What a strange thing
How very strange that those who claim to be wise, somehow find it neccessary to pray to things of wood in order to "Reach God". As if God needs a mere symbol of that which is persihable, to reach that which is eternal.
Mankind has always done these things, from Stonehenge to reading the entrails of pigeons, mankind (that's us) has always felt the need to create something in the physical to try and reach that which is spiritual.
In the words of Paul in Acts 18.27 "That they should seek God, and perhaps grope after him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us 28 for in him we live and move and have our being...........29 If therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to imagine that the Divinity is like to gold or silver or stone to a image graven graven by human art or thought.
Mankind has always done these things, from Stonehenge to reading the entrails of pigeons, mankind (that's us) has always felt the need to create something in the physical to try and reach that which is spiritual.
In the words of Paul in Acts 18.27 "That they should seek God, and perhaps grope after him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us 28 for in him we live and move and have our being...........29 If therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to imagine that the Divinity is like to gold or silver or stone to a image graven graven by human art or thought.
posted by The last cause at 10:19 PM
1 Comments:
It does indeed seem to be mankind’s universal impulse to fashion material objects to help him connect with the spiritual realm. However, the first “icon-maker” was not some ignorant pagan but the everlasting God, who took the dust of the earth and dared to form that into an image of Himself, naming this living image “man”. The animals looked upon this icon, made of flesh and bone like themselves, but saw in it the very face of their Creator. They therefore lived in submission to man and took from him their names. When that icon fell and the divine image was sullied, God simply redrew it on flesh taken from the Virgin and restored His image in man through the incarnation of His Son, who was born as the Perfect Man and the Perfect Icon of the Father (Colossians 1:15).
Through our union with Christ, the canvas of our humanity is repainted with the beautiful face of our Creator and Redeemer. Christian iconography reflects this, showing the radiant glory of God in His saints, and encouraging each of us to pursue our own restoration in Christ. Icons, for those who understand them, are not some pagan accretion that has somehow crept into the life of the Church, but rather are three-dimensional “scriptures”, portraying the same gospel truths in wood and paint that are proclaimed in paper and ink in our bibles. Icons are to be treated exactly as the scriptures; honored but not idolized, examined and studied, that the divine truths they portray might be formed in each of us.
Post a Comment
<< Home