"CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD" IS A MISUNDERSTOOD NOTION THAT HAS LED MANY INTO IDOLATRY

IT IS CLAIMED THAT THE HOMO SAPIENS SPECIES OF THE HOMINOID FAMILY WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR

Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez, D. Sc.

The Humble Vessel of the Holy Spirit of the Creator of the Universe

‘MAN WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD’, WHAT DOES IT IMPLY?

The wrong doctrines propagated by non-scietific theologians for centuries have been punctured by the Holy Spirit for the re-education of mankind. God is the Ultimate Spirit! No spirit has a body!! Therefore, man was neither created in the image of an incorporeal entity nor designed to resemble the Infinite Being in his finite and corruptable physical characteristics!!! Homo sapiens only resemble the Almighty God in having a tripartite possesion of THOUGHTS, WORDS and DEEDS. God does the three to date! The rest are mere guesswork by humans! RPK

DE-ONTOLOGICAL PREAMBLE

Gen 1:26-31

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

KJV

Many Christians base their rhetorics on this pre-scientific assumption recorded in their Bible as the evidence of things not seen but believed as religious truths that no one dares to question unless he/she wants to be excommunicated. But, was language and writing invented and practised by the first week of creation?

Gen 9:1-10

9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

KJV

This was the pre-scientific notion that lack of blood ends the life of every living thing. Do insects have blood? Or, were they excluded in this convenant? There are more than a hundred other living creature that were designed to survive without blood! Today death is determined by cessation of brain activity not blood or breath. So, blood is not the Image of God, but his vital ingredient for the animals and fishes he created at the dawn of humanity!

2 Cor 4:1-7

4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

KJV

This is mere dogma! This is merely the vituperations of a barrister who was over-powered and blinded, thereafter conscripted for his crimes on his ignomious mission on the road to Damascus to eliminate the earliest Christians!  A repentant fanatic is permitted to overreact and advertise his new-found faith. That was it!

THE WORD IMAGE APPEARED SEVERAL TIMES IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE

Genesis 1:26

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

KJV

Genesis 1:27

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

KJV

Genesis 1:27

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

KJV

Genesis 5:3

3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

KJV

Genesis 9:6

6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

KJV

Exodus 20:4

4 Thou 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:

KJV

Leviticus 26:1

1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

KJV

Leviticus 26:1

1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

KJV

Leviticus 26:1

1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

KJV

Deuteronomy 4:16

16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

KJV

Deuteronomy 4:23

23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

KJV

Deuteronomy 4:25

25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:

KJV

Deuteronomy 5:8

8 Thou shalt not make 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 waters beneath the earth:

KJV

Deuteronomy 9:12

12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

KJV

Deuteronomy 16:22

22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

KJV

Deuteronomy 27:15

15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

KJV

Judges 17:3

3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.

KJV

Judges 17:3

3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.

KJV

Judges 17:4

4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.

KJV

Judges 17:4

4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.

KJV

Judges 18:14

14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

KJV

Judges 18:14

14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

KJV

Judges 18:17

17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

KJV

Judges 18:17

17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

KJV

Judges 18:18

18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?

KJV

Judges 18:18

18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?

KJV

Judges 18:20

20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

KJV

Judges 18:30

30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

KJV

Judges 18:31

31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

KJV

1 Samuel 19:13

13 And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.

KJV

1 Samuel 19:16

16 And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster.

KJV

2 Kings 3:2

2 And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made.

KJV

2 Kings 10:27

27 And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.

KJV

2 Kings 21:7

7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:

KJV

2 Chronicles 3:10

10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.

KJV

2 Chronicles 33:7

7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:

KJV

Job 4:16

16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

KJV

Psalms 73:20

20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

KJV

Psalms 106:19

19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

KJV

Isaiah 40:19

19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

KJV

Isaiah 40:20

20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

KJV

Isaiah 44:9

9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

KJV

Isaiah 44:10

10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

KJV

Isaiah 44:15

15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

KJV

Isaiah 44:17

17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

KJV

Isaiah 45:20

20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

KJV

Isaiah 48:5

5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

KJV

Isaiah 48:5

5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

KJV

Jeremiah 10:14

14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

KJV

Jeremiah 10:14

14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

KJV

Jeremiah 51:17

17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

KJV

Jeremiah 51:17

17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

KJV

Ezekiel 8:3

3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

KJV

Ezekiel 8:5

5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

KJV

Daniel 2:31

31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

KJV

Daniel 2:31

31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

KJV

Daniel 2:34

34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

KJV

Daniel 2:35

35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

KJV

Daniel 3:1

1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

KJV

Daniel 3:2

2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

KJV

Daniel 3:3

3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

KJV

Daniel 3:3

3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

KJV

Daniel 3:5

5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:

