What Constitutes Idolatry?

[mark kennedy]

The temple where we were asked to kneel was a bit out of the way and not on the usual tourist route - it was open to adherents of the faith to visit and we just wandered in because no one was around - a bit rude I suppose but we didn't mean any disrespect.

Temples were not a place where people congregated, they basically came, made a sacrifice and left.

 

[98cwitr]

I'm wondering what constitutes idolatry. Is it our reaction to, or belief about an engraved, sculpted, or painted image that turns it into an idol, or is the image itself? Is iconography, sculpture, and Western religious art automatically considered idolatry? If so, where do we draw the line? If Western art or icons or sculptures are idols, why aren't
illustrated children's Bibles or religious pamphlets or the plastic nativity scenes put up in the town centers or Christmas tree angel toppers considered idols? Or do objects have to worshiped or venerated in such a way , or believed to have supernatural properties, to become idols?

Biggest example today: Taking the parts of the bible that you don't like, cutting them out, and creating a god you're willing to worship with what's left of the tattered remains.

 

[thecolorsblend]

When Sacred Scripture refers to idols, it refers to a physical object which fits all of the following criteria:

01- A graven image
02- Of something that isn't God
03- In the likeness of something/someone else (e.g., a created thing)
04- Which is believed to literally be what the graven image depicts
05- And is then worshiped as though it actually is God.

Anything which fits all five of the above criteria is an idol.

Anything which does not fit all of the above criteria is not an idol.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

02- Of something that isn't God

That would be all graven images.

04- Which is believed to literally be what the graven image depicts

Patently false. Athena was never regarded as a statue. Her idols existed on Earth as a representation of the goddess at Olympus.

Anything which fits all five of the above criteria is an idol.

Except for number four, which was false, a wide variety of Catholic sculptures fit all of those requirements. You might dispute the last line, but I frankly don't see the difference between how your people bow to, pray to, burn incense to your statues, versus how the pagans worship their idols. It looks the same to me.

 

[Newtheran]

I'm wondering what constitutes idolatry. Is it our reaction to, or belief about an engraved, sculpted, or painted image that turns it into an idol, or is the image itself? Is iconography, sculpture, and Western religious art automatically considered idolatry? If so, where do we draw the line? If Western art or icons or sculptures are idols, why aren't
illustrated children's Bibles or religious pamphlets or the plastic nativity scenes put up in the town centers or Christmas tree angel toppers considered idols? Or do objects have to worshiped or venerated in such a way , or believed to have supernatural properties, to become idols?

Mohammedans have sort of a blunt force view of this: all imagery is idolatry (which is why they react to any portrayal of Mohammed, etc). Christians hold a more nuanced view: Idolatry is that which you wrongly worship in God's place. So yes, it could be a statue...it could also be anything from wealth to football.

Do some research on the Veil of Manopello. It's said to be the facecloth of Jesus that the disciples discovered folded in the tomb on resurrection morning on which an image of Jesus had been miraculously transferred. If he left us a polaroid, certainly iconography and other things are just fine.

 

[iLove]

What Constitutes Idolatry? Anything and everything that is not Faith in the Son of God and the Lamb of God, i.e., Christ and the Finished Work at the Cross of Calvary where the victory was won, i.e., The Blood of Jesus.