Quote:
Originally Posted by Emproph
They are unrepentant idolaters, blind to their own sin. Sound familiar? Even if we were what they claim we are, we don’t hold an unrepentant candle to them. Heartening news I know ...
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Thom says: ☛ I have learned a definition for Idolatry that might apply here. Idolatry is not the worship of false images. There is no such thing as a false image. Images are artistic representations, and like myth are conveyers of truth.
Idolatry is the false worship of images. Interesting twist, that.
As I said, an image is an artistic representation. Like saying a one dollar bill represents one dollar in gold or credit. It doesn't really, it represents (at minimum wage) about ten minutes of work. By focusing on the dollar we miss the effort that went into earning it.
I expect that we intended many of the earliest versions of divine icons as artistic representations of the divine relationship with the artist or society, and the god or daimon that image represented. Subsequent generations failed to see that, and so simply never got past the statue to the god it represents.
I read John Bunion’s
Pilgrim’s Progress some years back. I came away with a lot. One point I came a way with is, Pilgrim did indeed get to the Cross, then he went beyond it. I expect a lot of Christians get to the Cross, and stop. When Christ got beyond, he died and awakened from death. Like Woden, he sacrificed his self to his
Self, and there-by gained the world.
Yes, I ramble sometimes, and accidently say something interesting. There it is.