Logos, If you are listening, could you please make an switch to have media included or excluded from the "excerpts" option on the home page? Some of us believe it is sin to gaze upon or misrepresent images of the Triune God.
Thanks, Pete
Logos, If you are listening, could you please make an switch to have media included or excluded from the "excerpts" option on the home page? Some of us believe it is sin to gaze upon or misrepresent images of the Triune God. Thanks, Pete
I'm a bit puzzled by your request since offhand I can't recall seeing any representations of God on the home page. A little point regarding this: The commandment is that we are not to make graven images of God (which can be extended to include any images whether graven or not), but it doesn't say "You shall not look upon any graven images ..." I don't think we are intended to suddenly become blind or to put a bag over our head.
A little additional note regarding the home page: In looking at the home page to see whether there was something there today which occassioned this I noted that, when I changed from including excerpts to excluding excerpts and then reverted back to including them, on each occassion I got a different illustration from the Earthly Footsteps .... I thought there was basically one page which displayed the user's choice of items for each day. It seems that it changes from one refreshing to another in the same day.
Logos, If you are listening, could you please make an switch to have media included or excluded from the "excerpts" option on the home page? Some of us believe it is sin to gaze upon or misrepresent images of the Triune God. Thanks, Pete I'm a bit puzzled by your request since offhand I can't recall seeing any representations of God on the home page. A little point regarding this: The commandment is that we are not to make graven images of God (which can be extended to include any images whether graven or not), but it doesn't say "You shall not look upon any graven images ..." I don't think we are intended to suddenly become blind or to put a bag over our head. A little additional note regarding the home page: In looking at the home page to see whether there was something there today which occassioned this I noted that, when I changed from including excerpts to excluding excerpts and then reverted back to including them, on each occassion I got a different illustration from the Earthly Footsteps .... I thought there was basically one page which displayed the user's choice of items for each day. It seems that it changes from one refreshing to another in the same day.
George the picture this morning came from the following resource:
Horne, Charles and Julius Bewer. The Bible and Its Story, Volume 10:Acts-Epistles, Apostles to Revelation, Francis R. Niglutsch; New York,NY, 1910; 2009.
As far as your quote: "but it doesn't say "You shall not look upon any graven images ..." Idon't think we are intended to suddenly become blind or to put a bagover our head. "
I believe that Jesus in His teachings to the Pharisees was clear about not dealing with only the letter of the Law, but rather with the spirit of the Law.
Pete
Logos, If you are listening, could you please make an switch to have media included or excluded from the "excerpts" option on the home page? Some of us believe it is sin to gaze upon or misrepresent images of the Triune God. Thanks, Pete I'm a bit puzzled by your request since offhand I can't recall seeing any representations of God on the home page. A little point regarding this: The commandment is that we are not to make graven images of God (which can be extended to include any images whether graven or not), but it doesn't say "You shall not look upon any graven images ..." I don't think we are intended to suddenly become blind or to put a bag over our head. A little additional note regarding the home page: In looking at the home page to see whether there was something there today which occassioned this I noted that, when I changed from including excerpts to excluding excerpts and then reverted back to including them, on each occassion I got a different illustration from the Earthly Footsteps .... I thought there was basically one page which displayed the user's choice of items for each day. It seems that it changes from one refreshing to another in the same day. George the picture this morning came from the following resource: Horne, Charles and Julius Bewer. The Bible and Its Story, Volume 10: Acts-Epistles, Apostles to Revelation, Francis R. Niglutsch; New York, NY, 1910; 2009. As far as your quote: "but it doesn't say "You shall not look upon any graven images ..." I don't think we are intended to suddenly become blind or to put a bag over our head. " I believe that Jesus in His teachings to the Pharisees was clear about not dealing with only the letter of the Law, but rather with the spirit of the Law. Pete
Horne, Charles and Julius Bewer. The Bible and Its Story, Volume 10: Acts-Epistles, Apostles to Revelation, Francis R. Niglutsch; New York, NY, 1910; 2009.
