HAROLD MANICANG
The First Commandment would appear to be completely to preclude the making of any sort of representation of men, creatures, or even plants:
Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them (Exodus 20:3-5).
It is obviously clear that the accentuation of this law is in the first and keep going provisos — "no strange gods", "thou shalt not worship them". Still any one who understands it may see in alternate words excessively an outright order. The individuals are not just advised not to love pictures nor
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Josephus recounts the story of Herod the Great: : "Certain things were done by Herod against the law for which he was accused by Judas and Matthias. For the king made and set up over the great gate of the temple a sacred and very precious great golden eagle. But it is forbidden in the law to those who wish to live according to its precepts to think of setting up images, or to assist any one to consecrate figures of living things. Therefore those wise men ordered the eagle to be destroyed" ("Antiq. Jud.", 1. XVII, c. vi, 2). So likewise in "De bello Jud.", 1. l, c. xxxiii (xxi), 2, he says: "It is unlawful to have in the sanctuary pictures or pictures or any representation of a living thing", and in his "Life": "that I may influence them to devastate absolutely the house constructed by Herod the tetrarch, in light of the fact that it had pictures of living things (soon morphas) since our laws deny us to make such things" (Jos. vita, 12). The Jews at the danger of their lives convinced Pilate to uproot the statues of Caesar set up among the measures of the armed force in Jerusalem ["ant. Jud.", 1. XVIII, c. iii (iv), 1, De chime. Jud., ix (xiv), 2-3]; they begged Vitellius not even to bring such statues through their territory [ibid., c. v (vii), 3]. It is well known how furiously they opposed different endeavors to set up icons of false divine beings in the sanctuary (see JERUSALEM, II); however this would be a cursed thing to them even separated from their general repulsiveness of pictures of any sort. So it turned into the general conviction that Jews despise any sort of statue or picture. Tacitus says: "The Jews love one God in their personalities just. They hold those to be indecent who make pictures of the divine beings with corruptible materials in the similarity of man, for he is incomparable and endless, not alterable or mortal. Consequently
Many authors have employed the religious beliefs of their cultures in literature. The deities contained in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Biblical book of Exodus reflect the nature of the gods in their respective societies. Upon examination of these two works, there are three major areas where the gods of the Greek epic seem to directly contrast the nature of the God of the Israelites: the way problems are solved, the prestige and status that separates the divine from the masses, and the extent of power among the immortal beings.
This quote, along with the one from Chapter 16, “All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense with suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped.. Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood” (pg.145, par.1), portray exceedingly sinister pictures of the Lord our God.
The statue of David best describes the ongoing influence of Protestant and catholic controversy on the visual arts. Michaelangelo uses David, a character from the Old Testament as his subject matter. The story goes that David, a mer man throws a stone with a slingshot at the mighty giant Goliath and kills him. (Your basic good vs. Evil.) Michaelangelo uses Clericism in this piece by incorporating a story from the bible, and on the other hand also incorporates his humanism influence into the work of art by placing himself as the character David; Giving us the impression that even the mer man can overcome his problems with knowledge of how to defeat them, instead of continually relying on the almighty to solve your problems for you. David shows the 2 conflicting views in a magnificent statue form.
Unlike the Jewish people today, some Jews did not deny the existence of other gods from other cultur...
The second commandment is thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jeal...
How did people revere their gods differently among three civilizations? Did they worship with the same general intent? What were gods’ role(s) in people’s lives? A brief exploration into the religions of Egypt, Greece, and the Hebrew people may bring insight to these questions. Although the main idea of higher beings remains constant throughout societies’ religion, their form of presence in people’s lives varies. I will present the relationship between the leaders and the gods, as well as resemblance to monotheism and systems of government.
We have made thee neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with freedom of choice... thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou shalt prefer. (Mirandola 225)
In 40 B.C., the Roman Senate assigned Herod to be the ruler of Judea. Herod, or Herod the Great, ruled over Judea for the next 36 years. During his reign, he began various building projects including a temple in Jerusalem that would be used to worship God. The building took decades to complete, and required an enormous amount of money as well as labor. Once completed, the temple was a marvelous structure of astounding proportions. However, while Jesus was roaming the Earth, many of the Jews began to worship the Temple complex rather than worship God, and Jesus was not pleased. “Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down’” (Matthew 24:1-2). Is it possible that Jesus predicted the destruction of Herod’s Temple? The Siege of Jerusalem led to the defeat of the Jews and destruction of Jerusalem, and was prophesized about in the Bible before it occurred.
"All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They are gods of deceit
Ancient Greek religion was a polytheistic religion that believed in many gods and goddesses. To Greeks, these gods and goddesses would be able to control everything. Each god or goddess had his or her own distinct personality and territory. “Greek myths explained the origins of the gods and their individual relations with mankind” (Hemingway). Unlike current religions, like Christianity and Judaism, Greek gods were not known for being moral or being truly good or evil. Many of the Greek gods and goddesses were disorganized and self-contradicting. Although this was apparent to the Greeks, the Greeks believed that their religion was to brighten their own lives, rather than give them godlike guidance. The best example of a self-contradicting Greek god is Zeus – father of all gods and humans (Cunningham and Reich 32-33).
"that moral laws are the heteronomous commands of a transcendent deity who demands obedience." [p.219f]
The Ten Commandments monument should be removed is because it was put there dishonestly. If the circumstances of this situation were different, in that case I would agree that the Ten Commandments monument should stay. Then I take into consideration how the monument ended up in the public courthouse, and I can see why it should be removed. Perhaps the monument should not go away where it will never be seen again, but taken to a place where it can be seen by anyone that wishes.
commandments are to be followed by all the animals living on the farm at all times.
...ce of men reverence at least the flame that gives all life, our Lord the Sun, and do not show unveiled to him pollution such that neither land nor holy rain nor light of day can welcome."
The Seven Commandments are the basic principles of animalism worked out by the pigs and described originally as "unalterable laws" by which the animals were to live. The Seven Commandments were written on the barn wall for all animals to see and read if they could. The original Commandments are: