Cleaning House - What would you do

[ALEA40]

Since becoming a Christian I've felt very strong about ridding my house of anything that counters my faith. I've thrown out all my new age books. I keep coming back to a wooden carving I picked up 20 years ago when I was studying in the Dominican Republic. It's a 12" man sitting with a sun over his head. I was told that it was a sun god when I purchased it at the side of the road. Since I am about half way through the OT, I'm so saddened by all the times people have returned to idol worship after committing themselves to the one true God. I can't help but look at this statue and think of all the times people in the OT secretly treasured their family's idols.

Any thoughts? I feel like I should throw it away. Or, burn it? Or, should I just leave it on the shelf? How do you all feel about these kind of things?

 

[PrudenceAnn]

I think this is very much down to personal preference. I still read many of my "secular" texts, still listen to "secular" music, have "secular" art hanging on my wall... After all... We were all created by God... Our gifts have been given to us by God, and "secularity" is just one way of expressing that. It doesn't distract me from God, or threaten my faith... but rather strengthens it. Scientific discovery, for example, and human creativity leave me in awe of the things God can do, and the way in which He can speak through us... Even if the thing He speaks through claims to be "secular". I have been trying to cleanse myself of excess... And have given many things that I do not need to charity... But this is not because of distraction from God... More that my excess made me feel like a hypocrite, and that I feel a literal compulsion to help people as much as I am able... I don't have much money, but I have an abundance if time, and a lot of useless stuff!!

I am not in any way saying that you should do as I do, though. I believe faith to be a personal journey... Differing in experience from person to person. If you feel that your wooden ornament falls under false idolatry, then I cant dispute that... I would say, however, that having something is not the same as idolising it.

It may sound cheesy, but I find that if I am really struggling to understand something, prayer is the way forward. God is very, very good at giving us the answers we need, so long as we listen

 

[ThePottersVessel]

I say if it bothers you or causes you to stumble then feel free to get rid of it.

From the sound of it, it doesn't seem like you "worship" these things as actual idols. Things collected from the past that have no meaning beyond being decorative are, in my opinion harmless.

The thing that is much more sinister are the things we idolize that are not actual "things," such as our time, our weekend activities that we put before going to church, our money, so on and so forth.

Welcome to the Kingdom!

 

[Peripatetic]

You can get rid of it, but I would caution against burning it or making it into some kind of ceremony. It's best to avoid any kind of superstition, even with good intentions.

 

[Soul2Soul]

Since becoming a Christian I've felt very strong about ridding my house of anything that counters my faith. I've thrown out all my new age books. I keep coming back to a wooden carving I picked up 20 years ago when I was studying in the Dominican Republic. It's a 12" man sitting with a sun over his head. I was told that it was a sun god when I purchased it at the side of the road. Since I am about half way through the OT, I'm so saddened by all the times people have returned to idol worship after committing themselves to the one true God. I can't help but look at this statue and think of all the times people in the OT secretly treasured their family's idols.

Any thoughts? I feel like I should throw it away. Or, burn it? Or, should I just leave it on the shelf? How do you all feel about these kind of things?

My choice would be to get rid of it - because of it's representation i.e. an alternative god. I think that I would not be able to declassify that representation every time I looked at it, and in a way would be acknowledging that stated value - even though I might consider it has no spiritual relevance/significance to me. It would remind me of someone's version of their own (created) god.

 

[PrudenceAnn]

My choice would be to get rid of it - because of it's representation i.e. an alternative god. I think that I would not be able to declassify that representation every time I looked at it, and in a way would be acknowledging that stated value - even though I might consider it has no spiritual relevance/significance to me. It would remind me of someone's version of their own (created) god.

This is a good point actually... I hadn't considered this.

 

[Soul2Soul]

This is a good point actually... I hadn't considered this.

Thanks PrudenceAnn

 

[1watchman]

I DON'T think you would ever regret burning it ---even if it was expensive.

 

[PrudenceAnn]

I DON'T think you would ever regret burning it ---even if it was expensive.

I echo what an earlier poster said regarding burning... That seems kind of ritualistic to me... And that could be risky if not done absolutely correctly and in concordance with Scripture.

If it is wood, is there any way you could modify it? Maybe reuse the wood to make a cross? To me, that would be like reasserting the Glory of God physically. I don't know exactly what the item looks like, or how it is made, but it might be a better option than wasting it, or risk negative intervention through ritualistic burning.

