Why do people worship images/objects?

[Onkara]

Yes, I guess that what Odion was trying to explain, therefore you may read in Quran (23):
When they were asked who is the Lord of universe they would say Allah, and when they are in great distress they do not turn to no one but Allah, but when they are in ease they worship partners with Him, and thats why Allah azza wajjal blame them for that. I.e they believe Allah is the all powerful, yet they worship partners with Him that do not bring neither harm nor benefit to them

So how does one focus prayer and remember Allah if Allah is invisible?
Is Allah equal to God of other Religions?

 

[fatima_bintu_islam]

Yes its equal . In Islam there are stages, there Islam , eeman and then Ihsane.

Ihsane , is to worship Allah as if you were seeing Him , and if you're not seeing Him then He is eeing you , thats what the hadeeth says.

Because, thats how Christianity and Judaism were modified by their followers , the first followers used to have icons as a reminder of the pious people or prophets, than their children came and started giving them more importance than their ancestors and then later, the next generation saw the ancestors magnifying those statues so they thought it can harm or benefit and they started worshipping it.

 

[Onkara]

Ihsane , is to worship Allah as if you were seeing Him ,

That's interesting Fatima,
so how do we see Him, is it that we see Him in all of His creation i.e. in all being and objects of His universe, i.e. as omnipresent?

 

[fatima_bintu_islam]

We see Him by our hearts, because we know He see us, so we are careful about our deeds wether we are in public or private. It help us stay clean in both situations.

We see His greatness, in mountains, oceans, universe.

We see His mercy, when we do huge horribles sins and He accept our repentance.
( In a hadeeth, there was a man who killed 99 persons, he went to an Imam and asked him, do I have any chance to repent? the imam answered; noo , so the killer killed him and completed 100, then he continued his travel, and found another Imam and asked him the same question , so the Imam answered : Yes, and who can stand between you and repentance ? But go to such and such village , you'll find good company who will help you staying good. So the man did that, and became one of the pious persons )

And so on ..

Allah aza wajjal is omnipresent by His knowledge i.e He knows everything

 

[Alien]

I asked...

::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?

You said...

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

hmm. When I first posed this question your initial response was

Alien you don't understand veneration of images, or you would never have posted this thread. No one worships statues. The statue is a tool used in worship to convey veneration to the higher spiritual reality that exists, depicted by the statue. So for the last time, NOBODY worships statues.

Not sure where you stand, because the caps in NOBODY had me really thinking you were putting your foot down....until you raised it and crossed over to other side where contradiction lies.

 

[zenzero]

Friend FBI,

We see Him by our hearts,

Am sure when you see even with your heart, there must me an image of him.
If you see?? what does it look like??

Love & rgds

 

[dogsgod]

Alien you don't understand veneration of images, or you would never have posted this thread. No one worships statues. The statue is a tool used in worship to convey veneration to the higher spiritual reality that exists, depicted by the statue. So for the last time, NOBODY worships statues.

I do.

 

[EverChanging]

While images and icons are symbols we use to convey worship to the divine, in some traditions, it is believed that the presence of the god or sacred is in the actual image. For instance, in Eastern Orthodoxy, the presence of Christ is truly in his icon.

 

[Alien]

While images and icons are symbols we use to convey worship to the divine, in some traditions, it is believed that the presence of the god or sacred is in the actual image. For instance, in Eastern Orthodoxy, the presence of Christ is truly in his icon.

If we apply these Eastern Orthodox views you mention to an example I'm about to give, can you offer some insight on how this would be rational.

Example: I work at an art store and I'm a very good artist of Muslim descent. One of my job responsibilities is to craft art and draw images of Jesus as this is a religious art store. Would the presence of Jesus somehow transcend into the images I'm producing even though I don't hold that belief of Jesus?...From an "Eastern Orthodox" view how would we look at this situation?

(I work at the store because I need the money lets avoid the questions that don't matter.)