Christians: Explain this please

[enchanted_one1975]

When most Christians see or hear about me having statues of my God and Goddesses, they start preaching about the golden calf and that I am dumb to worship statues. I explain that I do not worship the statues and that the statues represent the Deities that I do worship. They act like this makes no sense to them. At the same time, these same Christians will kneel and pray in front of a crucifix. To them a crucifix can represent Jesus without them actually worshiping the crucifix, but if a statue or figure is representative of my Gods and/or Goddesses they don't see how this same "symbolism" they they use holds true. Can you please explain why you think this way?

 

[Thief]

You got it right.
Your question is fair critique.

Nowadays, I pay no heed to graven images of any kind.

That's not to say artistic endeavors are taboo.

 

[Pastor ROC]

When most Christians see or hear about me having statues of my God and Goddesses, they start preaching about the golden calf and that I am dumb to worship statues. I explain that I do not worship the statues and that the statues represent the Deities that I do worship. They act like this makes no sense to them. At the same time, these same Christians will kneel and pray in front of a crucifix. To them a crucifix can represent Jesus without them actually worshiping the crucifix, but if a statue or figure is representative of my Gods and/or Goddesses they don't see how this same "symbolism" they they use holds true. Can you please explain why you think this way?

When I pray, I don't bow before anything or anyone except God. Sometimes I pray when I'm driving (keeping my eyes open of course ). The cross is a reminder to Christians of what Christ did for us. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he used what we now know as "The Lord's Prayer." I would say, that the objection Christians have to you praying to the statues that represent the deities you worship, is more that those deities are not God. Much like when the people of Israel abandoned trusting in God and began worshiping the image of some other deity instead of God Almighty. Hope this helps.

 

[Jainarayan]

The cross is a reminder to Christians of what Christ did for us.

Images of our deities are reminders of who they are to us. We don't need images either, but they are helpful, just like your cross is.

I would say, that the objection Christians have to you praying to the statues that represent the deities you worship, is more that those deities are not God.

They are Gods to us. Those Christians have no more right to judge or object than I have to object to Christian practice, which I don't, unless it infringes on my right to practice.

 

[sojourner]

The problem is that, for centuries in the West, Xy has been the dominant, state-sanctioned religion, so much so that it is embedded in our culture. The entitlement that tends to come with being part of such a religion is what causes many Xtians to dismiss others as "false."

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Depending on which Christian sect you talk about it becomes even more convoluted. For example Catholics can invoke different saints in order to pray for them. The argument is that they are not praying to the saint but are asking the saint to put in a good word for them to god as their word may mean more to god than their own. However in much the same way the pagan beliefs that invoke different gods and goddesses work under the exact same way as they can invoke gods or goddesses to help them with magic as the gods or goddesses would have more sway than they would themselves.

There is also no difference between imagery and idols. One could assume that the sacrament of the bread and the wine and its belief that it is literally the blood and flesh of Christ would be an idol of some kind.

I had gotten into a heated debate with a humanities professor once. He was incredibly biased towards the Christian religion and went so far as to even mock the other religions while fiercly defending Christianity and its roots. He even stated that what was in the textbook was "wrong" and gave different answers in his tests. Anyway this was just to give you an image of the teacher. He was a good teacher other than his incredible bias towards religion. Either way we had gotten into a heated debate on just this subject. There is no functional difference between prayer and magic. There is no functional difference between Christian symbolism and imagery than pagan idols. And as another off note there was scoffing at the idea that many gods were one god but different faces. I pointed out to him that Christians claim that there are the persons in one god (the son the father the holy ghost) and that it wouldn't be a true monotheistic religion if the claim of pagan religions were simply logically inconsistent as well.

The basis of all of these claims comes from over a thousand years of undermining other religions and toting christianity as perfect.

 

[Gerald Kelleher]

Images of our deities are reminders of who they are to us. We don't need images either, but they are helpful, just like your cross is.

The Chi-Rho symbol is by far the most important symbol of Christianity but it takes a bit of work to know how and why it is that way. Of course it would mean nothing to those who lack the spirit to see the relevance of Christ in his own life and times along with his presence in our times.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Chi_Rho.svg

 

[rusra02]

When most Christians see or hear about me having statues of my God and Goddesses, they start preaching about the golden calf and that I am dumb to worship statues. I explain that I do not worship the statues and that the statues represent the Deities that I do worship. They act like this makes no sense to them. At the same time, these same Christians will kneel and pray in front of a crucifix. To them a crucifix can represent Jesus without them actually worshiping the crucifix, but if a statue or figure is representative of my Gods and/or Goddesses they don't see how this same "symbolism" they they use holds true. Can you please explain why you think this way?

I agree that the worship rendered to the cross is idolatry. I believe true Christians do not worship anyone or anything except the one true God, Jehovah. (Psalm 115:2-8)

 

[sojourner]

There is also no difference between imagery and idols.

