"4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth"
I'm just wondering because I was raised Jewish.
2006-12-20 11:36:06 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
judy_r8
Exodus 20:4 doesn't say anything about worshipping them, it says you shouldn't *make* them.
Exodus 20:5 says you should worship them.
Jews take those to things seperately, in case you didn't know. And in reading the Bible they seem pretty seperate to me too.
2006-12-20 11:41:53 · update #1
Sorry, BrutalBaby, didn't mean to tar everyone with the same brush.
How's this:
To the best of my knowledge Jews follow this as a seperate commandment from worshipping idols whereas Christians do not. As every church I have ever been in or seen photos of contains depictions of humans, plants or animals whereas no synagogue I have ever seen or been in does.
Does anyone know why the difference?
2006-12-20 12:18:52 · update #2
Do you have pictures of your loved ones?
Statues and pictures of people we love are not idols.
Statues and paintings of Jesus and the saints are images of the people we love and respect.
The King James Version of the Bible states in Exodus 20:4: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth"
Why were the Jews commanded not to make graven images? Graven images were the standard method of pagan worship. They were representations of false gods.
This is a very clear command.
However God commanded the Jews in Exodus 25:18 and 1 Chronicles 28:18–19, "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them"
And in 1 Kings chapter 7 Solomon made bulls and other images out of precious metals.
It seems obvious that the Jews did not worship the cherubims and Solomon did not worship the bulls he had made. These images did not violate the command of God. Therefore, an image not made for worship is acceptable.
In Numbers 21:8-9, "And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered."
And in John 3:14-15, Jesus says in correlation, "And just as Moses lifted up the [image of a] serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
How can a statue of our Lord Jesus Christ dead on the cross be considered an idol to a false god? A crucifix is the message of the Gospel without words held up for all to see, a visual reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus, no different from a painting, a play, or a movie.
Catholics do not worship statues but the almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
With love in Christ.
2006-12-25 16:34:04 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you take verse 4 literally, then why do Jews make statues, paintings, or art of any kind? With all due respect, your question seems kind of hypocritical, since there are many Jewish artists.
Actually, there is no logical reason why verse 5 would be part of a different commandment than verse 4 (if it was, then there are 11 commandments, instead of the famous 10).
The short answer to your question is that verses 4 & 5 are part of the same commandment, since verse 5 seems to clarify and futher expound upon the sentence of verse 4 (the verse numbers were not part of the original text, they were added later to make it easy to quickly reference different parts of the Bible).
Apparently, it is OK to make art, as long as you do not "bow down and worship" this artwork that you have made.
2006-12-20 11:50:10 · answer #2 · answered by Randy G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am a Christian and I don't worship graven images. I would certainly get in trouble. I love the 10 commandments, because God wrote them with His own finger.
Images are only images unless you worship them. Then images are an idol. Problem with idols is that people think a spirit is lingering around them and are praying to them. Also an idol is anything that comes between you and God. To some people it could be sports. Person would rather go to sport games than pray to God.
2006-12-20 11:49:47 · answer #3 · answered by t_a_m_i_l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
True Christians follow this commandment, because we are told to flee from idols.
Be it a cross to a statue of a "saint", true christians will not bow down to it, or pray to it.
What you see is fulfillment of prophecy Jesus gave about false christians.
The great apostacy that Paul talked about started in his day and cluminated in the 4th century.
To see what true christians do and believe I would recommend going to
www.watchtower.org.
As to the honesty of their translation please read:
Old Testament:
In fact, the New World Translation is a scholarly work. In 1989, Professor Benjamin Kedar of Israel said:
"In my linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translation, I often refer to the English edition as what is known as the New World Translation. In doing so, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this kind of work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew....Every statement of language allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So the linguistic solution in any given case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain."
New Testament:
While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.”—Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.
“Here at last is a comprehensive comparison of nine major translations of the Bible:
King James Version,
New American Standard Bible,
New International Version,
New Revised Standard Version,
New American Bible,
Amplified Bible,
Today's English Version (Good News Bible),
Living Bible,
and the New World Translation.
The book provides a general introduction to the history and methods of Bible translation, and gives background on each of these versions. Then it compares them on key passages of the New Testament to determine their accuracy and identify their bias. Passages looked at include:
John 1:1; John 8:58; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1
Jason BeDuhn
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, and Chair
Department of Humanities, Arts, and Religion
Northern Arizona University
2006-12-26 06:40:25 · answer #4 · answered by TeeM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
and the rest says: not to bow down to it. I don't worship anything like a graven image, although it looks like some Catholics do this when they pass the alter. The point of that is b/c man is God's graven image, made His likeness. No need to do it. Also, He wanted to deter His children from putting faith in the object instead of Him. Do you know for a fact all Christians don't heed this law?
I'm sorry but Verse 5 says: you shall NOT bow down to them nor serve them. No offense to Jews but how do you see the big picture if you separate that stuff?
2006-12-20 11:42:19 · answer #5 · answered by BrutalBaby 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Like others have said, I also do not worship any image nor any "thing" (house, car, money, etc.) that would become a more important focus or worship in my life than God. I am a Christian and I worship God-the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the Bible. Zephaniah 3:17 is the verse I keep in my heart, my mind and written on my doorpost.
2006-12-20 11:45:53 · answer #6 · answered by jesuschick 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Researcher Vitalij Ivanovich Petrenko wrote: “The use of images and its tradition comes from well before the Christian era and had an ‘ancestry in paganism.’” Many historians agree, saying that the roots of icon worship are found in the religions of ancient Babylon, Egypt, and Greece. In ancient Greece, for example, religious images took the form of statues. These were believed to be invested with divine powers. People thought that some of these images were not made by hands but had fallen from heaven. During special festivals, such cult images were taken in a procession around the city, and sacrifices were offered to them. “The cult image was considered by the pious to be a deity himself, although attempts have been made . . . to distinguish between the deity and his image,” said Petrenko.
Me, I'm a Christian and I only worship Jehovah God. To do that I don't need an icon.
WE MUST PRAY THROUGH, NOT TO, JESUS CHRIST.
Jesus himself put it very explicitly, saying: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) “Most truly I say to you, If you ask the Father for anything he will give it to you in my name. . . . Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.”—John 16:23, 24.
2006-12-20 11:48:49 · answer #7 · answered by Alex 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Be careful because you might fall under those who do worship other idols, are you a workaholic, do you wear only name brand, what is your #1 devotion to- your family, your friends, your night life? Its a real hard seperation for many a christians because we do live in this world, but we are supposed to be seperated from this world at the same time.
2006-12-20 11:44:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
What is your point? making a graven image in your mind would be like saying " my god would never send any one to hell because he is loving and kind." I would say your right because your god doesn't exist, he is a figment of your imagination. God gave us the ten commandments as a mirror to look at ourselves and see that without Christ's righteousness you are in trouble. what about the first commandment have you always kept that. Jesus said that it is by faith and not by works, lest some should boast.
2006-12-20 11:48:52 · answer #9 · answered by chris z 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your right except for the fact that no Christian Churches have any kind of idles , your speaking of all the Catholic Churches in the entire world . And I stand with you on this matter , but their Pope makes their rules as they go along and like sheep his people follow as well . So thank you for bringing this up but Catholic people will never listen to you nor believe what you are trying to show them .
2006-12-20 11:48:42 · answer #10 · answered by I'M JUST TRYING TO HELP YOU 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