Post by cec1964 on Dec 9, 2009 3:16:34 GMT -5
Look at the Second Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself any graven image…You shall not bow down yourself 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 generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:4–6).
Idolatry is perhaps the greatest of all sins because it opens the door to unrestrained evil. It gives sinners license not only to tolerate sin, but to sanction it, fanned by demonic influence. If you make a god in your image, one you feel comfortable with, you can then create your own moral standards to go along with him...or her.
For example, feminists bristle at the Bible’s statement that God made man in His image. This doesn’t mean that God is a man, or that He looks like man (John 4:24). It means that when God made man and woman, He endowed them with a mind, emotions, and a will. Humans are rational, moral beings with an inherent God-consciousness. However, in revealing Himself to mankind, God describes Himself in the male gender using terms such as Father, Son, Bridegroom, etc. Those who consider God to be female and call Him “Mother” are engaging in idolatry. To change who God has revealed Himself to be is to create a god in their own image.
I remember around the same time the Episcopalians were being torn apart over the election of an openly homosexual bishop, Gene Robinson, the Presbyterians in 2003 had assembled in Birmingham, Alabama to decide what alternative nonsexist terms they could come up with to replace the Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. “Mother, Child and Womb” was one suggestion, as was “Rock, Redeemer, and Friend.” Ten years earlier, the Presbyterian Church (USA) held a conference, cosponsored by the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and other mainline churches, where they “re-imagined” God as “Our Maker Sophia” and substituted milk and honey for the traditional bread and wine Communion.
Some like to make a god that believes in homosexuality. It is obvious that the Bishop of Los Angeles, J. Jon Bruno has violated the Second Commandment by creating a god to go along with his personal gay beliefs. I guess this is why The Episcopal Church will have its first lesbian Bishop in Canon Glasspool. Others prefer to create a god that believes in a woman’s right to kill her children in the womb.
The following letter to the editor, printed in Time magazine, epitomizes idolatry (the oldest sin in the Book):
Excellent topic! I truly enjoyed reading “Does Heaven Exist?” I am a devout Christian, and I don’t give much thought to heaven. My spirituality isn’t based on an anthropomorphic, kick-butt God who will throw four generations of children into eternal damnation because some distant forefather ticked him off [see Proverbs 28:5]. Heaven is the flip side of the absolutely barbaric notion of hell that evolved under that kick-butt mindset...To me, God is a symbol for something unfathomable, an utter mystery that fills my heart with joy and my spirit with song.
Notice the use of the words “To me...” That is the key. To be an idolater, you make a god to suit yourself, one devoid of reference to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Make sure he or she likes the things you like and hates the things you hate. If you like lust, so will your god. If your god doesn’t mind lying and stealing, then you can lie, steal, and lust to your heart’s content. Your god will fill your heart with joy and your spirit with song ...right up until Judgment Day.
Take the time to study 1 Corinthians 10:1–14 and see how idolatry leads to sexual sin. So do yourself a big favor: destroy your idols. An idol doesn’t have to be something tangible; anything that takes the place of God in our life serves as an idol, whether it be our job, a person, possessions, etc. Cultivate an understanding of what God is like, as revealed in Scripture. That will put the fear of God in you and cause you to keep your heart free from sin, and at the same time you will have strong motivation to do what He says regarding the Great Commission.
Bear in mind, when you speak with Roman Catholics, that this Commandment doesn’t exist in their catechism. When you mention the Second Commandment, don’t be surprised if they think it is “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” It’s therefore understandable why many sincere Roman Catholics bow down to statues, even though the Bible makes it clear that this is a great sin in God’s eyes. Worshiping images or paying divine honor to any created object (including people) is a violation of this Commandment. Unbelievably, those who formulated the official Roman Catholic catechism took the liberty of deleting the Second of the Ten Commandments, and then splitting the Tenth into two, thus keeping the total at ten.
Below is the Catholic version of the Ten Commandments:
1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3. Remember to keep the Sabbath Day.
4. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
Here is their justification for removing the Second Commandment (from “The Commandments of God,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV (www.newadvent.org/cathen/04153a.htm):
. . . the Tenth embraces both the Ninth and Tenth of the Catholic division. It seems, however, as logical to separate at the end as to group at the beginning, for while one single object is aimed at under worship, two specifically different sins are forbidden under covetousness; if adultery and theft belong to two distinct species of moral wrong, the same must be said of the desire to commit these evils.
Yet, notice the explicit wording of the Second Commandment (the deleted one): “You shall not make for yourself 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. You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20:4,5).
