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Questions / Doubts

Questions?????
What does the Bible say about idols and worshiping idols? Is it ok to worship image or statues of Jesus? Is it ok to have idols or pictures etc in churches and temples? What about relics ? Is it ok to worship it? What is worship? Whether we can bow down of fell down anybodys knees and get blessings? Is it worshiping or idolatry?

Meaning
The word idolatry comes from the Greek word eidololatria parasynthetically from eidolon, "image" or "figure", and latris, "worshipper or latreuein, "to worship" from latron "payment"

Hebrew terms for idolatry include avodah (foreign worship) (in New testament usage)

zarah

Christian views of idolatry

"Idolatry" was prohibited by the Apostolic Decree.

The Christian view of idolatry may generally be divided into two general categories. The Catholic/Orthodox view and the Fundamentalist view. The Puritan Protestant groups adopted a similar view to Judaism, denouncing all forms of religious objects whether in three dimensional or two dimensional form. The problem springs from differences in interpretation of the Decalogue commonly known as the Ten Commandments.

Commandment of God
"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven 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 or 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:36).

Christian views of idolatry

It would appear that both Orthodox and Protestant views of idolatry condemn idolatry as it is practiced in non-Christian religions as worship directed to spirits other than the Creator. The Catholic missionary Saint Francis Xavier referred to Hinduism as idolatry, and Protestant Christian apologetics make similar claims about various non-Christian religions. The Roman Catholic and particularly the Orthodox Churches cite St. John of Damascus work "On the Divine Image" to defend the use of icons. He wrote in direct response to the iconoclastic controversy that began in the eighth century by the Byzantine emperor Leo III and continued by his successor Constantine V. St. John maintains that depicting the invisible God is indeed wrong, but he argues that the incarnation, where "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14), indicates that the invisible God became visible, and as a result it is permissible to depict Jesus Christ. He argues: "When He who is bodiless and without form... existing in the form of God, empties Himself and takes the form of a servant in substance and in stature and is found in a body of flesh, then you draw His image..."
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Christian views of idolatry

St. John of Damascus also observes that in the Old Testament, images and statues were not absolutely condemned in themselves: examples include the graven images of cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:18-22) which God instructed Moses to make, the embroidered figures of cherubim angels which God told Moses to make on the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle tent (Exodus 26:31 ), or the bronze serpent mentioned in the book of Numbers. He also defends external acts of honour towards icons, arguing that there are "different kinds of worship" and that the honour shown to icons differs entirely from the adoration of God.

Christian views of idolatry

He continues by citing Old Testament examples of forms of "honour": "Jacob bowed to the ground before Esau, his brother, and also before the tip of his son Joseph's staff (Genesis 33:3). He bowed down, but did not adore. Joshua, the Son of Nun, and Daniel bowed in veneration before an angel of God (Joshua 5:14) but they did not adore him. For adoration is one thing, and that which is offered in order to honour something of great excellence is another". He cites St. Basil who asserts, "the honour given to the image is transferred to its prototype".
St. John argues therefore that venerating an image of Christ does not terminate at the image itself - the material of the image is not the object of worship - rather it goes beyond the image, to the prototype.

Christian views of idolatry

Christian theology, following the Great Commission, requires evangelism (promotion of the faith through conversion), and the prohibition of idolatry sometimes caused hostile relationships with pagan religions and other Christian groups who used images as part of their religious practice. Fundamentalist Protestants often accuse Catholic and Orthodox Christians of idolatry, iconolatry, and even paganism for failing to "cleanse their faith" of the use of images. Catholic and Orthodox Christians use religious objects such as Crosses, Icons, incense, the Gospel, Bible, candles and religious vestments. Icons are mainly in two- but rarely in three-dimensional form. These are in dogmatic theory venerated as objects filled with God's grace and power -- (therefore Eastern Orthodoxy declares they are not "hollow forms" or cult images). Evidence for the use of these, they claim, is found in the Old Testament and in Early Christian worship
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Christian views of idolatry

In Orthodox apologetics for icons, a similarity is asserted between icons and the manufacture by Moses (under Gods commandment) of the Bronze Snake, which was, Orthodoxy says, given the grace and power of God to heal those bitten by real snakes. "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any person, when he beheld the serpent of brass, they lived"(Numbers 21:9). Another similarity is declared with the Ark of the Covenant described as the ritual object above which Yahweh was present (Numbers 10:33-36); or the burning bush which, according to Exodus, allowed God to speak to Moses; or the Ten Commandments which were the Word of God "Dabar Elohim in tablet form. These inanimate objects became a medium by which God worked to teach, speak to, encourage and heal the Hebrew faithful

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Christian views of idolatry

Veneration of icons through proskinesis was codified in the Seventh Ecumenical Council during the Byzantine Iconoclast controversy, in which St. John of Damascus was pivotal. Icon veneration is also practiced in the Catholic Church, which accepts the declarations of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, but it is practiced to a lesser extent, since Latin-rite Catholics today do not usually prostrate and kiss icons, and the Second Vatican Council enjoined moderation in the use of images. Eastern-rite Catholics still use icons in their Divine Liturgy, however. Most Protestant groups avoid the use of images in any context suggestive of veneration. Protestantism from its beginnings treated images as objects of inspiration and education rather than of veneration and worship. Occasionally icons may be seen within some High Church communities such as Anglicans, but they are not viewed or used in the same manner described in Orthodox doctrine, and their presence sometimes causes controversy.
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Christian views of idolatry

Very conservative Protestant groups avoid any use of religious images, even for inspiration or instruction, as incitement to what they view as idolatry. In Colossians 3:5 it states Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. In the King James version the words used are fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness. This expands the scope of evil which is included in idolatry mentioned above.

