|
Themes: Idols JJ Suppose you have a pen pal who lives in Brazil. You have never met him. His name is Tom. You and Tom have exchanged letters for several months. You feel as if you are getting to know each other well.
One day, a letter arrives in the mail from Tom. It has his school picture in it. Up until then, you have never seen any pictures of him. He does not look at all as you expected.
At first you do not think of the boy in the picture as your friend Tom. You put the picture on your desk along with the pictures of your other friends. However, within a few days, you become used to looking at the real Tom. When you think of Tom, the face in the picture comes to mind.
Suppose, after a few weeks, you decide it is time to write Tom back. You get out your pen and paper and sit down at your desk to write. You glance over at his picture and suddenly the thought hits you. "Why bother writing Tom a letter. I'll just talk to his picture. After all, when I look at his picture, he is looking me right in the eye." So, you begin talking to Tom's picture. It is so much easier than writing lengthy letters.
You are probably thinking this is ridiculous. Who would ever try to talk to a picture? You cannot communicate like that.
However, there are many people in the world today who try to talk to God like this. Some do this many times each day. They do not talk to a photograph of God because there are none. The do talk to paintings and statues that are supposed to represent God.
Do you remember the Ten Commandments? The second commandment is: "Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image" (Exodus 20:4). God does not want us to try to paint a picture or make a statue or idol to represent God. We should never, never bow down and pray to it.
Why do you think God made this law? No man could ever paint a picture or build an image that even begins to describe God. God is much, much greater than anything we can imagine. That is why Paul told the people in Athens not to think that God is like a gold or silver image that was made by man.
No one has commented on this article.
Related Items:
|
Peter Orasuk
