When Is Worshipping Idols Not Worshipping Idols


In the Old Testament is a tale of Moses coming down from a mountain and finding his followers dancing and having a picnic by a calf made of gold. There are other references in the Bible about gold, like the wise men bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The cross is displayed endlessly and at anti abortion political events pictures of fetuses are held high. Catholic churches have endless statues of Mary. Currently under construction is the largest  statue  of Jesus on the North and South American Continents. It is even larger than Touchdown Jesus in Indiana. 

The golden calf made Moses so mad he ordered 3,000 people be murdered. I suppose he "loved" his followers but believed in "tough love."

What is unclear to me is how to separate "worshipping" a statue, picture or other physical object and from people just looking at it in admiration? When believers enter a church, kneel and "cross themselves" in front of a statue or symbol would it be fair to say they are doing the same thing as worshipping a golden calf? I know many believers would shout, "Absolutely not." Isn't it worship to first look at the object and then go into the worship behavior? It seems to me Moses might see this and murder another 3,000. 

I'm not alone in this. There is a church in north Fargo, ND, that was built by Lutherans. It had a big cross on the front. It is now owned by a group of Pentecostals. They removed the cross. Apparently the Pentecostals are taking no risk of being murdered by Moses because they worshipped a cross.

Those God and Moses claimed were worshipping a golden calf actually may have been pretending to worship while privately cursing it. If humans then were like humans today they were not of one mind. A bunch of them, for example women, may have been going through motions of worship but telling God privately they were not worshipping the gold calf at all. They might have been whispering to God, "God, give me a break. I have to pretend I'm worshipping the fake calf because if I don't my husband (or father) will kill me." Others may have been atheists and couldn't whisper to God but went through the worship motions. An all knowing and all seeing God would have given those atheists a pass too. He is, I've been told, a loving God.

I remain convinced that if the Moses story of murdering 3,000 people is true many of them were innocent and murdered unjustly.

Comments

  1. Bryan KApril 19, 2021 at 9:28 AM

    Worship is based on dogma, and the point where this becomes a problem is exactly the point where someone feels reverence and adoration for something that is unarguably (in their eyes) true.

    And it becomes a huge problem when it's not true.

    ReplyDelete

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