Today, a Reformed person said this: "The 2nd commandment means something. But the idea that it prohibits absolutely all images doesn't add up. As Brian pointed out with the carved cherubim. But recall that those cherubim were not at the focus of Israel's worship. When a church sets up an image of Christ or the saints in a central spot to where you can't help but look at it during worship, and then you have people kneeling, engaging in prayer, bowing etc, that's a problem. "You shall not bow down to them or worship them" means the 2nd commandment has a liturgical context to it. God is warning us away from vain liturgy that forsakes the Word and tries to capture God in a picture."
This is why we have ecumenical councils, my friend. No one really cares what you or I think about what the 2nd Commandment means. Any dude with a Bible can pick it up and attempt to tell someone what it means, in any place. And an ecumenical council isn't one unless it's recognized as such by the authority of the visible Church that Christ founded. Otherwise, I not only have to sit through some opinion as to what the Bible means, but I have to listen to some dude's revisionist history with respect to what a true Council is. The first revisionists were called "heretics" and "schismatics." He might even be a learned dude. Who cares? If the historical-critical method and the tools of lexical analysis were what it took to be right about the Bible, Bultmann would be the immortal Vicar of Christ.
Practically speaking, you are wrong. We are Catholic. We have images of everyone, and everything. You're not going to be distracted by any one thing. And, this is why there are principles to sacred art and architecture: to train the human heart to put things in right order. "Right order" is not the negation of art and beauty, nor the natural human instinct to give to mere persons the respect they are due. Fun fact: We have statues of angels and saints to remind ourselves that when we participate in the liturgy, Heaven and earth are connected, and those holy ones are worshipping God also! God is so gracious, He shows up.
This is why we have ecumenical councils, my friend. No one really cares what you or I think about what the 2nd Commandment means. Any dude with a Bible can pick it up and attempt to tell someone what it means, in any place. And an ecumenical council isn't one unless it's recognized as such by the authority of the visible Church that Christ founded. Otherwise, I not only have to sit through some opinion as to what the Bible means, but I have to listen to some dude's revisionist history with respect to what a true Council is. The first revisionists were called "heretics" and "schismatics." He might even be a learned dude. Who cares? If the historical-critical method and the tools of lexical analysis were what it took to be right about the Bible, Bultmann would be the immortal Vicar of Christ.
Practically speaking, you are wrong. We are Catholic. We have images of everyone, and everything. You're not going to be distracted by any one thing. And, this is why there are principles to sacred art and architecture: to train the human heart to put things in right order. "Right order" is not the negation of art and beauty, nor the natural human instinct to give to mere persons the respect they are due. Fun fact: We have statues of angels and saints to remind ourselves that when we participate in the liturgy, Heaven and earth are connected, and those holy ones are worshipping God also! God is so gracious, He shows up.
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