For Christians: is it a paganism, making the statue, picture, etc. of your God?

Answer 1

The Bible says that we are not to worship idols. Those who say that it "Helps them focus their worship and that they're not really worshipping the idol are fooling themselves. The Israelites called the golden calf they made by God's name and claimed it was merely a representation of God, but that didn't make God any happier, did it?

Is it paganism... I dunno. But the Bible does say it's wrong.

Answer 2

I recently read about a woman working in a chocolate shop that found some drippings from an oven, formed in a shape that she considered to be a statue of Virgin Mary.

She Prayed to that lump of chocolate.

To me; as a minister outside of the Catholic church. I would consider that paganism. The church will argue that it is not, because the statues represent people who allegedly lived and were not created in some paganistic form.

God does not require a middle man, therefore it is always better to go right to the source, and if and when you pray, do it as if you were really talking to God. Speak up so God will hear you. Otherwise you are just emoting and wasting your time. Silent prayer does nothing at all, and people wonder why their prayers are not answered.

Beleive it or not: The only channel between you and God is your senses. You can use your eyes by writing down your needs, which should be relegated to "Guidance" in all things of importance.

You can use your ears, but that is what you must do.

You must speak up and when you learn to do this you will be surprised, how fast your prayers will be answered.

God does not require fancy trappings, nor ritual signs made with the hands. Those things are meant to subjugate the will of the believer. Try it my way and you will have definite results. Remember the angel is right on your shoulder, not in some fancy building.

I do my praying outside, where I can be heard and believe me, it will work for you.

Answer 3

I'm not sure if it's related to the pagan religion, all I know is that in the bible god tells us we are to have no pictures or statues of the people in the bible because we do not know what they look like. He even states in the bible we do not know the images of himself or others. Other religions choose to do there own thing by pulling out bits and pieces of the bible they want to follow which is a sin.

Answer 4

Only if you worship the object as if it in itself is your God! The God that I worship is one God in the form of three persons. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. I wouldn't know how to make a stutue of or paint a picture of My God. The Son is painted and formed in many different ways, but do we really know what he looks like? Especially now that he is in his full Glory!

Many people bow down to the cross or the crucifixion of Christ, but in their hearts are they bowing down to the object in front of them to pray to it, or for what it represents to them and to the world?

If a person is truly saved and talks to God from the depths of their heart then they arent' worshiping an object and therefore it's not paganism. But, if they look to that object to answer their prayers or they don't feel that God is with them if the object is not or that without the object they can't pray and worship then they are playing with the worst danger that there ever can be and yes that's paganism!

Truly, it is a personal matter between the one praying and worshiping and God himself. If they aren't sure, then I'd say, don't do it!

Answer 5

There are Christians who believe that images of God are wrong. I don't care for the paintings of Jesus I see everywhere. I don't believe for a second he looks anything like those images I see.

C.S. Lewis even said that the images take the place of who God really is; takes the focus off God.

If we had an accurate picture of him, I may think differently. Not in the sense of me wanting to worship it but being able to maybe understand him better. I know that's weird. But think. It's one thing to hear the name Hitler and another to see this stupid guy in a mustache.

Answer 6

No, anything that can take the place of God in your life is an Idol, I worship nothing but God and no one and nothing comes before him, A needle is a idol for a junkie, the bottle is an idol for the alcoholic, and money is the idol for a prostitute this is my understanding. I pray to God and only God, no saints or statues of Women there is only God.

Answer 7

I hang my head in shame....

Paganism is (or was) defined as the worship of many gods and in anchient times used as a term for those who belived in MORE than one god. it was not simply a term to refer to the casting of religious statues and images and whatnot.

What everyone seems to be refering to is one of the Ten commandments. It was intended for the Jewish people who had just come out of slavery and had cast themselves an idol of gold. The Christian faith, which grew out of the Jewish tradition, adopted the same Commandments but have put less emphisis on the creation of images, ect... and have condemned (for lack of a better word) the worship of said images, ect.

Answer 8

Yes. It is called idolotry.

Some religions who claim to be Christian have many statues, pictures etc... Unfortunalty these types of religions have deviated from truely and completely following the Word of God (the bible).

Many people see these distorted religions as representatives of Christianity, which gives true Christians a bad rap.

Answer 9

No... not if it just inspires us and reminds us about God.... just like if you had a photograph of a loved one......if someone worshiped the picture, or statue, that would be paganism..

Answer 10

No, a pagan is somebody that is not a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, or has no religion at all...atleast by definition.

But your question is valid by asking how "religiously correct" is it to make statues and pictures of your God?

Answer 11

I would think that it depends on what it is for.

If it is simply a reminder to consider Him, then I think "no". I have a artists conception of Jesus on my wall that reminds me of Him when I pass by it, but that's all it is, a reminder.

If it is something that you bow and scrape to, then I think "yes". I was raised in the Roman Catholic religion and we did a lot of knee bending and sign making in front of statues and other objects. To me today, I recognize this as idol worship and have asked God to forgive me for these acts.