Are pictures graven images how to#

You shall not worship them or serve them for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.' (Exodus 20:4-6, NASB) 'You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

Are pictures graven images how to#

All the other commandments instruct us how to obey the First Commandment.Īnd this is the context of the Second Commandment. The First Commandment is an express statement, 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' We know from a preponderance of Scripture that God means that we should not esteem the starry heavens as gods, nor the storms of nature, nor a king, nor our family, nor our imaginations and myths, nor even pursue our own sinful pleasures as if they had godlike importance.

Still, we must faithfully explore the Word and honestly interpret it to come to as correct a knowledge of the commandment as God intended for us to have when He wrote it with His own finger onto the stone tablet. For this reason, the conclusion that any believer ultimately draws should not become a cause of scorn, ridicule, or condemnation from others. May believers photograph their children and hang those pictures on the wall without violating the second of the Ten Commandments? May they videotape a wedding of a family member for viewing years later? May a believer attend an Easter play in which Jesus is portrayed by an actor?Īll these questions grow out of a concern and a sincere desire to be properly obedient to the Second Commandment. 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' (Exodus 20:4 KJV) 'You shall not make for yourself an idol (a carved/engraved image that is worshipped as a god), or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.' (Exodus 20:4, NASB) (Make No Graven Images, or, Make No Idols?)Ĭopyright © 2004 - All rights retained by author Second Commandment Issues-Art, Plays, and Movies of Jesus Except two.Ĭheck out Paula’s photograph ( Perseids) on the home page.Article: Second Commandment Issues-Art, Plays, and Movies of Jesus - The Faithful Now is the time to repent and make amends. This is no time to revere icons of genocide, treason and White supremacy. You don’t have to destroy everything just because you’re hungry.īeware what you idolize. ( God save me from your people!)Įven our hungry, prowling bear cub was discriminating. I’m all for righteous causes, but I find self-righteous people unbearable. These days moral absolutism drives a lot of people. It was the values they represented and enshrined. It wasn’t the statues themselves that were odious. Sixteenth-century Protestants demolished thousands of Catholic icons and statues in the name of righteousness. Moses might have been the first iconoclast, but he wasn’t the last. Our Bible Belt compatriots revere the Second Amendment. The adultery clause-punishable by stoning to death-would eliminate many judges, lawmakers, and at least one president. The prohibition against killing would eliminate war and capital punishment. Sabbath observance alone would eliminate Sunday football and NASCAR. (When my evangelical friends tell me that the Bible is the Word of God, I have to ask them: Really? Have you ever read it?)Īnyway, all these pious people who want to post the Ten Commandments in courthouses and public places had better read the blessed list first. Which makes you wonder what our compatriots in the Bible Belt were thinking when they installed hundreds of graven images. Moses hadn’t been gone but a few days when his people blatantly violated the Second Commandment. I hadn’t given statues much thought, but when I did I couldn’t help thinking of the Golden Calf and Moses’ rampage against it. Francis standing despite toppling two trashcans on one side of the statue and tearing down two bird feeders on the other side.

So far no one has attempted to topple it.Įven the bear cub-during its midnight rampage a few weeks ago-left St.