Absoulutely Not, because Jesus is alive not dead.
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roanoker
Guest
The way Publisher describes in his post it is the way I have always understood it…Roanoker
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PaulDupre
Guest
We need to read the entire passage, not just one verse of it, to get the meaning. God was not forbidding us to take polaroids of our kids.
This is one commandment, a prohibition on idolatry. God first states the principle - I am the one true God; don’t have any other god but Me.
Then he gives specific examples relevant to the pagan culture they were fleeing from and were to encounter in the promised land - don’t make idols to worship, because if you worship objects as gods instead of Me, I will punish you and your family.
Paul
po18guy
Well-known member
Graven images were man-made gods, who usurped the worship due the One True God. An image of Christ, or of the Saints does no such thing. It facilitates worship of the One True God. It is not to be worshipped itself. Only the True God may be worshipped. Are you Evangelical?
Christ’s peace.
Christ’s peace.
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johnnydigit
Guest
graven image to me: in context, something you worship as God. any worldly thing basically.
can a Catholic worship an innocent statue gravely? sure, just as much as a protestant can worship a statue of Abe Lincoln gravely. does either Church teach to do this? obviously not.
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Ezekiel 41:18-20 describes the construction of the temple with images, AFTER God gave the Ten Commandments and “graven images”:
**And there were cherubims and palm trees wrought, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces. 19 The face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a lion was toward the palm tree on the other side: set forth through all the house round about. 20 From the ground even to the upper parts of the gate, were cherubims and palm trees wrought in the wall of the temple. **
c’mon guys, why would God tell you not to have ANY images if He tells you later to build them in the temple? **non-Catholics, can you please address this? **i’ve never heard a rebuttal to this…
i believe protestants’ issue isn’t with the graven image, but rather with intercessory prayer and the Saints.
can a Catholic worship an innocent statue gravely? sure, just as much as a protestant can worship a statue of Abe Lincoln gravely. does either Church teach to do this? obviously not.
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Ezekiel 41:18-20 describes the construction of the temple with images, AFTER God gave the Ten Commandments and “graven images”:
**And there were cherubims and palm trees wrought, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces. 19 The face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a lion was toward the palm tree on the other side: set forth through all the house round about. 20 From the ground even to the upper parts of the gate, were cherubims and palm trees wrought in the wall of the temple. **
c’mon guys, why would God tell you not to have ANY images if He tells you later to build them in the temple? **non-Catholics, can you please address this? **i’ve never heard a rebuttal to this…
i believe protestants’ issue isn’t with the graven image, but rather with intercessory prayer and the Saints.
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kalt
Guest
I was just wondering where people of different faiths stand on “graven images”, because so many are against statues in a church setting, but have nativity scenes at home.
They’re against angel statues, but not angel pins, stamps, or dolls.
So I’m wondering what they mean when they say “graven images.”
Most people have photographs of deceased relatives, so I’m wondering if people who think painted images of Christ are graven images also think that the photographs of their relatives in heaven are graven images.
I can’t firgure out why they think a statue of Mary is a graven image, when the Jews were instructed to create images of angels.
So, I was kind of hoping that someone would post their definition of “graven image”.
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