Statues

[Dancelittleewok]

22 Yahweh said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites this, "You have seen for yourselves how I have spoken to you from heaven.
23 You must not make **gods **of silver to rival me, nor must you make yourselves gods of gold

So… if we don’t make the engraven images ‘gods to rival Him’ then there is no problem?..uch:

Me thinks this scripture is post-worshiping the golden calf…wherein they actually believed the statue was god, but then as we saw posted before, there is nothing wrong with statues or else God’ve not commissioned religious imagery upon his own Ark.

 

[Thing]

Me thinks this scripture is post-worshiping the golden calf…wherein they actually believed the statue was god, but then as we saw posted before, there is nothing wrong with statues or else God’ve not commissioned religious imagery upon his own Ark.

You mean it was man-made rival gods and *not *art that was the issue?..:coffeeread:

 

[crazzeto]

it is false gods that are the problem…

7 Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight.

Has always been a commandment, it shows up in both Jewish & Catholic versions (& Protestant I think). Though shalt not make engraven imanges, and worship them is an example of woshiping a false God.

 

[Thing]

The point… Is that in these days it was common to beleive the status were Gods which should be worshiped. As you see from Acts, so much so that Silversmiths had a whole industry based around this idea. God commanded the Israelites not to fall into this error, though they did many times over.

We ought to distinguish between artwork as-a-language for communicating the Gospel, as the early Christians used artwork to teach Christianity; and very ancient beliefs in the possibility of there being ‘many’ gods.
You are correct, everyone knows that statues are not gods and they have no power at all.
And everyone knows there are not many gods. The question is settled. You are correct.

 

[crazzeto]

We ought to distinguish between artwork as-a-language for communicating the Gospel, as the early Christians used artwork to teach Christianity; and very ancient beliefs in the possibility of there being ‘many’ gods.
You are correct, everyone knows that statues are not gods and they have no power at all.
And everyone knows there are not many gods. The question is settled. You are correct.

Not everyone knew this, in biblical times. Some believed that their status were Gods. Again, I refer you to Acts. I will also provide you with the Apocalypse of St John, CH 9

And the rest of the men, who were not slain by these plagues, did not do penance from the works of their hands, that they should not adore devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

It should be noted, idol woship is very much alive and well today. Many people today worship science as their God (whether they profess it or not). This too, is an Idol worship. Idol woship is woshiping the works of hand.

 

[Thing]

it is false gods that are the problem…

Has always been a commandment, it shows up in both Jewish & Catholic versions (& Protestant I think). Though shalt not make engraven imanges, and worship them is an example of woshiping a false God.

Ahhh… now I see. People were trying to worship false gods, at times. There was artwork around them which was not a problem at all, but only when they tried to make it be a false god there was a problem.

 

[crazzeto]

Ahhh… now I see. People were trying to worship false gods, at times. There was artwork around them which was not a problem at all, but only when they tried to make it be a false god there was a problem.

Yes, idols tended to lead the Israelites away from worship of the one true God. This was a problem. This is why Vs. 7 of Deutoronomy is a commandment, and it’s given example is the worship of idols.

 

[Thing]

Yes, idols tended to lead the Israelites away from worship of the one true God. This was a problem. This is why Vs. 7 of Deutoronomy is a commandment, and it’s given example is the worship of idols.

So not all artwork is an idol?

 

[crazzeto]

So not all artwork is an idol?

Well, let us ask the dictionary that question shall we?

i⋅dol  /ˈaɪdl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ahyd-l] Show IPA
Use idol in a Sentence
See web results for idol
See images of idol
–noun

1. an image or other material object representing a deity** to which religious worship is addressed. **
2. Bible. a. an image of a **deity **other than God.
   b. **the deity itself. **
3. any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion: Madame Curie had been her childhood idol.
4. a mere image or semblance of something, visible but without substance, as a phantom.
5. a figment of the mind; fantasy.
6. a false conception or notion; fallacy.

I bolded what we are speaking about, when we are addressing the bible.

 

[Dancelittleewok]

So not all artwork is an idol?

Do you mean not “all religious art” is an idol?

 

[crazzeto]

Do you mean not “all religious art” is an idol?

If that is his question, then no it is not. They are icons, which is different. One could try and take (I think it was) definition 5 and try to apply that liberally to literally any image ever made. If one does this, then one might say Protestants are breaking their own version of the 10 commandments every time they snap a photo.

 

[Thing]

To clarify myself;

…So, can I say that artworks, religous or secular, are not idols unless they are ‘worshipped with the worship which is due to God alone’ …?

 

[crazzeto]

To clarify myself;

…So, can I say that artworks, religous or secular, are not idols unless they are ‘worshipped with the worship which is due to God alone’ …?

I would say this is accurate.

 

[GramdpaMunster]

Thank you to everyone who reponded to my thread. I had never thought about the images in the temple (bulls, etc)