here I see in the Letter of Paul (Saul) to the Romans, he mentions godless and wicked men, retribution, stuff like that....he goes on to say: "they have made fools of themselves, exchanging the splendor of the immortal God for an image shaped like mortal men, even for images like birds, beasts and creeping things. 22, 23.
Whats going on? how come birds, and mammals are somehow low, on some sort of scale?
2006-11-24 21:11:26 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There are a lot of facts that religion hides from the followers. During biblical times 99% of the people were illiterate. The only ones who could receive schooling to enable reading and writing skills were the well to do. Politicians, Land & Business Owners, Lawyers, Scribes, etc, etc. The apostles were Shepherds, Farmers, Fisherman and the like. They lacked any formal education enabling them to read or write. Paul (Saul) was illiterate. They don't want you to know that because you wouldn't believe what they want you to. Ask if you can see the original letter. I'd bet that you can't.
2006-11-24 21:29:28 · answer #1 · answered by liberty11235 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a scale. There is God above all and then there is man, made in the image of God, and then there are tweetie birds and puppy dogs. (Heavenly beings like angels are in the lineup someplace but there is controversy about where)
But Paul's emphasis is not on a scale but rather the terrible truth that men have forsaken their worship of God and are worshipping other things, whether it be images of men or images of animals.
Animals are lower because they were not formed in the image of God.
2006-11-25 05:20:01 · answer #2 · answered by happy pilgrim 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the covenant given by God via Moses, one of the commandments was that the people of Israel would not make graven images or depict God as an animal of some sort.
To depict the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as an animal, first of all, wouldn't be accurate. Jesus was born of a woman, the Word of God made flesh, and dwelt among us. He is referred to as the Lamb of God in the book of Revelation and also in other places in scripture, but it is clear from the 4 Gospels that He was a man when He was beaten, mocked and crucified with my sin and the sin of the whole world.
I love animals, but worshipping and deifying animals is not the communion that God is looking for. It's a living heart-to-heart, one-on-one relationship. We don't need a graven image - or even the depiction of a man - to worship God. He has made a new and living way for us to approach Him by the blood that Jesus Christ shed when He was tested in the garden, arrested, beaten, and crucified.
And, as wonderful a creation as animals are, they are not God. Never will be God and cannot do for man what God can do. There is no animal that can bring forth a transformation of nature, a new heart that can experience God's presence.
2006-11-25 05:23:33 · answer #3 · answered by Carol L 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is saying that we exchanged our true state of perfect life for a fiction called "Physical Life". We are created by and of God, yet we deny this in favor of these images we make, then think they are outside us, apart, separate...It doesn't mean these animals and crawling things are "bad", just that compared to creation, they are nothing. They are mere images.
2006-11-25 05:51:05 · answer #4 · answered by Sky in the Grass 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What he was talking about is that they made places to worship birds and beasts and creeping thing. That is in reference to the "No Idols " commandment.
2006-11-25 05:14:11 · answer #5 · answered by Odindmar 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like he is saying some of us fall so low to think life is all there is and look to it as God. Self worship basically.
2006-11-25 05:15:39 · answer #6 · answered by Sean 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because Pagans used to worship nature. Phrases like this were added to Christian writings to discourage Pagans from going back to their old Gods perhaps?
2006-11-25 05:14:17 · answer #7 · answered by swordarkeereon 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
what Paul was saying.it is false image of GOD.You shall worship only one GOD.Examples gold statues.They are low scale compare to God Himself..
2006-11-25 05:17:06 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's the image "adored " that's low and not the image of the bird or animal.
2006-11-25 05:16:00 · answer #9 · answered by sophieb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible is full of contradictions, simply because it is not the word of God.
2006-11-25 05:13:56 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