steamer

No sure if this is the right spot for this but...

Christians are admonished in the bible not to worship idols. An idol is a
man-made construct which seems like a pretty silly thing to want to worship. On the other hand, whatever your idea of god is, is also a man-made construct. Shouldn't you be waiting for an actual god to show up to worship instead of worshipping this thing you've created in your head? How is a mental construct so much different from a physical construct that you should worship it? Couldn't you just as easily build a physical construct and imagine that your god lives inside it as to build a mental construct of god and pretend he lives outside it?

I don't see much difference in the concept. If your god comes to you in person, then indeed you ought to worship it. Otherwise, it seems the bible is saying you ought not worship anything, especially not things that you construct.

Dark Virtue

Nice point!

I think the idol thing isn't so much pointed at worshipping a physical thing, but worshipping something that ISN'T God. So it's ok to worship your mental construct of God, just don't worship anything/one else. Especially a physical construct meant to represent another god.

steamer

Why would it be bad to worship a physical construct that is not god but ok to worship a mental construct that is also not god?

Dark Virtue

I didn't mean to imply that it was ok to worship a mental construct that isn't God. According to the Commandments, it's bad to worship anyone/thing other than God, I'm assuming that means physical or mental. I'm also assuming it's bad to create a physical representation of God and worship it.

I'm interested to know why people felt it necessary to bow down to something they created. And why did it have to be gold? Was this calf a representation of some other god or what?

steamer

I'm interested in why they still do.

Toto

The commandment says ""You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image" (at least in one version).

This is a commandment against worshipping other supernatural spirits, which were typically worshipped in the Ancient World by worshipping idols. It actually has nothing to do with materialism, or worshipping a man-made construct.

This commandment is an embarrassment to modern Christians and Jews because it (and other commandments and parts of the Bible) imply that there are other gods, but that they should not be elevated above YHWH; but modern religionists claim to be monotheists who do not believe in these other gods. So they have tried to rescue this commandment by claiming that it really means that you should not elevate some material possession above the one true god. I say this is just creative revisionism, an attempt to make an ancient irrelevant religion fit into a modern world.

andrewcriddle

Although the golden calves in the Israelite shrines at Bethel and Dan and in the story in Exodus 32 are (probably) meant as images of Yahweh they are still condemned.

I do think the prohibition against images was regarded from before the exile as including a prohibition against images of Yahweh.

Andrew Criddle

steamer

Then what of the mental images that Christians worship, which is all they have to worship? Shouldn't they wait for an actual god to show up first, and then worship it?

dlj

The minister at the church I attend sometimes has preached sermons about worshiping mental images of God as being idolatry.

steamer

What is it you worship then and when? If it is not a mental image does an actual god show up? I would like to visit such a church.