Yes there is. Idols have divine power in and of themselves. The idol is the god. In imagery, there is no power in and of itself. The image isn't the god.

 

[sojourner]

I agree that the worship rendered to the cross is idolatry. I believe true Christians do not worship anyone or anything except the one true God, Jehovah. (Psalm 115:2-8)

No one worships the cross.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Yes there is. Idols have divine power in and of themselves. The idol is the god. In imagery, there is no power in and of itself. The image isn't the god.

In pagan beliefs the "idol" isn't usually a god and I can't think of any religion's in which they actually believe that the item crafted by human hands is a god. Even ancient Greece and Rome that had massive statues never believed that those statues where the gods.

So unless this portion of Christianity is simply not applicable to almost every religion in the world....

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Yes there is. Idols have divine power in and of themselves. The idol is the god. In imagery, there is no power in and of itself. The image isn't the god.

How is an idol a God? That caught me. You can make it a God. Most people I know dont make items a god unless they have some magical power (the item) that makes them am idol. So bowing down to them, even if they are praying to God, magically they are praying to the idol?

 

[Marisa]

When most Christians see or hear about me having statues of my God and Goddesses, they start preaching about the golden calf and that I am dumb to worship statues. I explain that I do not worship the statues and that the statues represent the Deities that I do worship. They act like this makes no sense to them. At the same time, these same Christians will kneel and pray in front of a crucifix. To them a crucifix can represent Jesus without them actually worshiping the crucifix, but if a statue or figure is representative of my Gods and/or Goddesses they don't see how this same "symbolism" they they use holds true. Can you please explain why you think this way?

I'm not a christian, but as a religious outsider observing in, often we are not as good at applying the criticisms we use against another person's belief to our own. Nobody wants to think they are or could be wrong, but if someone who believes differently is right, the possibility that we might be wrong opens up.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

When most Christians see or hear about me having statues of my God and Goddesses, they start preaching about the golden calf and that I am dumb to worship statues. I explain that I do not worship the statues and that the statues represent the Deities that I do worship. They act like this makes no sense to them. At the same time, these same Christians will kneel and pray in front of a crucifix. To them a crucifix can represent Jesus without them actually worshiping the crucifix, but if a statue or figure is representative of my Gods and/or Goddesses they don't see how this same "symbolism" they they use holds true. Can you please explain why you think this way?

They may think that you are worshiping the statue just because you identify as pagan. As if pagan means you bow down and worship inanimate objects. According to how you practice, Id say both of you do the same thing. They wouldnt call it symbolism. The crucifix (not the wood on the wall) means a lot so associating the image with a symbol is wrong. In baptist churches, they have holy water. They may not see it as such but their beliefs doesnt cover up howbimportant baptism is to the baptist denomination. As such, the water people are baptised in isnt just water.

Some people just dont get the connecton between faiths.

From a christian perspective, anything outside worship to Christ (or JW Christz Father) is wrong. So, its not so much the simalarities and differences, but what makes one right and one wrong is the origin of who is worshiped and what andbhow the object is used (grape and bread, wine and bread, water for baptism, and so forth on the pagan belief side)

 

[sojourner]

Even ancient Greece and Rome that had massive statues never believed that those statues where the gods

Then those images weren't idols.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Then those images weren't idols.

By this definition there were no idols in any major religion of the ancient world. Its a commandment against something that didn't really exist on a meaningful level.

 

[sojourner]

How is an idol a God? That caught me. You can make it a God. Most people I know dont make items a god unless they have some magical power (the item) that makes them am idol. So bowing down to them, even if they are praying to God, magically they are praying to the idol?

Get out of your 21st century, first-world head and into the head of an ancient. Bowing down to something doesn't make the thing an idol. Worshiping the thing as a god makes it an idol. People worshiped trees and mountains -- why not fashioned objects?

 

[sojourner]

By this definition there were no idols in any major religion of the ancient world. Its a commandment against something that didn't really exist on a meaningful level.

Wait... what?! People worshiped objects as gods all the time in the ancient world.

 

[Muffled]

When most Christians see or hear about me having statues of my God and Goddesses, they start preaching about the golden calf and that I am dumb to worship statues. I explain that I do not worship the statues and that the statues represent the Deities that I do worship. They act like this makes no sense to them. At the same time, these same Christians will kneel and pray in front of a crucifix. To them a crucifix can represent Jesus without them actually worshiping the crucifix, but if a statue or figure is representative of my Gods and/or Goddesses they don't see how this same "symbolism" they they use holds true. Can you please explain why you think this way?

I believe it is most likely that they don't believe your gods and goddesses exist and therefore aren't worth any more than the physical image.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Wait... what?! People worshiped objects as gods all the time in the ancient world.

such as when? Most often the ancient world had objects that represented gods. Not objects that were gods.