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chavos · 09-10-2003, 07:08 PM

Again, i believe you are trolling...your question assumes its answer, and uses coercive language to make its point. I don't appriciate that at all. that said....

idol versus icon...

this was one of the huge debates of the latin/eastern schism. and i'll do a quick rehash. the idol is worshiped as a god made manifest in an object...but it implies control. there is a special ritual or something, and the god is believed to be almost obligated to manifest with in the object, or otherwise interact with the people. this is an offence to the theology of trancendance of the isrealites, and gets smacked in the torah, etc...

In contrast, the icon is meant to be an analogy. Like the bread and lamb of passover, or the booth of sukkoth, or the 12 stones in the uniform of the high preist, it is a symbol...a metaphor. it is not god, it is a way of thinking about God. God frequently is compared to everyday things, even in the old testement...and such comparisons are similarly icons.

Is the divinity of Jesus an affront to the proclaimation of the Shema, "o hear isreal, the LORD thy GOD is one"? Aside from my personal meditations on the subject of he is Jesus, Christ, or both...i think a strong case can be made that it does not necessarily do so. in the eastern tradition, the trinity is not meant as a artificial division of the unity of God. it is a means of reflecting on three ways in which God has made God's self known in the world. God has created, God has redeemed, God has come to dwell in our hearts. Or i could say God is the Father, God is the Christ, God is the Spirit. Trinitarianism is not defacto idolotry.

Ps: i think this is a worth while question, and am glad to answer, but i feel you really do need to work on how you present your questions.

09-10-2003, 07:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
chavos Banned Location: St. Paul, MN	Again, i believe you are trolling...your question assumes its answer, and uses coercive language to make its point. I don't appriciate that at all. that said.... idol versus icon... this was one of the huge debates of the latin/eastern schism. and i'll do a quick rehash. the idol is worshiped as a god made manifest in an object...but it implies control. there is a special ritual or something, and the god is believed to be almost obligated to manifest with in the object, or otherwise interact with the people. this is an offence to the theology of trancendance of the isrealites, and gets smacked in the torah, etc... In contrast, the icon is meant to be an analogy. Like the bread and lamb of passover, or the booth of sukkoth, or the 12 stones in the uniform of the high preist, it is a symbol...a metaphor. it is not god, it is a way of thinking about God. God frequently is compared to everyday things, even in the old testement...and such comparisons are similarly icons. Is the divinity of Jesus an affront to the proclaimation of the Shema, "o hear isreal, the LORD thy GOD is one"? Aside from my personal meditations on the subject of he is Jesus, Christ, or both...i think a strong case can be made that it does not necessarily do so. in the eastern tradition, the trinity is not meant as a artificial division of the unity of God. it is a means of reflecting on three ways in which God has made God's self known in the world. God has created, God has redeemed, God has come to dwell in our hearts. Or i could say God is the Father, God is the Christ, God is the Spirit. Trinitarianism is not defacto idolotry. Ps: i think this is a worth while question, and am glad to answer, but i feel you really do need to work on how you present your questions.