I have actually been thinking a lot about this.... Giving it to a thrift shop crossed my mind, but that would possibly be worse... As that would be spreading an alternative God... and I personally would be uncomfortable with that.

Please let us know what the outcome is! I would be interested to know how you decide to approach this.

May God be with you in your decision making.

 

[Emmy]

Dear KEA44. Would your Christian friends, or anybody else recognize the figure as a heathen idol? if you don't like throwing it away, hide it in some corner. Why keep it anyway? I would have a lovely picture of Jesus, instead.
In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells a Lawyer: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself." Then Jesus points out this great fact:" On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." That is straightforward and easy to remember,"
and in Matthew 7: 7-8: we are told:" ask and ye shall receive," then we thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour: all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends. We keep asking for Love and Joy, then thank God, and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. We will find that people will treat us the same as we treat people, and God will approve and Bless us.
A Christian`s great weapon is Love and Joy and with Love and Joy we will overcome all enmity and wrong behaviour. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us and carry on Loving and Caring.
To clean your house will mean that you " Repent," and "Be Born Again."
All selfishness and unloving will disappear, and we will become the sons and daughters which God wants us to become. I say this with love, KEA44.
Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[ALEA40]

To clean your house will mean that you " Repent," and "Be Born Again." All selfishness and unloving will disappear, and we will become the sons and daughters which God wants us to become.

Thank you all so much! This "house cleaning" is coming straight from my repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior this past July. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm in the middle of reading the OT and I'm continually astounded how many times the Israelites/we are drawn to pagan gods (and other types of idolatry in our modern world). 3000 years later and we're still getting confused looking everywhere else but to God!!!

I will follow-up on what I decide to do. I'm still tempted to toss it in the trash. It wasn't expensive. It was more just a memento of a time studying in the DR. I love the idea of carving it into something Christian related, but I'm not that handy. Burning seemed to have mixed thoughts here. I was just thinking about how every time the Israelites tried to get "right with God", they burned all their statues/alters/asherah poles. It thought it might be easy enough to stick in our fire pit

Blessings to you all!!!

 

[jesuschristdriven]

I think the bible would tell you to throw all of this away and pray out all the demons in Jesus Christ name and keep moving forward with the renewal of the mind.

 

[ALEA40]

I think the bible would tell you to throw all of this away and pray out all the demons in Jesus Christ name and keep moving forward with the renewal of the mind.

I agree!

 

[parsley]

I just looked it up online, and am guessing it's this:

http://images.addoway.com.s3.amazonaws.com/items/9143/1126023/joamval_2_365db0.jpg

http://images.addoway.com.s3.amazonaws.com/items/9143/1126023/joamval_3_dca7fb.jpg

"The Taíno believed that a chief, or “cacique,” the highest ranking member of the society, provided a conduit for communication between the physical and spiritual world...Zemi statues of spiritual beings ... had a platform or bowl on top...to hold snuff during Taíno religious rituals...to induce hallucinations."


NMNH Anthropology: Taino Artifacts from Dominican Republic

There has been recent discussion on whether the Caribbean/South/Central American depictions of gods were actually unfamiliar beings from other locations or planes of time. They are shown using aeronautical vehicles, and wearing space suits.

If that were true, these beings were not depictions of gods, but of actual visitors who were later revered.

I think it's great to do a cleanout, and it can be very freeing. But more important, we need to also take a stand that is above being swayed and harassed by supernatural forces. We have the authority of God through Christ with us, and the more we practice it the easier we can stand in it. For objects that you would like to keep, try speaking God's authority over it, and driving out anything that does not belong in your territory.

 

[ALEA40]

Parley, it looks somewhat like these pictures, but it's a lot more simple and seemed to be carved from a 4"x 4" piece of wood- so not as wide as the one here.

I ended up throwing the statue away today. I said a quick prayer to God to protect our home from any negative influence. I thought that it was time. I have another nice carved wooden container that I purchased there for my husband. It's covered with carved flowers that serves as a nice memento from that trip.

Thank you all for your input! Blessings!!!

 

[parsley]

Glad you figured out a solution. Does your house feel lighter?

I did a cleansing once of things that gave me negative triggers, and it made me wonder why I didn't do it sooner. There were things I kept out from people that irritated me, so every time I looked at the objects I had negative reactions. Who knows why I felt obligated to display them.