IDOL WORSHIP

You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the Earth; you shall not bow down to them to serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.

It is true that man is symbolic in all that he does and wherever he is, symbols dominate. A scholar who is my namesake (Leslie White) wrote and said:

All human behavior originates in the use of symbols. It was the symbol which transformed our anthropoid ancestors into men and made them human. All civilisations have been generated, and are perpetuated, only by the use of symbols. It is the symbol which transforms an infant of home sapiens into a human being; deaf mutes who grow up without the use of symbols are not human beings. All human behavior consists of, or is dependent upon, the use of symbols. Human behavior is symbolic behavior; symbolic behavior is human behavior. The symbol is the universe of humanity

How we use symbols and why is what sets us apart from other Mammals. Symbols and images should be restricted to our horizontal relationships. Whenever they serve vertically or mystically. they turn into idol worship which for us Christians is taboo.

The Jewish philosophy in Exodus 20:4-5 addresses those two issues (What & Why). What the word of God is opposed to is to make your maker, this is what turns a symbol into an idol. The human intention to make a God to/for himself is what the Bible is opposed to. The Bible is not opposed to symbols and their use but whether the REPRESENTATIONAL ATTRIBUTE is accurate and truthful is what the word of God is concerned with.

Secondly, the theology and philosophy of the Bible are interested in the Why of the symbol (image). I am a Munyarwanda born in Uganda, I ride a bicycle everyday to & from work daily. I have always wanted to put a Rwandan flag on my bike. However, my philosophical mind has battled my desire with the question of WHY and I have failed to give a satisfying answer.

Why am I flying a Rwandan flag in Uganda while I have a Ugandan national ID in my wallet? This would be idol worship and these are the images (symbols) forbidden in the word of God. This is why reading Isaiah 44:9-20 in perspective will help you who wants to understand this issue. Prophet Isaiah argues:

Idols are made by human hands! How then can they possibly be God’s? How can they save? (Vs 17).

In verse 20 he asks why one would be praying to a god who does not save?

The big concern here is, if the image, symbolises anything concerning human vertical relations then it has been misused and therefore misrepresenting entirely.

It is therefore important that we establish the WHAT and the WHY of all the symbols and images amidst us.

Pr. ITM White
The Gospel Hawker