W
WesleyF
Guest
“You **shall not make **for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4–5);
“And you shall make two cherubim of gold *; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Ex. 25:18–20).
David gave Solomon the plan “for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made clear by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all, all the work to be done according to the plan” (1 Chr. 28:18–19). David’s plan for the temple, which the biblical author tells us was “by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all,” included statues of angels.
Similarly Ezekiel 41:17–18 describes graven (carved) images in the idealized temple he was shown in a vision, for he writes, “On the walls round about in the inner room and [on] the nave were carved likenesses of cherubim.”
God told Moses to “make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Num. 21:8–9).
Having seen these different verses, I think that God’s commandment to not make statues (in Exodus 20) was a temporal one. The very fact that God explicitly commands the making of statues (as seen in the other verses) indicates that there’s nothing evil about the statues themselves. However, at the time of Exodus 20, the Israelites who had just come out from Egypt, must have been so obsessed with the Egyptian idols that they must have had a tendency to worship any kind of statue that they would see. We see this in 2 Kgs. 18:4 where they end up worshipping the image which God had asked Moses to make.
As Christians, we have never had a tendency to worship statues. So it’s ok for us to make religious statues to keep them in the church, just as it was done in the Old Testament times.
What do you think?*
“And you shall make two cherubim of gold *; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Ex. 25:18–20).
David gave Solomon the plan “for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made clear by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all, all the work to be done according to the plan” (1 Chr. 28:18–19). David’s plan for the temple, which the biblical author tells us was “by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all,” included statues of angels.
Similarly Ezekiel 41:17–18 describes graven (carved) images in the idealized temple he was shown in a vision, for he writes, “On the walls round about in the inner room and [on] the nave were carved likenesses of cherubim.”
God told Moses to “make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Num. 21:8–9).
Having seen these different verses, I think that God’s commandment to not make statues (in Exodus 20) was a temporal one. The very fact that God explicitly commands the making of statues (as seen in the other verses) indicates that there’s nothing evil about the statues themselves. However, at the time of Exodus 20, the Israelites who had just come out from Egypt, must have been so obsessed with the Egyptian idols that they must have had a tendency to worship any kind of statue that they would see. We see this in 2 Kgs. 18:4 where they end up worshipping the image which God had asked Moses to make.
As Christians, we have never had a tendency to worship statues. So it’s ok for us to make religious statues to keep them in the church, just as it was done in the Old Testament times.
What do you think?*
, so even the above argument won’t cause problems. 
What I really meant was that if those friends come over and eat, that they clean up after themselves.