Exodus 20:4-6 NKJV:
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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 upon 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."
Clearly, the 2nd commandment forbids making carved images of anything for the purpose of worship.
However, we do have various types of images of Jesus as we understand and assume that He appeared when He was a Man on earth.
And of course, those who lived during Jesus' time saw what He looked like in human form.
There are some, though, who say that having any image of Jesus is tantamount to idolatry and therefore also a violation of the 2nd commandment.
Personally, I don't feel that it's automatically idolatry (although one can make an image of Jesus into an idol). I say that because some people actually did see what Jesus looked like. Also because I believe that the prohibition against carved images was because God knew that man would try to make an image to represent Him or some other god. And one of the times that did happen was the golden calf incident.
My question is: why do some say that it's idolatry to have images of Jesus today?
Thanks!
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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 upon 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."
Clearly, the 2nd commandment forbids making carved images of anything for the purpose of worship.
However, we do have various types of images of Jesus as we understand and assume that He appeared when He was a Man on earth.
And of course, those who lived during Jesus' time saw what He looked like in human form.
There are some, though, who say that having any image of Jesus is tantamount to idolatry and therefore also a violation of the 2nd commandment.
Personally, I don't feel that it's automatically idolatry (although one can make an image of Jesus into an idol). I say that because some people actually did see what Jesus looked like. Also because I believe that the prohibition against carved images was because God knew that man would try to make an image to represent Him or some other god. And one of the times that did happen was the golden calf incident.
My question is: why do some say that it's idolatry to have images of Jesus today?
Thanks!