KJV

Daniel 3:7

7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

KJV

Daniel 3:10

10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:

KJV

Daniel 3:12

12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

KJV

Daniel 3:14

14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

KJV

Daniel 3:15

15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

KJV

Daniel 3:18

18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

KJV

Hosea 3:4

4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:

KJV

Nahum 1:14

14 And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

KJV

Nahum 1:14

14 And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

KJV

Habakkuk 2:18

18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

KJV

Habakkuk 2:18

18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

KJV

Matthew 22:20

20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?

KJV

Mark 12:16

16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.

KJV

Luke 20:24

24 Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's.

KJV

Acts 19:35

35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

KJV

Romans 1:23

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

KJV

Romans 8:29

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

KJV

Romans 11:4

4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

KJV

1 Corinthians 11:7

7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

KJV

1 Corinthians 15:49

49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

KJV

1 Corinthians 15:49

49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

KJV

2 Corinthians 3:18

18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

KJV

2 Corinthians 4:4

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

KJV

Colossians 1:15

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

KJV

Colossians 3:10

10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

KJV

Hebrews 1:3

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

KJV

Hebrews 10:1

1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

KJV

Revelation 13:14

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

KJV

Revelation 13:15

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

KJV

Revelation 13:15

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

KJV

Revelation 13:15

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

KJV

Revelation 14:9

9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

KJV

Revelation 14:11

11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

KJV

Revelation 15:2

2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

KJV

Revelation 16:2

2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

KJV

Revelation 19:20

20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

KJV

Revelation 20:4

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

KJV

The question to ask every true Christian is: COULD GOD WHO GAVE COMMANDMENTS AGAINST MAKING OF IMAGES MOULD MAN TO REPRESENT HIM IN ANY FORM? There are many contradictions in the theory and practice of Christianity, especially; the Roman Catholics, that baffles the average rational man in the street. Why do Christians who believe that every word in the Bible is revealed and therefore must not be violated have statues in their places of worship? Or, are the paganish Roman theologians reinventing what Moses got directly from gos on Mount Sinai? We need clarifications! If none is forthcoming that satisfies the mind of a Homo faber living in our present Global Village, we shall be left with no other option than to stae categoriacally that the version of Christianity now in vogue is IDOLATROUS and lacks the authority to propagate “ that God made man in His Image”. QED – RPKenez.

IDOLATRY IN TODAY’S CHRISTENDOM MAKES NONSENSE OF THE CLAIM THAT MAN WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. DOESN’T IT?

Idolatry (Greek eidolon, “image”; latreia, “worship”), the worship of a material image that is held to be the abode of a superhuman personality. The concept of idolatry originated in the confrontation between the three great monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—and the polytheistic religions they encountered along their way (see Polytheism). It was first articulated during the clash of ancient Hebrew monotheism with the pagan cults of surrounding peoples. The translators of the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures) used the term eidolon to render about 16 Hebrew words associated with pagan worship; it is in the Septuagint that eidolon acquired the pejorative sense of an image that represents a false god.

In Exodus 20:3-5, Yahweh forbids not only the worship of foreign gods but also the making of images that claim to represent him. The worship of Yahweh in the form of two bulls (I Kings 12:26-32) was regarded as a gross apostasy and was projected back into Israel's ancient history as the episode of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32). A larger problem was the persistent tendency of the Israelites to revert to the religious practices of surrounding peoples (Judges 10:6; I Kings 11:7; II Kings 21:1-9). A succession of Hebrew prophets denounced idolatry: Elijah and Elisha (I Kings 18:22-40); Amos (Amos 2:4); Hosea (Hosea 4:12-13); and Isaiah (Isaiah 17:7-8). A common theme in the prophetic denunciations is the emptiness of idols (Jeremiah 16:20; Isaiah 44:14-17).

In Christianity, the issue of idolatry arose in the context of Greco-Roman society, in which temples, altars, and images were ubiquitous. Christians were subject to charges of treason for refusing to offer sacrifices before the emperor's image. In the New Testament, idol worship is sometimes equated with demon worship (I Corinthians 10:19-21; Revelation 9:20). The early Christian apologists also emphasized that images are made of inert matter and that the human form is inappropriate for representing divinity (see Anthropomorphism). In his work The City of God, Saint Augustine attempted a comprehensive critique of the Greco-Roman gods, polytheism, and mythology, arguing that the pagan gods were lying angels who were engaged in a struggle against the true God.

