AWKWARD ZOMBIE

That does make sense. My parents used to have this misconception that Catholic people worshiped Mary until one of their Catholic friends corrected them. Though I'm not actually sure what the Christian opinion on graven imagery is. It's probably something that has way too many different interpretations. At any rate, I've never heard anyone in the multitude of churches I've visited talk about it.

Islam is a religion that bars depictions of Allah or Muhammed, which is why a lot of their mosques are instead decorated with calligraphic text from the Qur'an.

The cross is the defining symbol for Christianity because Christ sacrificing himself for the sins of mankind was his most important deed.

Yeah, isnt not worshipping stuff that isnt God one of the most important rules in Christianity?

That was kind of vague to begin with since He also said to follow His prophets. It kind of depends on how you define worship.As for idolatry, the cross is a symbol for the religion, not a depiction of God or an object of direct worship.

Yeah, but you dont WORSHIP prophets, they're just delivering the word of God. You're not supposed to worship the person, youre supposed to worship the force empowering him, like with saints. Im pretty sure if a prophet started telling people to worship HIM, he'd get one of those cruel punishments the Old Testament Yaweh was so fond of.

The saints or Mary never told anybody to worship them though. Also I don't think Catholics are supposed to worship them, just emulate their example. Though I know of prayers to Mary so idk.

Since dogma seems to be basically whatever that particular denomination feels like doing, maybe it doesnt matter, people overlook the Ten Commandments all the time, and build up a ton of justifications for why its totally cool to kill this one person or steal from these people. Youd think if youre actually serious about your faith, youd follow the ten daisies rules you got from God himself, but huamns are humans.

Actually, the Commandments are interesting like that. There's a lot of debate about what in the Bible should and shouldnt be followed, and a lot of throwing the word "metaphorical" around when it doesnt apply, but the Commandments are rules, straight up rules, and a lot of Christians still dont follow them. Its not like theyre all that vague either.

The cross: It's symbolism. Yes, it's a medieval device used for execution and torture, but it stands for the idea that Jesus was the son of God, sent to Earth to die for our sins, for God so loved the world. Like any country's flag is bodaciously just a banner of colored cloths, but chances are there's some deeper meaning behind it that stands for the entire country. There's what something is, and what it stands for.

Idol worship: Praying to saints/Mary isn't idol worship. Tink about your work. If you want something done, do you asskiss to the boss directly all the time, or do you go throughh the person immediately above you. The way I heard it explained is that the saints take your message and "put a good word in" for God as far as having it answered is concerned. So it's not worship, it's a chain of command.

The Commandments: You have to realize that the entire Bible itself is an imperfect book. It eas written a long booty time ago by extremely mortal human beings, human beings that were a part of a culture completely different from ours, so there's going to be reerences to slavery, sexism, cultural taboos, etc. That's why I like the book as a sort of cultural reference instead of a history textbook. You need to realize that if a truely omnipotent God exists, he's not going to be confined to a single book with respect to morals and ability.

Maybe the cross is a constant reminder that humanity still owes Jesus big time.
Or perhaps it's a constant reminder that the Christians never forgive.
Or maybe it's a symbol that they totally forgive humanity for sacrificing their patron saint.

TheStranger wrote:Yeah, isnt not worshipping stuff that isnt God one of the most important rules in Christianity?

This applies to false Gods (like pagan gods like Zeus) and people who perform miracles outside of God's power (basically, don't worship demons, because that'd be pretty bad).

Basically, all miracles happen through the will of God so to worship someone else is to have them take credit for God.

Saints are a bit different because they perform miracles through God that become their defining moment. Kinda like Moses parting the Red Seas. Sometimes it's superstition, but a lot of people pray to the Saint that performed a miracle related to what they're going through for protection or extra luck. They still recognise that God performed it through those people, but those were the people who were able to connect to God in the first place, so they're revered much in the same way the Pope is.

Barabba wrote:Maybe the cross is a constant reminder that humanity still owes Jesus big time.
Or perhaps it's a constant reminder that the Christians never forgive.
Or maybe it's a symbol that they totally forgive humanity for sacrificing their patron saint.

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Are you trying to bait us again? How about reading through the thread and seeing what other people have said. And do some research yourself, if you're that interested. Stop making these loaded assumptions about a religion you don't know much about.

Yeah, I don't know anything, I'm just making assumptions. My apologies.

Malum wrote:Wait what, how is Zeus Pagan?

Pagan is a very broad term that was invented to discredit other people's beliefs.

How is Zeus more false than Yahweh? All gods are equally worthy of being existent, are they not?

Reyo wrote:
The Commandments: You have to realize that the entire Bible itself is an imperfect book. It eas written a long booty time ago by extremely mortal human beings, human beings that were a part of a culture completely different from ours, so there's going to be reerences to slavery, sexism, cultural taboos, etc. That's why I like the book as a sort of cultural reference instead of a history textbook. You need to realize that if a truely omnipotent God exists, he's not going to be confined to a single book with respect to morals and ability.

Sure, I get that, and accept it to a point, there's a lot of stuff in there thats colored by the times it was written, but the Commandments arent vague at all, God bodaciously told us not to do this stuff, so either the account is wrong, or people arent following their religion correctly. No killing, no stealing, no coveting, and dont be a dick to your parents, there's really nothing that can be misunderstood there. And yet, youd be hard pressed to find a single person not doing atleast two of these things. Okay, you probably arent going to find many graven images worshippers anymore, but coveting and taking the lords name in vain? People break those rules before breakfast. Hell, its not like the Rules are WRONG either, you really shouldnt do most of this stuff even if you arent Christian.