2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Wow what a good entity that is totally deserving of my worship.
Nothing says divinity better than petty human emotions like jealousy, and open threats to my unborn children and grandchildren.
That’s actually pretty much in-line with how a lot of gods were portrayed back then. Have you read any Greek mythology? The gods were assholes there, too.
My dad used to beat this fact down my throat when I was a kid. No visual depictions of God/Jesus allowed. I wasn’t allowed to watch The Passion or even Veggietales. But Prince of Egypt was okay.
Veggietales? I didn’t grow up watching it but I thought I read somewhere that the creators actively didn’t want to depict God/Jesus in that? Maybe it’s just because Veggietales is part of the “love each other” version of Christianity and that’s bad and woke.
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
So making fish statues are ok, but don’t worship a fish statue as an idol. I don’t see an issue with making a likeness to something as long as you’re not worshipping it
Apologies, I misunderstood your question. I do wonder if you’ve seen how Catholics treat such depictions. I’d say they worship it or at least use it as an idol.
No, it clearly says: “You shall not make…”, and then adds the reason at the end. It seems God doesn’t even want you making it for any reason, because you might use it to worship. Banning images eliminates the temptation.
I’m not sure that’s the interpretation that Catholics go with, and I don’t think they idolize the statues they make. Either way the qualifier, as I’m reading it, is that they make the thing to worship the thing.
One way you can think of idolatry is by analogy to the concept of map and territory. The map is not the territory, and that can be far more of a rabbit hole than it sounds at first glance. For instance, you do not experience reality directly, full stop. Your entire experience of life is actually a living map of life generated by reality’s interactions with your senses which are then filtered and interpreted by the rest of your bodily and cognitive systems.
And so it is for those who believe in and cultivate a relationship with their deities - a direct experience that will always be impossible to fully achieve, and is nevertheless expected they spend their lives chasing.
True, but also the commandments aren’t actually numbered. IIRC, there are 13 “Shalls” and “Shall nots”. So Catholics lump that section in with the first (no other gods, etc.) while the Protestants make room by joining “don’t covet wife/property”. There’s arguments to support both sides when looking at the historical context but on that specific issue I’d lean toward the Catholic interpretation making more sense considering god is telling people to make statues shortly after (Exodus 25:18). Either way it’s silly to be arguing over rules that bronze age people invented.
Literally the second commandment:
Wow what a good entity that is totally deserving of my worship.
Nothing says divinity better than petty human emotions like jealousy, and open threats to my unborn children and grandchildren.
The God of the Bible is literally a Monster.
Because the bible is not the word of “god” its just the word os Kings and Popes, very real and not divine men
That’s actually pretty much in-line with how a lot of gods were portrayed back then. Have you read any Greek mythology? The gods were assholes there, too.
Yeah, there isn’t much originality in Christianity. Besides the point, really.
How many billions of people in 2026 are Hellenistic? Like actually, earnestly, believe in Greek mythology?
What percent of politicians in the US worship Greek gods and use their teachings to inform policy?
Also jealousy is illegal according to the the Christian Constitution.
The word isn’t jealous though it is qana’ (קנא) which is more recently translated as “impassioned” and “zealous”
Basically, it means don’t be yandere.
My dad used to beat this fact down my throat when I was a kid. No visual depictions of God/Jesus allowed. I wasn’t allowed to watch The Passion or even Veggietales. But Prince of Egypt was okay.
Veggietales? I didn’t grow up watching it but I thought I read somewhere that the creators actively didn’t want to depict God/Jesus in that? Maybe it’s just because Veggietales is part of the “love each other” version of Christianity and that’s bad and woke.
IDK probably. The show was likely too woke for him.
That means it’s ok to just buy it, or you can make them and sell them. So long as you don’t make one and keep it for yourself.
also you can build them out of clay. ain’t nothing about fired images
Baby I think we got ourselves a business model! Take that, creator of the universe!
No symbols allowed or no idols allowed?
I mean any likeness of anything anywhere by the looks of it. So I guess that would include both?
So making fish statues are ok, but don’t worship a fish statue as an idol. I don’t see an issue with making a likeness to something as long as you’re not worshipping it
Apologies, I misunderstood your question. I do wonder if you’ve seen how Catholics treat such depictions. I’d say they worship it or at least use it as an idol.
“The only moral idol is my idol.”
No, it clearly says: “You shall not make…”, and then adds the reason at the end. It seems God doesn’t even want you making it for any reason, because you might use it to worship. Banning images eliminates the temptation.
We’re dealing with at least two intervening languages and generations of oral history here. Nitpicking semantics isn’t terribly useful.
I’m not sure that’s the interpretation that Catholics go with, and I don’t think they idolize the statues they make. Either way the qualifier, as I’m reading it, is that they make the thing to worship the thing.
One way you can think of idolatry is by analogy to the concept of map and territory. The map is not the territory, and that can be far more of a rabbit hole than it sounds at first glance. For instance, you do not experience reality directly, full stop. Your entire experience of life is actually a living map of life generated by reality’s interactions with your senses which are then filtered and interpreted by the rest of your bodily and cognitive systems.
And so it is for those who believe in and cultivate a relationship with their deities - a direct experience that will always be impossible to fully achieve, and is nevertheless expected they spend their lives chasing.
True, but also the commandments aren’t actually numbered. IIRC, there are 13 “Shalls” and “Shall nots”. So Catholics lump that section in with the first (no other gods, etc.) while the Protestants make room by joining “don’t covet wife/property”. There’s arguments to support both sides when looking at the historical context but on that specific issue I’d lean toward the Catholic interpretation making more sense considering god is telling people to make statues shortly after (Exodus 25:18). Either way it’s silly to be arguing over rules that bronze age people invented.
So no Cat pictures? This is not a world I want to live in.
You shall not bow down or serve them****