First Corinthians 10:19,20 warns us that things offered to idols are actually offered to demons, rather than to God, and we are not to have fellowship with demons.
Idolatry is perhaps the greatest of all sins because it opens the door to unrestrained evil. It gives sinners license not only to tolerate sin, but to sanction it, fanned by demonic influence. If you make a god in your image, one you feel comfortable with, you can then create your own moral standards to go along with him...or her.
For example, feminists bristle at the Bible’s statement that God made man in His image. This doesn’t mean that God is a man, or that He looks like man (John 4:24). It means that when God made man and woman, He endowed them with a mind, emotions, and a will. Humans are rational, moral beings with an inherent God-consciousness. However, in revealing Himself to mankind, God describes Himself in the male gender using terms such as Father, Son, Bridegroom, etc. Those who consider God to be female and call Him “Mother” are engaging in idolatry. To change who God has revealed Himself to be is to create a god in their own image.
I remember around the same time the Episcopalians were being torn apart over the election of an openly homosexual bishop, Gene Robinson, the Presbyterians in 2003 had assembled in Birmingham, Alabama to decide what alternative nonsexist terms they could come up with to replace the Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. “Mother, Child and Womb” was one suggestion, as was “Rock, Redeemer, and Friend.” Ten years earlier, the Presbyterian Church (USA) held a conference, cosponsored by the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and other mainline churches, where they “re-imagined” God as “Our Maker Sophia” and substituted milk and honey for the traditional bread and wine Communion.
Some like to make a god that believes in homosexuality. It is obvious that the Bishop of Los Angeles, J. Jon Bruno has violated the Second Commandment by creating a god to go along with his personal gay beliefs. I guess this is why The Episcopal Church will have its first lesbian Bishop in Canon Glasspool. Others prefer to create a god that believes in a woman’s right to kill her children in the womb.
The following letter to the editor, printed in Time magazine, epitomizes idolatry (the oldest sin in the Book):
Excellent topic! I truly enjoyed reading “Does Heaven Exist?” I am a devout Christian, and I don’t give much thought to heaven. My spirituality isn’t based on an anthropomorphic, kick-butt God who will throw four generations of children into eternal damnation because some distant forefather ticked him off [see Proverbs 28:5]. Heaven is the flip side of the absolutely barbaric notion of hell that evolved under that kick-butt mindset...To me, God is a symbol for something unfathomable, an utter mystery that fills my heart with joy and my spirit with song.
Notice the use of the words “To me...” That is the key. To be an idolater, you make a god to suit yourself, one devoid of reference to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Make sure he or she likes the things you like and hates the things you hate. If you like lust, so will your god. If your god doesn’t mind lying and stealing, then you can lie, steal, and lust to your heart’s content. Your god will fill your heart with joy and your spirit with song ...right up until Judgment Day.
Take the time to study 1 Corinthians 10:1–14 and see how idolatry leads to sexual sin. So do yourself a big favor: destroy your idols. An idol doesn’t have to be something tangible; anything that takes the place of God in our life serves as an idol, whether it be our job, a person, possessions, etc. Cultivate an understanding of what God is like, as revealed in Scripture. That will put the fear of God in you and cause you to keep your heart free from sin, and at the same time you will have strong motivation to do what He says regarding the Great Commission.
Bear in mind, when you speak with Roman Catholics, that this Commandment doesn’t exist in their catechism. When you mention the Second Commandment, don’t be surprised if they think it is “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” It’s therefore understandable why many sincere Roman Catholics bow down to statues, even though the Bible makes it clear that this is a great sin in God’s eyes. Worshiping images or paying divine honor to any created object (including people) is a violation of this Commandment. Unbelievably, those who formulated the official Roman Catholic catechism took the liberty of deleting the Second of the Ten Commandments, and then splitting the Tenth into two, thus keeping the total at ten.
Below is the Catholic version of the Ten Commandments:
1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3. Remember to keep the Sabbath Day.
4. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
Here is their justification for removing the Second Commandment (from “The Commandments of God,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV (www.newadvent.org/cathen/04153a.htm):
. . . the Tenth embraces both the Ninth and Tenth of the Catholic division. It seems, however, as logical to separate at the end as to group at the beginning, for while one single object is aimed at under worship, two specifically different sins are forbidden under covetousness; if adultery and theft belong to two distinct species of moral wrong, the same must be said of the desire to commit these evils.
Yet, notice the explicit wording of the Second Commandment (the deleted one): “You shall not make for yourself 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. You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20:4,5).
First Corinthians 10:19,20 warns us that things offered to idols are actually offered to demons, rather than to God, and we are not to have fellowship with demons.
