sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
The statues of Mary and Jesus aren't "prayed to." The statues have no power in and of themselves. They are merely "windows." An idol, OTOH, has divine power in and of itself, and it is prayed to.
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Why are idols bad?
- Thread starter DeviChaaya
- Start date
In places where there is Catholic/Hindu overlap (Reunion Island, some parts of India, Seychelles, Fiji, etc., the external part often looks the same. There is a small shrine on some street corner, you watch someone approach it, they stop, put hands together and pray, facing the idol/murthy/statue. Even the outward appearance of the shrine is the same. The ONLY way you can tell which faith it belongs to is to look inside. It might be Ganesha, or it might be Mary, but the only way to tell is to look inside.
dgirl1986
Big Queer Chesticles!
When you use a telephone, you are speaking to a person at the other end, not to the telephone. When praying at an image, icon, idol, murthi, you are not praying or speaking to that image, but to the deity it represents through the image. The image is a conduit. Sri Krishna says: "The obstacles facing those devoted to the Impersonal Absolute are far greater; for the way of any unclear ideal is difficult for an embodied being to understand or follow." Bhagavad Gita 12.5
What this means is that with our limited (human) capabilities, it is difficult to connect with God who does not have a form native to this world. We need to use our senses, because we are sense-beings. Our minds are not developed to understand what we cannot see, touch, feel, hear.
The same verse with commentaries: Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 12, Verse 5
Oops, I already commented on this http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/2908110-post151.html
I have always thought of it as a tool, a way to direct energy and thoughts, communication even. You kinda feel stupid talking to yourself
dgirl1986
Big Queer Chesticles!
I worded it badly, I should have said prayed before or something like that.
Exactly. :yes:
dgirl1986
Big Queer Chesticles!
I learnt that from paganism lol.
I different versions of the bible you see the do not worship any idols to do not worship any gods. I personally do not worship gods so no probs lol.
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Praying before something is vastly different than praying to something.
dgirl1986
Big Queer Chesticles!
Praying before something is vastly different than praying to something.
Sometimes I am thinking one thing and I end up typing something completely different. its not until later I realize
For example, the other day I typed saturday instead of thursday lol.
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sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Was that Tuesday or Wednesday when you did that?Sometimes I am thinking one thing and I end up typing something completely different. its not until later I realize
For example, the other day I typed saturday instead of thursday lol.
dgirl1986
Big Queer Chesticles!
it was either sunday or monday.
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Perhaps it was the day after yesterday...
dgirl1986
Big Queer Chesticles!
Today? lol
In christianity, idols are considered bad because they take away from the attention their god demands.
In reality, christianity condemns idols because it takes away from the money and control that it demands from its followers.
There's a reason why, within christianity, eating from the tree of knowledge of good & evil is considered wrong.
no-body
Well-Known Member
I think it is a matter of interpretation. By idols they mean the false idols of the mind that the ego forms with thoughts. If all you see is the word "tree" and all the information you have about trees in your head when you see a tree you are not really seeing the tree. The same with God.
Wannabe Yogi
Well-Known Member
Aldous Huxley on patriotism and idolatry.
To give to an isolated part of the universe that reverence which properly belongs only to the Whole (or in the words of religion to God) is idolatry; and idolatry is not only philosophically absurd, it is also disastrous in practice. The worship of a part as though it were the Whole provokes strife with the worshippers of other isolated parts. Each system of idolatry encourages its adherents to hate the adherents of all other systems. In the case of patriotism we see that an idolatrous love of one’s country is always accompanied by dislike and contempt of other people’s countries. Where the nation is regarded as being in some sort a God, men feel that they have an excuse for indulging in pride and vanity in regard to themselves and their own people, and scorn and dislike in regard to the members of other nations.
To give to an isolated part of the universe that reverence which properly belongs only to the Whole (or in the words of religion to God) is idolatry; and idolatry is not only philosophically absurd, it is also disastrous in practice. The worship of a part as though it were the Whole provokes strife with the worshippers of other isolated parts. Each system of idolatry encourages its adherents to hate the adherents of all other systems. In the case of patriotism we see that an idolatrous love of one’s country is always accompanied by dislike and contempt of other people’s countries. Where the nation is regarded as being in some sort a God, men feel that they have an excuse for indulging in pride and vanity in regard to themselves and their own people, and scorn and dislike in regard to the members of other nations.
Ingledsva
HEATHEN ALASKAN
They aren't bad. That is just the opinion of the religions of Abraham. Their reason for that law was because they originally had idols just as all the religions around them had - a new covenant was made for ONE GOD - and they enforced this by not allowing the old idols and symbols, or the idols and symbols of other religions - on pain of death. They murdered their own to enforce the new God and religion.