The other day a moderate Hindu (who opposes idol worship) was arguing with a fundamentalist Hindu idol worshipper of Idols and the fundamentalist Hindu had similar argument as you have to justify his idol/image worship.
Then the moderate Hindu asked him***…" If idols and pictures are just for bringing closer to the Bagwan (G_d for Hindus), then why not make a statue of that naked woman or her vagina who gave birth to your Bagwans (gods), because this where your Krishna or Rama (Hindu gods) came from and they opened their eyes for the first time in their earthly lives of their incarnations? Because vaginas would be an excellent idea to bring people more closer than any other idol or image of human body part. Or how about Penis of Krishna or Rama? This too would work specially in gay Hindus, No?"***
And guess what? That Hindu fundamenstalis was speechless and agreed to read his Vedas properly and think more about this issue.
Are you too came down to this level of arguement with your senseless justification of Idol/image worshipping?
Grace and Peace,
I cannot speak with Hindus nor for their practices. What I can do is speak for my tradition and we venerate Icons for the reality they depict (Christ, Theotokos, Saints and the Prophets and events of the Sacred Scriptures) not for the worship of humans nor anatomy. Our Icons have very particular meanings and teaching us very particular things. Your quote seems to suggest that Hindus admire their Statuary for some emotive arousal their presence engenders. Our tradition has no practice like this and so any suggestion that might seek to associate our practice of the veneration of Icons and their tradition seems shallow and thus questionable.
Many people have been taught that the second of the Ten Commandments prohibits icons. However, if correct, all artistic representations of anything wold be forbidden. The Lord Himself in the same book of Exodus commanded Moses to make two gold cherubim “of hammered work,” and to place them at each end of the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant (Ex 25:17-21). The Lord also stipulated that the ten curtains of the tabernacle be woven with images of cherubim on them (Ex 26:1), and likewise the veil (Ex 26:31).
When King Solomon built the temple, the huge basin, or “sea,” was set upon twelve statues of oxen (3Kg 7:13,30). And upon the ten bases of the sea were cast or engraved “lions, oven, and cherubim” (3Kg 7:16), as well s palm trees (3Kg 7:22). The Lord bestowed His blessing upon all these artistic representations first by filling the new temple with His Glory (3Kg 8:10,11), and then by declaring to Solomon, “I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My hear will be there perpetually” (3Kg 9:3).
Perhaps a most striking example of an image made at God’s command in the Old Testament is the bronze serpent that God ordered Moses to make and put on a pole in order to protect the Hebrews bitten by the deadly serpents (Nm 21:4-9; Jn 3:14-15 as well). Hundreds of years later, when the Israelites were offering incense to the same bronze serpent in a kind of idol-worship, King Hexekiah, who “did what was right in the sight of the Lord,” had the serpent smashed into pieces (4Kg 18:3-4).
So it is not the image itself which is faulty or prohibited, but rather its improper use. The prohibition in Exodus 20:4 is not against all artistic representations. Rather, it is against images, whether in human form or not, which would be worshipped as gods and goddesses “gods of silver, and gods of god” (Ex 20:23). For the Lord knew that such images would tempt the Hebrews to depart from worshipping HIm, the One true God (Ex 20:3-5).
Certainly, before the invisible and limitless Lord God of Israel became incarnate, it was impossible to make an image of Him. However, after God the Son assumed a visible and tangible human body, it was natural and beneficial for the Church to create artistic representations of Him and of His holy Mother, and of the saints and angels from the earliest times. According to tradition, St. Luke the Evangelist make at least three icons of Christ and His Mother.
Every image, or icon, of Christ has significant thelogical content. For it proclaims anew the Incarnation of God, who “became flesh” for our salvation (Jn 1:14).
This is what we have had handed down to us through Holy Orthodoxy (Sacred Tradition). I humbly submit it to you and others for deeper reflection and understanding.
