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Thou Shalt Not Have Any Other Gods Before me

Maddog

Maddog

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In Exodus we find the Rules as first written. "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me" is one of them. Does this mean that His followers cannot have any other gods at all or just in first place because He is first? The gods of the world do exist and many believers acknowledge them regularly as in "sun god day" every week.
Additionally we are commanded Not to have any "graven images" or images carved or otherwise made to look like animate objects. Does this mean we cant have cutesy little figurines of cats or dogs or princesses? Or was the emphasis to not worship them but we can have all the little "Precious Moments" figurines or dolls we want? How about a Buddha figurine? I am still learning the rules as God gave them but traditional Christianity has allowed many things into our daily lives under the guise of "freedom". I study the cost of being a God follower before making a jump into being Torah observant. Another way of putting it- how strict is it?
 
"Before me" can also be read as "in my sight" and God can see everywhere so...

And a graven image is an idol or object of worship. Unless you worship your Teddy bear I think it's okay to have one.
 
Maddog said:
Additionally we are commanded Not to have any "graven images" or images carved or otherwise made to look like animate objects. Does this mean we cant have cutesy little figurines of cats or dogs or princesses? Or was the emphasis to not worship them but we can have all the little "Precious Moments" figurines or dolls we want?
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God directly commanded statues of cherubim to be made for the Ark of the Covenant.
Solomon's temple was decorated with cherubim, lions, palm trees, pomegranates and oxen. Although in this case not directly commanded by God, this is not criticised.
So this cannot be a blanket prohibition on all statues.
 
My ex wife had an image setting on every shelf and although she didn't worship the image per se she worshipped the house we were living in with the images by decorating every room with them. I got so convicted over this I eventually got rid of all the images along with the hell-a-vision. So my policy is no images.
 
Maddog said:
In Exodus we find the Rules as first written. "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me" is one of them. Does this mean that His followers cannot have any other gods at all or just in first place because He is first? The gods of the world do exist and many believers acknowledge them regularly as in "sun god day" every week.
Additionally we are commanded Not to have any "graven images" or images carved or otherwise made to look like animate objects. Does this mean we cant have cutesy little figurines of cats or dogs or princesses? Or was the emphasis to not worship them but we can have all the little "Precious Moments" figurines or dolls we want? How about a Buddha figurine? I am still learning the rules as God gave them but traditional Christianity has allowed many things into our daily lives under the guise of "freedom". I study the cost of being a God follower before making a jump into being Torah observant. Another way of putting it- how strict is it?
Click to expand...
The Word of God interprets the Word of God for us.
Deut. 4:15-18 “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.

God is Spirit, He has no form, therefore people must not make an image in the likeness of anything to represent Him. An old man sitting on the throne, a dove, a fish... they are forbidden. Religious images of any sort used to portray Him are forbidden so, all those stained-glass windows or statues or wall hangings or whatever that a supposed to be a representation of God are a violation of His command.

The painting of the sunset or the model ship are clearly not a violation of His command. Shalom
 
Off-gridinwv said:
My ex wife had an image setting on every shelf and although she didn't worship the image per se she worshipped the house we were living in with the images by decorating every room with them. I got so convicted over this I eventually got rid of all the images along with the hell-a-vision. So my policy is no images.
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Wahhabist Muslims also do this.
 
Statues are not often worshipped or held in high regard by protestant christians....though catholics are another matter.

The biggest clue into the serious violation of this command is in looking at the biggest thing Christians today in America contend with.. ...authorities (so called) that got their imagined authority from "We the people."

YHWH should be our judge, King, and lawgiver. Creating any judge king (president) or law giver, by any other authority or consent of the governed, is just a rank userpation of His rightful position.

This is where I usually tell folks about the audio at Mission to Israel called "Could you be a disciple of baal and not know it?"
He gets into how ancient baal worship was humanism....and we the people is a modern form of the same monster.
 
Joleneakamama said:
Statues are not often worshipped or held in high regard by protestant christians....though catholics are another matter.
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Catholics are so disingenuous about this. They always say they don't worship their statues but instead they venerate them.

www.merriam-webster.com

Definition of VENERATE

to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference; to honor (an icon, a relic, etc.) with a ritual act of devotion… See the full definition
www.merriam-webster.com www.merriam-webster.com

Did you know?​

Venerate comes from the Latin root venerārī, which has the various meanings of "to solicit the good will of," "to worship," "to pay homage to," and "to hold in awe." That root is related to Venus, which, as a proper noun, is the name of the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
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Joleneakamama said:
The biggest clue into the serious violation of this command is in looking at the biggest thing Christians today in America contend with.. ...authorities (so called) that got their imagined authority from "We the people."

YHWH should be our judge, King, and lawgiver. Creating any judge king (president) or law giver, by any other authority or consent of the governed, is just a rank userpation of His rightful position.
Click to expand...
This was in fact the central theme of the "Shemot" (Exodus first parsha) teaching I did just a couple weeks back. And it's very much related to the GIV rendering of Romans 13 as well ("When Big Brother says jump, you say 'how high?' - Government Inspired Version.)

 
MeganC said:
Catholics are so disingenuous about this. They always say they don't worship their statues but instead they venerate them.

www.merriam-webster.com

Definition of VENERATE

to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference; to honor (an icon, a relic, etc.) with a ritual act of devotion… See the full definition
www.merriam-webster.com www.merriam-webster.com
Click to expand...

The problem isn't the veneration, it's that they expect the saints to be able to hear them when they pray; gods by any measure.

Jesus taught us how to pray, it don't look like praying to saints.
 
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