Statues and Holy Objections to the making and veneration of - TopicsExpress



          

Statues and Holy Objections to the making and veneration of holy pictures and statues are based on faulty interpretations of Scripture. Those who are opposed to such practices traditionally appeal to Exodus 20:3-5: You shall not have other Gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow down before them or worship them. God is not prohibiting the making of pictures and statues, but the deifying and worshipping of them. Note the first and last lines of the passage. Also consider what we find in Exodus 36:8 concerning the tabernacle curtains: The various experts who were executing the work made the dwelling with its ten sheets woven of fine linen twined, having cherubim embroidered on them. And Exodus 37:7, concerning the Ark of the Covenant: Two cherubim of beaten gold were made for the two ends of the mercy seat… In 1 Kings we read some of what was in Solomons Temple: In the sanctuary were two cherubim, each ten cubits high, made of olive wood (6:23). This rested on twelve oxen (7:25). Finally, On the panels between the frames there were lions, oxen and cherubim (7:29). Why did God ask that images be made for His Temple and the Ark of the Covenant? Do you suppose that He didnt understand His own commandment? Except for one late period, we see that not even the Old Testament Jews understood Exodus 20 to be an absolute prohibition on images. When we consider all that the Scriptures tell us, we can see that the views of that one period were an extreme and unnecessary attempt to obey a commandment. We see this same sort of thing happening in Matthew 12:10, when Jesus is accused of violating the Law because he healed on the Sabbath. The spirit of the Law was abandoned for the letter of the Law. Pictures and statues of saints are valued in the same way that pictures of friends and family are. They are not idols, but visible reminders
Posted on: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 03:34:02 +0000

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