Photography - Exodus 20

[Zoleee]

Hi my friends in Christ.

" 'You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth.

Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish a parent's fault in the children, the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren among those who hate me;

but I act with faithful love towards thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."

Exodus 20 : 4

Can someone help me understand these verses? Are those images only sinful when they are used for idoltary?

My main question: Is modern art like photography sinful? Or is this totally different? Are statues, photos, images sinful when they have nothing to do with idoltary?

 

[RDKirk]

I those days, the ability to create art was considered the action of gods to speak to men (and the artists themselves did not claim differently, as it gave them in oracle or priestly status). Art, particularly a representation of any living thing, was considered something to be worshiped.

 

[Anguspure]

Hi my friends in Christ.

" 'You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth.

Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish a parent's fault in the children, the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren among those who hate me;

but I act with faithful love towards thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."

Exodus 20 : 4

Can someone help me understand these verses? Are those images only sinful when they are used for idoltary?

My main question: Is modern art like photography sinful? Or is this totally different? Are statues, photos, images sinful when they have nothing to do with idoltary?

I think that in view of the fact that the only thing that matters in Christ it is faith expressing itself in love, it is nevertheless certainly a reason to consider why one might be viewing a certain image.

For example, I refer to boating magazines as "yachty inappropriate content" (I am a yachty), for the reason that the purpose behind these magazines is to encourage a culture of covetousness in the reader. We often claim to be reading the magazines for the great articles when really what we are doing is enjoying looking at all of the beautiful things that we want but do not have.

The reason that God forbade the graven image was perhaps because the Israelites had a past connected to idol worship and as such were likely to try to attach a spiritual meaning to any images that they carved, in an attempt to bring the Creator of the Universe down to earth perhaps. So in order to break with the addiction they were forbidden from anything even resembling it.

So perhaps for those of us who have a covetous habit of looking at things through magazines (with good articles) the photographic image is indeed something that we would do well to break with.

But not according to the Law, rather according to the Spirit.

 

[Zoleee]

Thank you for the answers.

I ask this because my main hobby is photography, and now I am unsure about it. I really like taking photos, mostly nature ones, but now this made me unsure?

 

[Alonso_Castillo]

Same Answer

The Commandment had its clause, Look:

Deuteronomy 4:15-20

15 Be watchful, then, at the peril of your lives. When the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the flame on mount Horeb, there was no outward shape you saw.
16 And will you be deluded into carving some outward image or likeness, of man or woman,
17 of beasts that roam on the earth or birds that fly in the air,
18 of creeping things on land or fish that dwell in the waters, down at the roots of earth?
19 Wilt thou be led astray as thou lookest up at the sky, at sun and moon and all the host of stars, into making gods of them, worshipping those creatures which the Lord thy God has made, to be the common drudges of every nation under heaven?[1]
20 Why else did the Lord choose you out, deliver you from Egypt’s furnace of iron, but to make you a people all his own, as you are this day?

The Clause was that since nobody saw the Lord when He spoke from the Mounth, then nobody could make an image of Him, But this clause was SOLVED by Christ Look:

John 14:7-10

7 If you had learned to recognize me, you would have learned to recognize my Father too. From now onwards you are to recognize him; you have seen him.
8 At this, Philip said to him, Lord, let us see the Father; that is all we ask.
9 What, Philip, Jesus said to him, here am I, who have been all this while in your company; hast thou not learned to recognize me yet? Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father; what dost thou mean by saying, Let us see the Father?
10 Do you not believe[2] that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you are not my own words; and the Father, who dwells continually in me, achieves in me his own acts of power.

So there you have it, The Commandment on the Images had a Clause, the clause was that since nobody had seen the Lord then nobody could make an image of him. But in Christ that clause was covered, Sincé in Christ we have seen the Lord, and since then we can Make images of him, Not Worshiping them but giving veneration.

 

[Anguspure]

Same Answer

The Commandment had its clause, Look:

Deuteronomy 4:15-20

15 Be watchful, then, at the peril of your lives. When the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the flame on mount Horeb, there was no outward shape you saw.
16 And will you be deluded into carving some outward image or likeness, of man or woman,
17 of beasts that roam on the earth or birds that fly in the air,
18 of creeping things on land or fish that dwell in the waters, down at the roots of earth?
19 Wilt thou be led astray as thou lookest up at the sky, at sun and moon and all the host of stars, into making gods of them, worshipping those creatures which the Lord thy God has made, to be the common drudges of every nation under heaven?[1]
20 Why else did the Lord choose you out, deliver you from Egypt’s furnace of iron, but to make you a people all his own, as you are this day?

The Clause was that since nobody saw the Lord when He spoke from the Mounth, then nobody could make an image of Him, But this clause was SOLVED by Christ Look:

John 14:7-10

7 If you had learned to recognize me, you would have learned to recognize my Father too. From now onwards you are to recognize him; you have seen him.
8 At this, Philip said to him, Lord, let us see the Father; that is all we ask.
9 What, Philip, Jesus said to him, here am I, who have been all this while in your company; hast thou not learned to recognize me yet? Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father; what dost thou mean by saying, Let us see the Father?
10 Do you not believe[2] that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you are not my own words; and the Father, who dwells continually in me, achieves in me his own acts of power.

So there you have it, The Commandment on the Images had a Clause, the clause was that since nobody had seen the Lord then nobody could make an image of him. But in Christ that clause was covered, Sincé in Christ we have seen the Lord, and since then we can Make images of him, Not Worshiping them but giving veneration.

One problem here, however, is that many of the so called images of Christ Jesus that are apparently venerable depict a certain racial and cultural understanding that has very little to do with a first century Jewish construction worker / Rabbi who was nothing special to look at.

​

 

[Alonso_Castillo]

One problem here, however, is that many of the so called images of Christ Jesus that are apparently venerable depict a certain racial and cultural understanding that has very little to do with a first century Jewish construction worker / Rabbi who was nothing special to look at.

​

Yes and no, the crhstians of the catacombs left us images of a bearded jew dark haired, young adult, and in those times romans were used to shave their beards it was not a inculturated image of their Ideal as romans.

 

[Anguspure]

Another thought related to that above; perhaps the correct image of Christ Jesus that we should all venerate and love is the broken body and shed blood of our savior shared with us all that we might live.

 

[Anguspure]

Yes and no, the crhstians of the catacombs left us images of a bearded jew dark haired, young adult, and in those times romans were used to shave their beards it was not a inculturated image of their Ideal as romans.

Certainly looks a whole lot more realistic than this:

 

[Alonso_Castillo]

Another though related to that above; perhaps the correct image of Christ Jesus that we should all venerate and love is the broken body and shed blood of our savior shared with us all that we might live.

View attachment 190825​

yes and No, because We represent the mistery of his crucifixion but we move ahead to his resurrection, The Alpha/Omega image is the one of the Apocalypse Jesus King of the Universe and time

 

[Anguspure]

Thank you for the answers.

I ask this because my main hobby is photography, and now I am unsure about it. I really like taking photos, mostly nature ones, but now this made me unsure?

In Christ, all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial.

Be lead by the Spirit and the relationship you have with Our Lord will be deepened and then you will have a better idea of what He wants you to do. Until then there is always His peace, His rest and His grace.

All good brother.