Interesting fact about this painting, Christ Leaving the Praetorium: Gustave Doré considered it “the work of his life.”
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Discussion
The biggest problem with sacred works is that they, too are iconography. Thus they allow others to simple rearrange figures in blasphemous ways or in ways that elevate false prophets and gods.
Here is the painting in the Washington DC Capitol dome:
"The Apotheosis of Washington"
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Here is the Sistine Chapel painting:
This iconography (like my own of Saint George in my profile ) may be inspiring but also misleading. Buddhists will adamantly reiterate that the Buddha Rupa is not iconography but it is. So is the image of Christ on the Cross.
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-Acts -- New Testament
Act 17:27-31 KJV That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
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We may be moved to create advertisement (graven images) but we must move but our actions and behavior that recognizes the living God everywhere.
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"Apotheosis (from Ancient Greek ἀποθέωσις (apothéōsis), from ἀποθεόω/ἀποθεῶ (apotheóō/apotheô) 'to deify'), also called divinization or deification (from Latin deificatio 'making divine'), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity."
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apotheosis
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Micah -- Old Testament
Mic 1:6-9 KJV Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
7. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
8. Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. 9. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
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#Apotheosis
#Idolatry
#Bible
Iconoclastic concerns are overblown. Do you worship the picture of your family you keep in your wallet? No. You know it is but one visual representation of them, to serve as a reminder for the real thing. Religious iconography is no different.
The interesting thing about all of this is that there is the word of God and Scripture that is very clear and then there are us stiff nicked people who continue to do what we want.
And if you haven't seen people bowing to the statues of Jesus, Buddha and other Images then maybe you have not been looking. They most certainly prostate themselves in front of the images. We even have people prostrating themselves to cardinal directions on the globe and worshipping by circumambulation.
We can say the should not, but they do. So if we make graven images and people worship them then are we not creating sin? We also have the comparison of art that elevates men to equal status by propaganda. Is this also not worship and an abomination? It is. And who is not guilty of this? Certainly I am one of those who are participating. In my own house I have some of this nonsense and I root it out daily.
If you think it is nothing then you can disregard the Bible, too. Just images and fantasy of who God is, is enough for many who invent what God is without having any relationship. I would rather have a relationship than fancy art that leads to moral relativism. How many times did I prostate in front of the Buddha Rupa thinking that I was the wiser then other men? Too many. I would explain and apologize away the truth.
If we are sincere about the images then we need to reiterate that they should be not valued as on the same level with our Creator. We can do as the Tibet Monks and dump the sand painting in the river, sans the prostitution of deities.
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Exo 20:4-5 KJV Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
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Lev 26:1 KJV Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
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Deu 4:23-24 KJV Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
24. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
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Here is the response of God to the creative machinations of people making religious art:
Exo 32:3-9 KJV And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7. ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
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