Muslim opposition to the worship of images is the legacy of Judeo-Christian practice, which Muhammad traced back to Abraham. The Arab tribes of the pre-Islamic era worshiped many gods; among the objects of their worship were stones, trees, and statuettes. After the seizure of Mecca in 630, Muhammad had all the idols of the Kaaba destroyed in his presence. The Qur'an (Koran) contains many prohibitions against idols and idolatry: Muslims may neither marry a woman idolater nor give their daughters to idolaters in marriage (2:220-221).

In the 8th and 9th centuries, idolatry again became a matter of controversy in the Christian world. Especially in the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire, the pagan tradition of image worship had survived in the practice of venerating icons. Christians of Semitic origin were particularly wary of idolatry in any form, and their concerns were intensified by the spread of Islam. In 725 and 726, Emperor Leo III first prohibited the worship of images, then ordered their destruction (see Iconoclasm). Supporters of icon veneration—called iconodules—argued that by representing Christ's human likeness, icons reinforced the doctrine of Christ's Incarnation—a doctrine called into question by the heretical teachings of Monophysitism and Docetism. The use of icons in worship was vindicated in 843 when Theodora, widow of the iconoclast emperor Theophilus, engineered the election of the pro-icon monk Methodius as patriarch. The restoration of icon veneration is celebrated annually in the Eastern church as the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

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EVIDENT IDOLATRY IN CHRISTENDOM MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR GROUP OF SCHOLARS AND CHURCH OFFICIALS TO ATTEMPT RE-INTERPRETING CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES AND DOGMAS

Modernism (religion), in theology and philosophy, attempts by a group of scholars and church officials to reinterpret Christian doctrine in terms of the scientific thought of the 19th century. The collected attempts, although not a single system, were treated as such and called Modernism by Pope Pius X in 1907.

The Modernists of the Roman Catholic church tended to deny the objective value of traditional beliefs and to regard some dogmas of the church as symbolic rather than literally true (see Dogma). The leaders among this group included the Irish theologian George Tyrrell, the British theologian (of Austrian parentage) Baron Friedrich von Hügel, and the French theologian and Orientalist Alfred Loisy. Such works as Life of Jesus (1863; trans. 1863), by the French philologist and historian Ernest Renan, helped to lessen the authority of the teachings of the church on early Christianity.

Modernism in Europe was also a matter of political controversy. Those who supported the traditional views on church and state opposed the Modernists and their drive toward social reforms. Within the Roman Catholic church, the centralization of church government in Rome and the influence of the Curia were attacked. Church discipline over the clergy was strongly questioned. Perhaps most notable was the movement among scholars to work and publish without supervision from the church.

Censure of the movement reached a climax in 1907. On July 3, 1907, a decree, Lamentabili Sane (With truly lamentable results), was issued by the holy office with the approval of Pius X. It listed and condemned as heretical, false, rash, bold, and offensive 65 propositions, 38 of them related to biblical criticism and the remainder to Modernism. On September 8 of the same year, the pope issued an encyclical, Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Of the primary obligations). Modernism, it said, is a synthesis of all heresies, “an alliance between faith and false philosophy,” arising from curiosity and “pride, which rouses the spirit of disobedience and demands a compromise between authority and liberty.” Pius concluded his attack on the movement on Sept 1, 1910, in a motu proprio (a message prepared on papal initiative alone), Sacrorum Antistitum (Oath Against Modernism). He gave assent to all articles of Roman Catholic belief and dissented from all the tenets in all times condemned by the church of Rome. In the same document, he required an anti-Modernist oath from all clerics in the Roman Catholic church.

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ECUMENISM FAILED BECAUSE OF IDOLATRY IN CHRISTENDOM

Ecumenical Movement, movement for worldwide cooperation and unity among Christian churches. The term ecumenical is derived from the Greek oikoumenē (“inhabited”); thus, ecumenical councils of the church, the first of which was held at Nicaea in 325, were so designated because representatives attended from churches throughout the known world. In the 19th century, the term ecumenical came to denote to the Roman Catholic church a concern for Christian unity and for a renewal of the church. To Protestants who have pioneered in and advanced the modern ecumenical movement since the early 20th century, the term has applied not only to Christian unity but, more broadly, to the worldwide mission of Christianity.

Until the 20th century, only sporadic efforts were made to reunite a Christendom shattered through the centuries by schisms, the Reformation, and other disputes. Pressure toward unity was aided in the 19th century by the development of such organizations as the missionary and Bible societies and the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Association, in all of which Protestants of varying denominations joined in support of common causes. In the early 20th century, the unity movement was almost exclusively Protestant.

