The truth is, all earthly material is sanctified by God, Who officially joined Himself with it through the incarnation of God the Word. Artful depictions of Christ therefore are holy things, for the holy. Iconoclasm isn't holy. it's actually an attack against the significance of "the Word became flesh".
Perhaps, but I myself would refrain from attempting to use Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, to achieve my own sociopolitical ambitions. These things tend to always be motivated by lust for power of some sort, and therefore akin to Judas Iscariot's betrayal, if we understand it.
Icons of Christ generally depict Him to resemble those who make them. When Asians make images of Him, He appears as an Asian Jesus. We do this because it reinforces the important truth that He has become truly one of us, as we are. After His resurrection his disciples often couldn't recognize Him at first, so frankly, who knows what He appears to be? He may appear different to different people in his glorified body.
Are you kidding? Constantine still held the title of Pontifex Maximus until the time of his death, there was no way for him to completely engage in open persecution of pagans in his time, the only thing he could do was slowly undermine paganism and transfer it’s power to Christianity and the Church. Organized persecution of pagans never happened during the reign of Constantine the Great, the only sort of negative thing that happened to paganism during his reign were certain temples being demolished to make room for churches and the slow withdrawal of the political support it once got from the Roman State. That’s nothing compared to what Diolectian was doing to Christians and Christian clergy in the last few years of his reign.
Amen, I agree. Now is the time to hold nothing back. Your on earth for one reason as a Christian, to help God save souls. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing the Word of God. Consider that the talents God gave you are for one reason. To witness to the truth. So I will use everything I have to fulfill the heart of God's will. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance.
I totally agree. We have to engage this with a sense of humility, at the same time standing firm for Christ.
I have seen Copts using Latin statues more nowadays in Churches, I like both statues and Icons myself. I don’t know what this obsession with Europeans and slavery is, the biggest and worst slave trade in the world didn’t even happen in Europe, infact there are still countries with human trafficking and slaves, such as Mauritania where slavery is still a thing and in Sudan where you can still find children working on farms against their will as private property. Iconoclasm literally breeds barbarism, we all know what certain Byzantine Emperors did to people who venerated Icons, or what Muslims have done and still do to statues and icons they get their hands on.We don't have statues in the Coptic Orthodox tradition, but no, of course not. If it is somehow magically wrong for Europeans to make European images of Christ and the saints (leaving aside the statues v. icons v. nothing debate that I don't wanna have), then wouldn't it be just as wrong for Africans to make African images of Christ (there are plenty, if people like Mr. King would bother to look), Middle Easterners to make Middle Eastern images of Christ (ditto), Asians to make Asian images of Christ, etc.? Or is it just wrong because it's Europeans making them, and it's somehow wrong to be European because of slavery?
This crap has go to stop, and the sooner the better. If you personally want to remain historically ignorant to the point of attempting to rebirth iconoclasm for supposedly 'anti-racist' purposes, that's your business, but painting it like that's the socially responsible, progressive thing to do is just gross. It's not progressive to deny a continent full of people their right to depict Jesus and the saints in a manner that nativizes them in their culture just because the people making the depictions are a skin color that makes you hate them and/or the 'system' you say the art represents. What it represents to you is clearly not what it represents to them...or do you think that the people with pictures of 'white Jesus' are worshiping an actual slave driver?
Idiots!
Supposedly he gave up the notion of black supremacism and racism towards Europeans or Americans with European origin when he went on Hajj or when he visited the Arab world.
That would also include your profile picture, and that would also include the Cherubim God commanded Moses to make in Exodus 25. Iconoclasm is not Biblical, it’s based on a heretical misinterpretation of the second commandment, and it contradicts the Bible and logic.