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When it becomes idolatry?

When Anything or Anybody Gets What God Alone Deserves
Ex 20:3-4 (NIV) "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. God destroys idols; He is the great iconoclast. Even good things can become idols, and while reveling and boasting seem good at the time, it is a grave disservice to idolize anything or anybody. The result is God's wrath, on you and the idol. God will not be eclipsed. 2 Ki 18:3-4 (Amp) Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord... He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until then the Israelites had burned incense to it; but he called it Nehushtan [abrazen trifle]. James 4:5 (Jer) Surely you don't think the Scripture is wrong when it says: the spirit which He sent to live in us wants us for himself alone?

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When it becomes idolatry?

The Lust For Idols--A Matter of The Heart
James 4:3-4 (Phi) You don't get what you want because you don't ask God for it. And when you do ask he doesn't give it to you, for you ask in quite the wrong spirit--you only want to satisfy your own desires. You are like unfaithful wives, never realizing that to be the world's lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who chooses to be the world's friend is thereby making himself God's enemy. Col 3:5-6 (Jer) That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god. All this sort of behavior makes God angry. (Eph 5:5)

Eze 6:8-9 (NIV) "...How I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.
Deut 29:18 (NIV) Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison. (See also through verse 29.) 14

When it becomes idolatry?

But Everyone Else Is Doing It...

2 Ki 17:15 (NIV) They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do. 2 Ki 17:40-41 (NIV) They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. Even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.
1 Cor 10:7 (NIV) Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."

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When it becomes idolatry?

Public Image--Making Idols Of Men
1 Sam 15:23 (NIV) For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Acts 8:9 (NIV) Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great... Eze 8:12 (NIV) He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? 2 Pet 2:18 (NIV) For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 1 Cor 12:1-2 (NIV) ...I do not wish you to be ignorant... somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to dumb idols. Isa 41:29 (NIV) "See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.
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When it becomes idolatry?

Public Image--Making Idols Of Men
Jer 2:5 (NIV) This is what the Lord says: "What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. Ps 97:7 (NIV) All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols... 1 Sam 12:21 (NIV) Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. Isa 57:12-13 (NIV) "I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you. When you cry out for help, let your collection [of idols] save you! The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away. But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain. Isa 42:8 (NIV) "I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols."

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When it becomes idolatry?

Do We Take Idolatry As Seriously As God?

Eze 6:4-6 (NIV) "... I will slay your people in front of your idols. I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars... your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out."
1 Cor 6:9-10 (NIV) Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy... (Rom 1:23-25) Eph 5:5 (NIV) For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

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What Jesus had told?

Jesus receives worship

Matthew 4:10 John 5:22-23 John 10 "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'" -Son should be worshipped NOTE: Not once did Jesus ever rebuke anyone for worshiping Him Matthew 26

Matthew 14:33"And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, 'You are certainly God's Son!' John 9:38"And [the man born blind] said, 'Lord, I believe.' And he worshiped Him."

Matthew 28:9"And behold, Jesus met them and [greeted the women coming from His tomb]. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him."
Matthew 28:17-18 (disciples) John 20:28-29(Thomas)
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When it becomes idolatry? Spiritual Adultery

Isa 57:5-8 (NIV) "You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree... The idols... Are your portion; they, they are your lot... You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill... Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide..." Eze 23:7,29-30 (NIV) She gave herself as a prostitute... and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after... They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you naked and bare, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity have brought this upon you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. Isa 57:10-11 (NIV) "You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.' You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint. Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me, and have neither remembered me nor pondered this in your hearts? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?"
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When it becomes idolatry?

Repent Or Perish--A Greater Judgment Is Coming Jonah 2:8 (NIV) "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Eze 14:3-6 (NIV) "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the Lord will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols... Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!'" (Joshua 24:14-27, Deut 30:11-19) 1 Pet 4:3 (NIV) For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
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When it becomes idolatry?

Repent Or Perish--A Greater Judgment Is Coming James 4:7-10 (Phi) Be humble then before God... You are sinners: get your hands clean again. Your loyalty is divided: get your hearts made true once more. You should be deeply sorry, you should be grieved, you should even be in tears. Your laughter will have to become mourning, your high spirits will have to become dejection. You must humble yourself in the sight of the Lord before he will lift you up.

Eze 36:25 (NIV) "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols." Eze 37:23 (NIV) "They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
1 Jn 5:21 (NIV) Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 Cor 10:14 (NIV) Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
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What is worship of God?

Definition:
A response
with words, actions or affection

to the revelation of God

His character or deeds

that attributes Him worth or glory

Examples response with actions

God, I will go wherever you call So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him [Jesus]. Luke 5:11 God, I will trust even when I dont understand Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey ... Genesis 22:3 God, I choose to honor you in my lifestyle Daniel resolved not to defile himself Daniel 1:8

Examples response with affection

God, words cant express my gratitude
a woman who had lived a sinful life stood behind him [Jesus] at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Luke 7:3738

Psalms, praise songs Corporate musical worship

Is there a right way to worship?

The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. Genesis 4:4b-5

How should we worship?

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

Growing in Worship
Know who youre worshipping
Ex 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol Jn 4:24 worship in Spirit and in Truth

Lesson: clarity
worship Him as He truly is, not as we imagine or want Him to be How you know God affects your worship

What about relics ? Is it ok to worship it?

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Thank you

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