The World Missionary Conference of 1910, held in Edinburgh, marked the beginning of modern ecumenism. From it flowed three streams of ecumenical endeavor: evangelistic, service, and doctrinal. Today, these three aspects are furthered through the World Council of Churches, constituted in 1948; in the early 1980s it included more than 295 churches in more than 90 countries.

The evangelical concern of modern ecumenism brought about the formation, in 1921, of the International Missionary Council, comprising 17 national mission organizations. It coordinated mission strategy and aided new churches.

The service efforts made by Christians across denominational and national boundaries came to fruition in 1925, in Stockholm, when the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work was convened to study the application of the gospel to industrial, social, political, and international affairs. This movement proceeded under the slogan “service unites but doctrine divides.”

The movement toward doctrinal ecumenism resulted in 1927 in the convening of the First World Conference on Faith and Order. The conference concluded that “God wills unity ... (and) ... however we may justify the beginnings of disunion, we lament its continuance.” A second Conference on Faith and Order met in Edinburgh in 1937, the year in which another Life and Work Conference met at the University of Oxford.

Delegates to the two conferences agreed that their work should be coordinated, and in 1938 a provisional committee was named to establish a “body representative of the churches.” Formation of the World Council of Churches, which was to have come about in 1941, was delayed for seven years by World War II. In 1961 the missionary stream of Protestant ecumenical endeavor joined with the service and doctrinal currents as the International Missionary Council merged with the World Council of Churches.

The impulse to unity was acted on almost solely by Protestants until 1920, when the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople issued an encyclical summoning all Christians to reunion. Eastern Orthodox churches have been members of the World Council since it was constituted. Ecumenism continued to flourish among Protestants and the Orthodox; for example, in 1950 the National Council of Churches was formed by 29 denominations in the U.S. The Roman Catholic church, however, remained uncompromising in its rejection of the movement. From the Roman Catholic viewpoint, church unity could mean nothing less than the return of schismatic “sects” to the “one true church.” An encyclical issued in 1928 by Pope Pius XI had reemphasized this position, and as recently as 1954, Roman Catholics were forbidden to attend the second assembly of the World Council of Churches.

Change came in 1959, when Pope John XXIII proposed the calling of a second Vatican Council to complete the work of the first Vatican Council of 1870. Renewal and reunion were high on the agenda, and the world followed the proceedings closely. The pontiff created a Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. Breaking precedent, in 1961 he permitted Roman Catholic observers officially to attend the third assembly of the World Council of Churches. Also through his influence, when Vatican II opened in Saint Peter's Basilica in 1962, Protestant and Orthodox observers were accorded places of honor and included in all working sessions. The 2500 Roman Catholic bishops who attended the four council sessions (1962-65) dealt with Christian unity. Their decree on ecumenism, promulgated in 1964, spoke not of “schismatics” but of “separated brethren,” and it deplored sins against unity committed over the years by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike.

On the death of Pope John, in 1963, his successor, Pope Paul VI, made known his intention to continue ecumenical advances, describing unity as “the object of permanent interest, systematic study, and constant charity.” The policy was emphasized by several major gestures. In 1964 the pope and the Orthodox ecumenical patriarch had a warm, historic meeting in Jerusalem, the first meeting of the heads of their two churches in more than 500 years. In 1966, the archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Communion, visited Pope Paul, and in 1967 the pontiff visited the Orthodox patriarch in Turkey. At the close of Vatican II, a Joint Working Group was established between the Vatican and the World Council of Churches. Numerous official dialogues were started in many countries between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Significantly, the Joint Working Group declared in 1967 that not two but only one ecumenical movement exists. Furthermore, at the fourth assembly of the World Council, in 1968, a Jesuit theologian spoke of Roman Catholics as partners with other Christians in the quest for the unity “that is Christ's will for His Church,” and broached the possibility of Roman Catholic membership in the World Council. That had not occurred by the end of the 1980s, but the Roman Catholic church continued to have a good working relationship with the World Council, regularly sending observers to its sessions.

REV. PROF. J. J. KENEZ HAS NOTHING TO ADD TO THESE REVEALING HISTORICAL RECORDS THAT CONFIRM HIS ASSERTION AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS PROTRACTED DISSERTATION ON IMAGE OF GOD; NAMELY OUR RESEMBLANCE IS ONLY IN THOUGHTS, WORDS AND DEEDS, NOT IN ANY PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES!                                                        

Quod Erat Demonstradum!