But they often do not know better than to think, for example, that the advancement of their political ideology is the reason-of-being of their life…nay, of human history itself. Or that pursuit of a particular source of pleasure or power or wealth displaces all other pursuits to the detriment of even the essentials of human dignity. Or that the symbols of their values not only should be respected, but should be reverenced and privileged even by those who do not share those values. That is modern idolatry.
Can I get an Amen! And btw, you’re city is my new favorite idol. I absolutely adore it!
That is your opinion and you are entitled to it, however if God is ‘everpresent’ then he is in the object being worshiped. God is said to have made the imperfect people who for lack of knowledge of such a God, worship a person ,place, or thing. There fore He is at fault, If being worshipped is so important to Him then it is sad indeed.
Monavis
To add to my other reply: It is what you believe of God’s, nature, not what the nature of God is.There is no human alive who can truly know the nature of God (except by Faith) which can be false, and ther are many people who have a different belief as to the nature of their God.
Monavis
If I recall aright, God explains that the reason for making the altar out of dirt or uncut stone is that the altar would be contaminated by the use of tools.
Well I suppose one can anthropomorphize God any way that they want.
And thanks for being so magnanimous about me holding my own opinon. 
mswas:
Incorrect. The reason for not using hewn stone in an altar is because iron represents implements of bloodshed, and the altar is intended to be an instrument of extending human life, not ending it. So allowing a “sword” to be used in the creation of the altar would corrupt it. The verse is very expicit regarding the “sword” connection. Although (in composing this post) I have discovered that most Christian translations use the word “tool” in that verse, the Hebrew original says “charbecha,” which means “your sword”. (Translation of Exodus 20:22 from The Living Torah: When you eventually build a stone altar for me, do not build it out of hewn stone. Your sword will have been lifted against it, you will have profaned it.")
Interesting.
Because it makes no sense. It’s simply completely wrong. Face it, they just wanted a luck number and padded the list.
Cite for either assertion?
Because worshipping any image, man, beast or historical figure (in my experience) ends up in bad news for everyone. The wrong person gets a hold of interpreting any one of them, and surrounding organizations (+ people) get completely screwed. I’ve seen a few people hang onto stuff like that until their dying day – facilitating their ultimate insanity.
IMHO, Moses was smart enough to realize that the only way to make a religion unkillable is to detach it from worshipping anything or anyone transient or attached to the solid universe.
From my understanding, you’re half-right. It’s not against defining God… In fact it’s encouraged, individually – never taking the previous definition as “gospel” :). Of course, I was hanging around a bunch of Reforms at the time, so I’m sure Orthodox is very different.
Having grown up Catholic, I was indeed encouraged to “revere” sacred objects – and when I refused, I got some death-looks.
They way that it was explained to me, at the time was this… If a represents a mystical part of b, and b = c, and (at the same time) c is equiv to d, then a is at the same level as d, but not d.
Thus, many pray AT the statues of Jesus, Mary, etc… and if the statue “has been Blessed” so it has a connection to Jesus for you to talk to him – and the Jesus is equivalent to God, and so, praying to the statue is like praying to Jesus’s extension cord w/ ear attached. I know I was just a kid, but that’s how far the Religion teacher had to go to convince me I wasn’t going to hell for praying in front of a statue of Jesus.
That teacher(according to the many Catholics I know) was wrong. The Catholics tell me that praying before a statue(Not to it) just is an aid on keeping their mind on God. It was not because the Statue was blessed and not all statues are blessed. The statue has no powers so to pray to it is foolish. They do pray to saints and ask them to pray to God for them, just as people ask other people to pray.
Monavis
Did your friends have the “Scapular” mysticism? [The little icon & bible quote you’re supposed to wear around your neck as a chiled – so that if you die with it on, you go straight to heaven] These are the types in my church, including the teacher. I was under the impression that it was mainstream 70’s Catholic stuff.
… and when I refused to go up and kiss, genuflect or worship a box that supposedly contained a relic wooden element of the “Real” Jesus-Cross, people got stressed. I am fairly sure that teacher explained it consistently within their own belief-circle.
I guess might be that things have changed since Vatical-II, these things and explanations I’ve mentioned might just be left-overs that certain families and priests just couldn’t let go.
CitizenBob I kind of see it as forcing your own sentimentality into someone else’s faith. I have experienced people having some sentimental love for objects in their faith, but I don’t mind it so much when they talk to you about the heritage of people they knew, and other relate it to a lineage of real people who passed down that tradition, and that I find to be cool, but I don’t like having sentimentality forced upon me. It’s like all the hipsters that were about 10 years before me and had some love for some pop culture thing from the 80s when I was a little kid and they told me I “HAD” to like it, because it’s so cool. When I was younger I didn’t really understand sentimentality at all and prided myself on not being sentimental.
Anywhere here’s a guy who gets it: http://krullraves.ytmnd.com/
It may be some mis-informed Catholic or one that thinks by making up something will help to convert a non Catholic but most will revere the person not the object, just as I have seen people kiss the photo of one of their loved ones.
I do know a few Catholics who in trying to convert me have made up some big stories but when I called them on it they apoligized.
Monavis
Why, thank you. I cherish and respect it quite a bit myself, though it often aggravates and vexes me greatly 