Why do people worship images/objects?

[Azakel]

do you think you represent your deity?

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Yes. If Deity is the right word ^_^

 

[fatima_bintu_islam]

Responding the OP:

Arabs used to have a statue that they worship before the prophet sallahu 'alayhiw assalam , so one time a fox came and urined on it. And from there derived a proverb saying that whoever is urined on by a fox cant be called a God.

Umar IBn al Khattab the second khalifah of the prophet sallahu 'alayhi wassalam before he reverted, had a little statue that he worshiped. His kids once took it while he was sleeping and throwed it in a trash, the second day he went searching it and found it, he was very angry and thought his god will take his revenge. His children did the same thing for 2 or 3 nights, until he said that if his god cannot even protefct himself than how can it protect his servant. So he went to the prophet sallahu 'alayhi wassalam and announced his reverting.

And thats not related to the topic but the rest of the story is cute : Before the reverting of Umar may Allah azza wajjal be pleased with him, Islam was still practiced secretly in Quraysh, but when he reverted he couldnt stand it ( he was a very strong man , physically and morally) , so he went to one Quray****e who was known for his incapability of keeping a secret , and he told him: " Look, I have a secret for you, but do never tell anyone " and he told him, so before Umar had finished his speech, the man had already disappeared , and all Quraysh knew Umar reverted, and then the practicing of Islam started being in public and thats when the torture from leaders started and I guess you know the rest of the story from here..

Best regards

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Yes Fatima cute story. Gotta love the ignorance of Muslims toward Pagans and our beliefs

 

[fatima_bintu_islam]

It seems you disliked my story , its a fact not something I brought from my mind, so go back to them and tell them they were wrong

 

[.lava]

Yes. If Deity is the right word ^_^

hmm ..OK so, if statue and the person who owns it both represent the same deity, what's the difference between two? (by two i mean, person and statue)

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[Willamena]

hmm ..OK so, if statue and the person who owns it both represent the same deity, what's the difference between two? (by two i mean, person and statue)

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*snap*

 

[Alien]

::uncloaks spaceship:: So basically we're not worshipping the object, but using it to experience God vicariously. It helps to maintain focus on what we're praying to/for. A middleman in disguise, how coy. What about the people that find significance in objects though? For example; what about the lady who finds a potato chip that looks like Jesus, and everyone comes to pray/worship it because it is said to be a miracle of some sort? Now she believes Jesus has come to her in the form of a potato chip and this is gods work. Can someone explain this?

 

[Rainbow Mage]

hmm ..OK so, if statue and the person who owns it both represent the same deity, what's the difference between two? (by two i mean, person and statue)

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Well the person is not made out of stone or wood, and to my knowledge neither is the deity the statue represents.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

::uncloaks spaceship:: So basically we're not worshipping the object, but using it to experience God vicariously. It helps to maintain focus on what we're praying to/for. A middleman in disguise, how coy. What about the people that find significance in objects though? For example; what about the lady who finds a potato chip that looks like Jesus, and everyone comes to pray/worship it because it is said to be a miracle of some sort? Now she believes Jesus has come to her in the form of a potato chip and this is gods work. Can someone explain this?

Some people do that, but it's not my thing. Catholics do use icons and images though in a way similar to Pagans.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

::uncloaks spaceship:: So basically we're not worshipping the object, but using it to experience God vicariously. It helps to maintain focus on what we're praying to/for. A middleman in disguise, how coy. What about the people that find significance in objects though? For example; what about the lady who finds a potato chip that looks like Jesus, and everyone comes to pray/worship it because it is said to be a miracle of some sort? Now she believes Jesus has come to her in the form of a potato chip and this is gods work. Can someone explain this?

Yes. Many people are nutjobs.

 

[Breathe]

<<snip>>

What a way to misunderstand the usage of icons and to attempt to pass it off as wisdom, even after what I wrote explaining that we do not see the statues as moving entities to address such a juvenile misunderstanding.

 

[fatima_bintu_islam]

Neither did they , Arabs thought that the statues were means to be closer to ALlah:Quran (39:3)

3. Surely, the religion (i.e. the worship and the obedience) is for All&#65533;h only. And those who take Auliy&#65533;' (protectors and helpers) besides Him (say): "We worship them only that they may bring us near to All&#65533;h." Verily, All&#65533;h will judge between them concerning that wherein they differ. Truly, All&#65533;h guides not him who is a liar, and a disbeliever.

And btw, what are you talking about? What icons ? and what do you mean by passing it as a wisdom? I dont get a word from it

Best regards

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Fatima, but the Quran also says the gods of the Pagans are Jinn. And that the Polytheists of ancient times worshipped Jinn in preference to Allah. So really all it means is that Muslims left the gods of their forefathers for the god of Abraham, but how do you know the gods they left behind, the Jinn, aren't as powerful or more powerful then Allah?

 

[fatima_bintu_islam]

, because Im Muslim

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Oh and being Muslim automatically enables you to know that, eh?

 

[no-body]

It's just a tool to assist with concentration, not actually praying/worshiping the statue itself not sure whats hard to understand. It's like saying that Muslims are praying to the carpets they kneel on and are worshiping the air or the ideas in their mind. Or that Catholics are praying to their hands.

 

[Azakel]

hmm ..OK so, if statue and the person who owns it both represent the same deity, what's the difference between two? (by two i mean, person and statue)

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The only difference is what the person see in it. I don't see one, though I was just explaining how most Pagans and other who use Statues within Worship see it ^_^

 

[Azakel]

*snap*

Yes indeed.

 

[Azakel]

Well the person is not made out of stone or wood, and to my knowledge neither is the deity the statue represents.

But it is all Matter.

 

[zenzero]

Friend Alien,

Why do people worship images/objects?

Praying is nothing but communication and images are just symbolic that everything is part of the same stuff/energy including the *self*.

Communication to each time remind that mind that *you* are not a separate entity but part of the same stuff, so that the mind *stills*.

Love & rgds