You're right.. We should not have an "idol" hanging around... We also have other "idols" that we should get rid of....Like actors, job status, money, children, sports teams and the like.
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Can Christians Promote False Images of Jesus?
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Agreed.
You said:
I stopped watching secular movies in October of 2016.
I used to be a huge Marvel and Star Trek fan. But not anymore.
You said:
I actually prefer the more humble position in my company.
You said:
Not looking to be rich. If I did come into money it would all be given to the poor, and to spread the gospel. I don't want to have tons of money sitting in my account, nor mansions, nor expensive cars, etc. This place is not my home.
You said:
I would like to have children if that is the Lord's will, but like Hannah, I pray that it a child dedicated to the Lord. But my driving focus in life is not to have children, though (Although I know it would bring great joy to me and my wife).
You said:
Never could get into sports. I always found it boring and inconsequential to my life.
You said:
It is my prayer to always stay free and clear of any idol.
The Lord Jesus Christ and His Word should be our second, to second, minute to minute focus of every day. If this is truly the case, no idol has any kind of room.
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And You Shall Make Two Cherubim Of Gold; of Hammered Work You Shall Make Them At The Two Ends Of The Mercy Seat.
• Exodus 25:18
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And You Shall Make Two Cherubim Of Gold; of Hammered Work You Shall Make Them At The Two Ends Of The Mercy Seat.
• Exodus 25:18
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This was an exception to the rule under God's direct command. It does not give us free reign to create other things outside of this command. It's basically like murder. In the OT, God directly commanded the OT saint to take the life of their enemies sometimes, but God also told the OT saint not to murder, too. Meaning, they could not just kill anyone they wanted without God's specific say so. The same is true with making images. God had to give them a direct command in order for them to do that.
But we know that even these things can be wrongfully worshiped. The serpent on the pole was made and it was fine for a time, but then the Israelites started to worship it and they then had to destroy it. This is a lesson for us today. Don't keep idols around.
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- Apr 18, 2020
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And You Shall Make Two Cherubim Of Gold; of Hammered Work You Shall Make Them At The Two Ends Of The Mercy Seat.
• Exodus 25:18
The Ark was not given as an icon or as an image of God:
"And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust on their heads." (Joshua 7:6).
"And the LORD said to Joshua, Get up! Why do you lie on your face this way?" (Joshua 7:10).
The ark was not given as an icon, or as an image of God. The high Priest remained standing when he entered the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle to sprinkle the blood of Atonement on the mercy seat which covered the Ten Commandments:
"And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:" (Lev 16:14-15).
Furthermore, the Ten Commandments contained in the ark contained the Law of God which forbade making any likeness of God or anything in the heaven above or on the earth beneath, and if the High Priest had treated the ark as an icon, he would have died on the spot in that Temple - because the Spirit of God hovered above the mercy seat.
You simply cannot take the ark of the covenant and use it as an excuse for man to make God in his image, in the likeness of man, and to fashion his icons and images according to his own imagination, according to the imagination of his heart. Doing such things is extremely detestable to God, and anathema to Him.
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- Jul 22, 2014
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Yes. It is true. Just like with "Do not murder" is a command not to take life (Outside of God's say so). Yet, they were commanded to take life at other times. Again, it's not a contradiction unless you want there to be one.
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• Second Council of Nicaea - 7th Ecumenical Council (787 A.D.)
NPNF2-14 The Seventh Ecumenical Council. Extracts from the Acts. Session I.
"Theodosius, the humble Christian, to the holy and Ecumenical Synod:
I confess and I agree to and I receive and I salute and I venerate in the first place the spotless Image Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our True God, and the holy image of her who bore him without seed, The Holy Mother of God, and her help and protection and intercessions each day and night as a sinner to my aid I call for, since she has confidence with Christ our God, as he was born of her. Likewise also I receive and venerate the images of the holy and most laudable Apostles, prophets, and martyrs and the fathers and cultivators of the desert.
Not indeed as gods (God forbid!) do I ask all these with my whole heart to pray for me to God, that he may grant me through their intercessions to find mercy at his hands at the day of judgment, for in this I am but showing forth more clearly the affection and love of my soul which I have borne them from the first. Likewise also I venerate and honour and salute the reliques of the Saints as of those who fought for Christ and who have received grace from him for the healing of diseases and the curing of sicknesses and the casting out of devils, as the Christian Church has received from the holy Apostles and Fathers even down to us to-day.
Moreover, I am well pleased that there should be images in the churches of the faithful, Especially The Image Of Our Lord Jesus Christ And Of The Holy Mother of God, of every kind of material, both gold and silver and of every colour, so that his incarnation may be set forth to all men. Likewise there may be painted the lives of the Saints and Prophets and Martyrs, so that their struggles and agonies may be set forth in brief, for the stirring up and teaching of the people, especially of the unlearned."
