I Get the SAME Answer From Those Who Use Graven Images For Worship
Here's the hard truth about idolatry and idolaters. They say that they don't worship the graven images but that they are only respecting or venerating them. I decided to get some literature from Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism where they also say that the graven images are just like pictures of one's friends and family. But is that really the case? I have pictures of my friends and family but do I put them on top of a family altar? Do I even pray in front of them? It's really quite different.
Why do so many religions have the problem of graven images for worship? It makes lots of money. Do you remember the problem when Paul got into trouble in Acts 19:23-41? The religion of Christianity was bad for the business of making idols. Try to notice a trip to a local pagan temple. You may even find a souvenir shop that sells images of their gods and goddesses. Try to go to a Roman Catholic bookstore and you find images of their saints and supposed images of the Trinity or Jesus. They all tell you that these images are just there to remind their worshipers of their friends or their gods.
The logic is terribly confusing yet it goes on anyway. You buy an image out of a souvenir shop from a pagan temple. You bring it to the priest of that respective religion to have it consecrated or it will just be another graven image. A Hindu or Buddhist monk may consecrate the image. A Taoist interpreter or priest may perform a ritual to give certain amulets or images their "blessedness". They believe that the gods would impart some power into that icon. Roman Catholics believe that they have consecrated the images with God's blessing and that they must be handled with care. If they are worn out then they must be disposed with utmost care such as burying or burning them with the permission of the religious leader. It's all because they have been supposedly blessed and can now grant a certain degree of spiritual protection. That belief is just pure nonsense, isn't it?
The logic is terribly confusing yet it goes on anyway. You buy an image out of a souvenir shop from a pagan temple. You bring it to the priest of that respective religion to have it consecrated or it will just be another graven image. A Hindu or Buddhist monk may consecrate the image. A Taoist interpreter or priest may perform a ritual to give certain amulets or images their "blessedness". They believe that the gods would impart some power into that icon. Roman Catholics believe that they have consecrated the images with God's blessing and that they must be handled with care. If they are worn out then they must be disposed with utmost care such as burying or burning them with the permission of the religious leader. It's all because they have been supposedly blessed and can now grant a certain degree of spiritual protection. That belief is just pure nonsense, isn't it?
Isaiah 44:17 warns of the problem that the residue becomes the graven image. People carve the god or goddess which they want to represent. Jeremiah 10:3-5 addresses not the problem of Christmas trees but graven images. How foolish it is that such images have to be carried. It reminds me of how much traffic was caused because of a child god that couldn't walk or a god that couldn't even take a bath on its own. I saw Buddhists bathe an image of a child Buddha and I see Roman Catholics carry a child "Jesus" around in a parade. Both of them say that they are simply paying homage and that they are not worshiping. The worse fact is that they don't even realize that they are actually praying to the images and that they are getting attached to them. How Satan really blinds the minds, doesn't he?
I was even told that I needed to apologize to "Mother Mary" after I threw a stone out of anger at the glass house that contained the image. I was told that I needed to go to the confessional and to the priest for doing so and repair that glass house that was broken out of my anger. If it was just another image then why did I even need to apologize to the image? Wasn't it that the image was only supposed to represent "Mother Mary"? It's amazing how the idolatry can cause so much trouble. It's no different from the people who wanted to punish Gideon for breaking Baal's altar in Judges 6. In truth, that altar was simply another graven image that couldn't even defend itself. It really was a rude awakening that such graven images are foolishness.
With this in mind - I have to remember to be very patient in dealing with such people. These people are blinded by Satan. All I can do is warn them about sin and judgement and not to argue with them in their blindness. I cannot open their blind eyes nor save their souls. Only Jesus saves and only through the Holy Spirit that blind eyes can be opened from Satan's deception.
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