As far as your quote: "but it doesn't say "You shall not look upon any graven images ..." I don't think we are intended to suddenly become blind or to put a bag over our head. "
I don't happen to own that resource so that is probably why I don't see that. Perhaps you will need to find some digital scissors and excise the offending image from the book -- or simply hide it. As for keeping the spirit of the law rather than simply the letter, it seems to me that you are keeping the letter of the law to its most extreme extent. The idea of the law is to prevent the forming of a concept of God as being other than he presents himself to us and of developing a settled image of what God should be like (or how he should act). That is something of the meaning behind Ex 3.14 "I AM WHO I AM" or "I shall be whom I shall be." We too often think that we know what God would do or say in any particular situation and thereby put God in a box.
George, all I'm asking is that logos make an option to include/exclude media from the "excerpts" page. Certainly I have a right to ask, no?
Also I agree with you that "The idea of the law is to prevent the forming of a concept of God asbeing other than he presents himself to us and of developing a settledimage of what God should be like (or how he should act)."
The problem is that we can never make a picture reflect all or any of the attributes of God perfectly, so that is why we don't make pictures of him. Any picture is at best an incomplete representation and at worse erroneous. According to the picture I saw this morning it looks like Jesus is about 6 feet tall. Unless we have biblical truth that this is so, the picture is in error and false. That is why God instituted the 2nd commandment at all, since fallen man can't represent God accurately, we shouldn't represent him at all graphically. The exception is preaching, where we are specifically commanded to do so. I presume that someone will come to this thread and say well "as long as we don't worship them it's OK" but worshiping images in violation of the 1st commandment, not the 2nd.
Is your problem that this picture of Jesus makes him appear to be 6' tall rather than 5'3"? I have other problems with portraits of Jesus. Most of them make him appear as a European rather than what he was -- a Palestinian. He probably had dark (perhaps black) hair and was darker complected. But do you really "worship" such a picture? I find that strange. Even the heathen never completely equated an image with the god it represented (though they frequently believed that the god inhabited the representation). Do you have problems with a picture of your wife or your parents? I would suppose that any film portrayal involving biblical themes would be a problem for you. Do you make a list and check it twice to find out whether you've been naughty or nice? If all of the boxes are checked (or unchecked as the case may be) do you then conclude that you have achieved perfection? We know, however, that we never achieve that, don't we?
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 Jn 1.8)
But do you really "worship" such a picture? I find that strange.
George, why not just acknowledge that there are groups of Christians who simply find this wrong. Heidelberg Catechism Q&A97 was led my forebears to interpret the 2nd commandment in precisely this way. Some in the Reformed camp still do, regardless of how you or I feel about it.
You're not likely to change the brother's mind in a forum discussion.
I think this is a perfectly legitimate request, and Logos has done a lot to accommodate the preferences of many groups. Why not this one? Why not this request?
It could be very difficult to do, but there is no harm in asking.
But do you really "worship" such a picture? I find that strange. George, why not just acknowledge that there are groups of Christians who simply find this wrong. Heidelberg Catechism Q&A97 was led my forebears to interpret the 2nd commandment in precisely this way. Some in the Reformed camp still do, regardless of how you or I feel about it. You're not likely to change the brother's mind in a forum discussion. I think this is a perfectly legitimate request, and Logos has done a lot to accommodate the preferences of many groups. Why not this one? Why not this request? It could be very difficult to do, but there is no harm in asking.
It may surprise you to learn that I attended both Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary (though you should already be aware of this). These are schools of the Christian Reformed Church which has as its catechism the Heidelberg Catechism so I am well aware of what it says. Even the Heidelberger, hwoever, is not that restrictive.
We might be driven to resort to an Arabic form of decoration in that case.
Peter was not saying he opposed all images, only images portraying God. This is what Q&A97 specifically prohibits. Peter is asking to exclude all media, since there's no way to only specify the exclusion of certain images, if a resource is allowed to display. At least that's how I'm reading his request.
Once again, it seems like a legitimate request. I have no idea, if it's a simple one to accede to.
We might be driven to resort to an Arabic form of decoration in that case. Peter was not saying he opposed all images, only images portraying God. This is what Q&A97 specifically prohibits. Peter is asking to exclude all media, since there's no way to only specify the exclusion of certain images, if a resource is allowed to display. At least that's how I'm reading his request. Once again, it seems like a legitimate request. I have no idea, if it's a simple one to accede to.
Thanks Richard,
I appreciate you help.
I try to stay away from anything that will give me a false impression of the Triune God. I believe that this is the spirit of the 2nd Commandment and the reformed tradition. And yes, I have pictures of my beautiful wife and family, but then that is not prohibited in the 2nd commandment.
