via_dolorosa said:
When I get off topic, I'm told to start a new thread. When I reminded William of this, he kept on pursuing his off topic remarks. Since it's only prudent that the governing directives apply to William as they do to me I'm sure this was merely an oversight and the rules truly are administered in a wholesale manner.
There is some room for divergence within threads, but your comment to William that he should start another thread if he wished to pursue the issue further was in line.
William,
I'm sorry you don't like my avatar, but calling it sin is quite a stretch and I don't quite understand how it violates the board rules but, thus far, has escaped the notice of the Highway moderators.
Myself, I hadn't paid much attention to it except to note that it was a religious statue. I now see that it is in fact a picture of a
pietà statue, with Mary and the dead body of Christ.
Considering that at God's behest, several graven images were made including gold plad cheribum and a bronze serpent and that these items were even used in aid of worship. No, they didn't become objects of worship, unless you count the serpent that was later worshipped then destroyed. Somehow the Israelites fully understood what God meant.
The images in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple) were in fact mostly decorative symbolism, representing the heavenly court. They did not represent God, nor were they presented as depictions of any being that should be worshipped or prayed to, nor were they objects of religious devotion. (Quite unlike the statues of saints one finds in so many Catholic churches, in front of which there are frequently side altars, kneeling benches, and places to burn votive candles.)
The key phrase is "unto thyself" which is to create graven objects and worship them as gods. This statue of the Blessed Virgin with the crucified Christ is a depiction of the prophesy concerning Mary: "And a sword shall pierce through your soul too." (Lk 2:35) The statue is certainly not an object of worship, and it's beyond silly to call it "sin."
The traditional Reformed understanding of the Second Commandment is that God prohibits any depiction of Himself in any of the three Persons of the Trinity.
Now, whether we should ask you to change your user image, I am not sure. I do not recall this issue coming up before.
