Nativity Scenes and the Second Commandment

1. I think you're assuming an "image", such as a small baby in a toy manger, is the same thing as what the Bible condemns when talking about making an image of God for the purposes of worship.
2. At the very least....you are looking way to much into this if you use all of those big words to come to a conclusion about having a ceramic baby to include in your manger.

 

...catholics also bow down and worship the statue. Huge difference.

 

So having the statues is okay as long as we don't bow down in front of them, right?

 

As long as it's not a statue of me in my church (after I'm dead and gone). I don't want my "image" to be the one to scare people off!

 

Only if he sings like a fish.
But no; I knew that, and in fact I changed it from bass to base because the other parts are also changed to suit the spelling of the words punned. But I see I forgot to add "ver" to "soap ran o..." Okay, so it's not perfect harmony with which to teach the world to sing, or buy the world a Coke.

 

That reminds me... years ago I was in the choir of a church and we had an old man who was a good bass singer named R.G. Bass, pronounced like the fish. But one I pronounced his name like 'base,' and it caught on, and he seemed to like it.

 

The same way you harmonize hanging pictures of your family in your house and a cross in your church, both images.

 

I wonder if he had a nativity scene at his house...

 

To me he never said.

 

I don't recall saying that.

 

You're not going to stop nativity scenes. Just stop looking at them if they offend you. Of course if you're driving by, don't close your eyes. That could be bad.

 

Excellent post and I agree whole heartedly.

 

Interesting the things we chose to worry about being sin.

Let's quote the whole commandment:

Ex 20:4Thou 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:Ex 20:5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:

Now the question becomes: Are these two separate commandments or does verse 5 provide clarification for verse 4?

If verse 4 is a commandment in it's own right, ya'll better get rid of your photos, your avatars, all the portraits, painting and sculptures in your house and your photocopiers cause we can stretch this commandment out to the point to where it forbids making copies of the original. Also, shouldn't have star charts for cause that would be a graven image of something in heaven above. No road maps cause that would be the earth below. Hey wait! That would mean no GPS device in your cars!

I think I've carried this out far enough.

A nativity scene is simply a three diminsional representation of a historical event. That's it. It is not an object one would consider a god. No need to make life more complicated than it is already.

 

I agree with MK :thumbs:

 

I have said these same things before, along with my contention there are 8 1/2 commandments remaining from the decalogue for NT Christians. We are not forbidden to have any likeness of anything-- photographs, engineering drawings, Mr. Potato Heads, et al-- but we are forbidden from worshipping objects, and this is compounded to mean worshipping or loving anything-- money, prestige, a Cadillac/Lincoln/Jaguar/Mercedes, a house...-- other than the one God.

[That's the half commandment to which we are not obligated; the full on is the sabbath-- Ryan Warning!]

 

We have a beautiful iron cross hanging on the wall in our house. We do not worship it or put it above the Lord Jesus Christ. It is like the altars that people built to the Lord. It is a reminder of the love of Christ for us just as the altars were reminders to OT saints of the faithfulness of God.