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NPNF2-14 The Seventh Ecumenical Council. Extracts from the Acts. Session I.
"Theodosius, the humble Christian, to the holy and Ecumenical Synod:
I confess and I agree to and I receive and I salute and I venerate in the first place the spotless Image Of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our True God, and the holy image of her who bore him without seed, The Holy Mother of God, and her help and protection and intercessions each day and night as a sinner to my aid I call for, since she has confidence with Christ our God, as he was born of her. Likewise also I receive and venerate the images of the holy and most laudable Apostles, prophets, and martyrs and the fathers and cultivators of the desert.
Not indeed as gods (God forbid!) do I ask all these with my whole heart to pray for me to God, that he may grant me through their intercessions to find mercy at his hands at the day of judgment, for in this I am but showing forth more clearly the affection and love of my soul which I have borne them from the first. Likewise also I venerate and honour and salute the reliques of the Saints as of those who fought for Christ and who have received grace from him for the healing of diseases and the curing of sicknesses and the casting out of devils, as the Christian Church has received from the holy Apostles and Fathers even down to us to-day.
Moreover, I am well pleased that there should be images in the churches of the faithful, Especially The Image Of Our Lord Jesus Christ And Of The Holy Mother of God, of every kind of material, both gold and silver and of every colour, so that his incarnation may be set forth to all men. Likewise there may be painted the lives of the Saints and Prophets and Martyrs, so that their struggles and agonies may be set forth in brief, for the stirring up and teaching of the people, especially of the unlearned."
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One day you will learn that what others say about you doesn't matter. What matters is what God thinks of you, no one else. He knows what you think and what your motives and intentions are. Our fellow humans do not. It is easy to create a facade to humans as most of the time they cannot see our motives and intentions as God.
In time, we learn that what people say about each other is steeped in ignorance, regardless of how true it sounds and we are foolish to assume such is truth.
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The problem is not making an image of something on the ground, below ground or in the sky, the problem is worshiping the created image.
Also they couldn't make an image of God, because they had not seen God's face.
Exodus 33
17 The LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” 18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” 19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live.
Jesus on the other hand came down to us from heaven, manifested for us to see.
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Even family or home or church service can become idols if they are given more worship/or attention than our relationship with and worship of God. They become idols because we have an IMAGE of what we think they ought to be and become preoccupied or obsessed with such a desire or need to achieve that image that we put God behind or to the side of that goal. God wants our relationship with Him to be closer than that of family, hence Jesus telling one to leave dead father's burial needs to others and forget attendance if he wanted to follow Jesus.
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There are an innumerable amount of inherited pagan forms today, even in the church, but many of pagan values are long gone. Hanging a picture of an animal or wearing a t-shirt with an animal is an example of a long lost pagan value. Cultures will vary but this isn't a beneficial conversation. I'm not sure what you're getting at here but if you are suggesting we should stop displaying pictures of animals because of far removed pagan influence then I suggest you look in your wallet and pull out a dollar bill to see simply that no one cares.
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I'm not a fan of it but it comes from a place of reverence not a place of worship. For example would you salute a fallen soldier? would you kiss a photo of a deceased love one? Would you put flowers at their grave side? Would you even put a grave stone up? None of these are examples of worship they are examples of reverence so pictures and statues being honored in a similar way everyone honours those close to us who have passed or even honours people you don't know that we deemed as deserving of posthumous honor.
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- Apr 18, 2020
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You don't put the dead soldier into your place of worship or home to religiously salute him (religious veneration of the dead soldier) over and over for the rest of your life, do you? You don't make a huge photo of your deceased love one to religiously venerate and kiss your deceased loved one over and over and over do you?
I'm saying this with respect to you, bu you're making lame excuses for idolatry, whether you support these practices or not:
John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
1Tim 2:5 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"
Think about this:
1. Did Mary die for our sins? Did the "patron saints" die for our sins? Are they alive and seated at the right hand of God to appear for us in his presence? Is Jesus alive? Is it the blood of Jesus which covers us so that we can approach God? Does the blood of patron saints or Christian martyrs or Mary cover our sins so that we can approach God in prayer? Or do they also need the living Messiah Jesus to appear in the presence of God on their behalf, like the rest of us?
2. What are those icons? Are they not made of marble, wood, stone, porcelain? Can they hear when someone prays "through them"? Can they see when someone venerates them religiously?
Rev 9:20 "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:"
Isa 44:18-19 "They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?"
2Pet 1:9 "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."
If this veneration of images and relics is not for you, brother, then the least you can do for the lost is to not encourage them in it, but to point out their error, without compromise. Who knows but that in doing so you may save some from the fire?
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If we follow the biblical description of Jesus, He was a short ugly swarthy skinned middle eastern Jew!
Different cultures image Jesus to fir their cultures. The only times it becomes wrong, if their is a sinister motive behind the portrayal to promote a racist agenda.
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