katt33:
My concern is did the traditions, which contradict the bible on some points (graven images, only Christ is intercesor), come from a holy source or other origins. I am just concerned that if God says no graven images, and Christ says I am the only intercesion and explains salvation, then none of that should be tampered with or added to. I just want to follow the bible as strictly as I can and not offend God by using images, ect… It is just my personal concern.
I fear you have been influenced by protestant fundamentalist “takes” on the bible. Protestants tend to act as though a big black bible descended from heaven immediately after Jesus’s ascension, and Jesus told us to follow it as the sole guide to faith.
That didn’t happen
Jesus left His authority to the
Church, whom He instructed to teach all nations. The Church did this for many decades before the books later included in the bible were ever written, and continued for nearly 400 years before the Bible was finally put together in 382 AD. So the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised, stayed with the Church, guiding it in truth for centuries before there was a bible.
Taking your other points.
No graven images
This commandment has been misinterpreted by Protestants. It refers to IDOLS of false gods, not images used in Christian worship.
How do we know this? In Exodus 25, God orders Moses to build an Ark to hold the commandments. He tells Moses how to build the Ark and cover it with pure gold, adding:
Exodus 25:18-19: “And make two cherubim (angels) out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other…The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them.”
So here we have God himself **ordering ** Moses to produce religious statues of angels, immediately after the commandments had been given! Therefore the Protestant interpretation of this commandment must be incorrect.
1 Kings 6:29 says that the walls of the Temple were covered with “carved figures of cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers, within & without”. _
1 Kings 6:31-35 tells that the doors to the inner sanctuary and the main doors of the Temple were also covered with gilded images of cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
2 Chronicles 3:14 says that the great curtain of the temple was also covered in images of angels
2 Chronicles 4:2-4 shows that twelve metal bulls facing towards the four points of the compass, supported the “sea”, the ritual water tank of the priesthood. _
2 Chronicles 3:10-13 tells us that Solomon had two huge golden statues of angels constructed for the Holy of holies - in addition to the two on top of the Ark.
Does God ever object to this proliferation of images in the Temple?
No. In fact in 2 Chronicles 7: 12-18 he blesses the Temple indicating His divine pleasure. So the Temple of Solomon resembled a Catholic church more than a typical Protestant one!
So the idea that the Commandments forbid the use of images in Worship is bunk!
**I am the only intercesion **
Christians are actually asked to share in intercession.
“I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings, for all those in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.”
1Timothy 2:1-5
From this full text of the passage we can see three important things:
- Paul is asking fellow Christians to pray and intercede with God for those in authority and for other third parties.
- These prayers and intercessions are being made on behalf of other people, and to God. This is a mediation of prayer. Christians are being asked to mediate between all people, Christian and non-Christian, and God.
- Since this is all one passage, it is absolutely clear that when Paul refers to there being only one mediator between God and men, he is not referring to the mediation of prayer. Jesus’s unique mediation is a different mediation - the mediation of our salvation.
Jesus is the one Mediator of our salvation, our only Saviour. But He is not our only intercessor, as the whole passage above clearly indicates. So the one passage that fundamentalists have used to deny intercessionary prayer, when read in context, actually backs up intercessionary prayer.
