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Images of Jesus go against the second commandment
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1ke
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This was rehash if the iconoclast heresy of the early Church.How would you respond to someone who believes in reformed theology/ the reformers and says that images of Christ go against the second commandment and the reformers believed that too?
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07620a.htm
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TK421
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There are examples within the Biblical canon itself of Jews making statues and images.
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MNathaniel
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I mean, I don’t know much about “reformed theology” beliefs, but would such a person be interested in the beliefs of the first Christians?
Because the early Christians sure did draw Jesus a lot. E.g. in catacombs. Also drew other symbols for Jesus, and also for the Holy Spirit (e.g. dove images).
Granted, there was genuine debate about this in the early years (as there was debate about many things, e.g. the divinity of Christ) – but the Church ultimately came down on the side of ‘Yup, go ahead and draw Jesus.’ So I imagine ultimately this question comes down to a discussion about the authority (or non-authority) of the Catholic Church to decide such things.
PS one obvious thing to remember is that God NEVER forbade the Jewish people from making any kind of graven image at all. He only forbade them from worshipping a graven image. He actually explicitly COMMANDED Israel to make graven images, sometimes. (E.g. images of cherubim.) So the point isn’t and never has been: “Images bad.” The point is “Images aren’t God; only God is to be worshipped. You can have images, including images involved in holy things like the ark of the covenant; just don’t worship the images themselves, worship God.”
And obviously, Catholics don’t worship images. So there’s no issue.
Because the early Christians sure did draw Jesus a lot. E.g. in catacombs. Also drew other symbols for Jesus, and also for the Holy Spirit (e.g. dove images).
Granted, there was genuine debate about this in the early years (as there was debate about many things, e.g. the divinity of Christ) – but the Church ultimately came down on the side of ‘Yup, go ahead and draw Jesus.’ So I imagine ultimately this question comes down to a discussion about the authority (or non-authority) of the Catholic Church to decide such things.
PS one obvious thing to remember is that God NEVER forbade the Jewish people from making any kind of graven image at all. He only forbade them from worshipping a graven image. He actually explicitly COMMANDED Israel to make graven images, sometimes. (E.g. images of cherubim.) So the point isn’t and never has been: “Images bad.” The point is “Images aren’t God; only God is to be worshipped. You can have images, including images involved in holy things like the ark of the covenant; just don’t worship the images themselves, worship God.”
And obviously, Catholics don’t worship images. So there’s no issue.
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