B.
THE DAYS OF THE KINGS
[1].
Solomon - (1 Kings 11:4-11), The kingdom was lost
because of idolatry.
[2]. Sodomy and idolatry go together (1 Kings
14:22-24).
[3]. Idolatry causes family problems (1 Kings
15:9-15).
[4]. Witchcraft and demonism accompany
idolatry (2 Chron. 33:1-7).
C.
THE DAYS OF THE PROPHETS
[1].
Isa. 2:6-9
[2]. Hos. 13:1-4
D.
THE CHURCH AGE
Paul
reminded the church that idols are nothing (1 Cor. 8:4).
Many of them had been saved and come out of idolatry (1
Thess. 1:9). Satan did all that he could to confuse the
issue and tempt some Christians into once again giving
some allegiance to idols (I John 5:21).
At the
beginning of the seventh century pope Gregory the Great
(590 - 604), one of the strongest of the popes,
officially approved the use of images in the churches,
but insisted that they must not be worshipped. But during
the eighth century prayers were addressed to them and
they were surrounded by an atmosphere of ignorant
superstition, so that even the Mohammedans taunted the
Christians with being idol worshippers. In (726) the
Eastern emperor, Leo III, first attempted to remedy the
abuse in his dominion by ordering that the images and
pictures be placed so high that the worshippers could not
kiss them. But when that failed to achieve the desired
ends he issued an order forbidding the use of images in
the churches as heathenish and heretical. To support this
action a council was called in Constantinople, in (754),
which gave ecclesiastical sanction to his actions. This
great controversy became known as the "iconoclastic"
dispute, a word which means the breaking of images. The
Eastern church banned all use of images or icons, and to
this day that remains one of the great contrasts between
the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic
Church.
But in (787)
a council met at Nicea (Bithynia) , repudiated the work
of the earlier council, and fully sanctioned the worship
of images and pictures in the churches. This action was
defended on the principle on which image worship, whether
among the heathen or Christians, has generally been
defended, namely, that the worship does not terminate on
the image but on the object that it
represents.
Roman
Catholics tell us that they do not pray to the image, or
idol, but to the spirit that is represented by it. But
that is the answer given by idol worshippers the world
over when they are asked why they pray to their idols.
That was the answer given by the Israelites when they
worshipped the golden calf in the wilderness; for after
making the idol they said: "These are thy gods, 0 Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" (Ex.
32:4). They did not intend their worship to terminate on
the image. They were worshipping their gods through the
use of an image, or idol, a likeness which they thought
appropriately represented their gods. But on other
occasions the Israelites worshipped idols as such.
Hosea's condemnation of idolatry in Israel: "The workman
made it; therefore it is not God" (8:6), implies that the
calf of Samaria was worshipped in the Northern Kingdom as
a God. See also (Ps. 115:4-8).
At the
Council of Trent (1545-1563) it was decreed:
"The
images of Christ and the Virgin Mother of God, and of the
other saints, are to be had and to be kept, especially in
Churches, and due honor and veneration are to be given
them."
