How many Commandments are there?

Some churches agree wholeheartedly with your statement. I have been to churches that have only a cross present with no supposed image of Christ on it. according to world book encyclopedia, graven does not cover reprints of drawings, but I suspect the concept is the same.

Do you have pictures of your loved ones?

Statues and pictures of people we love are not idols.

Statues and paintings of Jesus and the saints are just like pictures of the people we love and respect.

The King James Version of the Bible states in Exodus 20:4: "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"

Why were the Jews commanded not to make graven images? Graven images were the standard method of pagan worship. They were representations of false gods.

This is a very clear command.

However God commanded the Jews in Exodus 25:18 and 1 Chronicles 28:18–19, "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them"

And in 1 Kings chapter 7 Solomon made bulls and other images out of precious metals.

It seems obvious that the Jews did not worship the cherubims and Solomon did not worship the bulls he had made. These images did not violate the command of God. Therefore, an image not made for worship is acceptable.

In Numbers 21:8-9, "And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered."

And in John 3:14-15, Jesus says in correlation, "And just as Moses lifted up the [image of a] serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

How can a statue of our Lord Jesus Christ dead on the cross be considered an idol to a false god? A crucifix is the message of the Gospel without words held up for all to see, a visual reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus, no different from a painting, a play, or a movie.

Catholics do not worship statues but the almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

With love in Christ.

10

Jesus simplified them to two: Love God with all your heart. Love your neighbour as yourself.

As for graven images:

`` ...already in the Old Testament God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word. So it was with the bronze snake, the ark of the covenent and the cherubim.``

There are 10 commandments. Images of Jesus on the cross are not graven images. They are religious symbols. They glorify God and Jesus, and remind of of his sacrifice for us.

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that they are two separate indemnities.

The Bible says that you are to believe without seeing and without touching. I believe it is wrong to have even a picture of Christ in your wallet. But I am not God, nor am I the person who will stand before God and explain why I had a graven image of him either.

I have enough to account for without adding any more to the list. I am a Christian who loves God and believes in him without touching or seeing any graven image of ownership.

I think many people despite their religion need to touch, to feel to see, to believe.

There are 10.

you just answered your own question. JESUS IS GOD, therefore worshiping Jesus IS worshiping God. Therefore it's not worshiping another god before Him; it's worshiping Him.

I hope this clears things up. Good luck my friend.

Oh and the commandments, old testament . .. 10 .. But then Jesus came around and changed things a little bit. There are one or two commandments Jesus gave us. He summed up the original 10 into 2. 1. Love and worship God and NO other gods. (My wording is way off, but that's basically it.) 2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

He also gave us the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Treat others the way you want them to treat you.)

No.

The first commandment is "You shall have no other God's before me."

The SECOND command is "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth." It says nothing about making images of Christ...it is speaking of making idols which do not honor God. In your thoughts, anything which is built could be an idol.

WHAT!?!??!!? Making a cross with Jesus on it (a crucifx) isn't a graven image. It is an image OF God. Jesus is God. We aren't to make graven images of other gods.

Actually the commandment is "I, the Lord, amd your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides Me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep My commandments."

There ---- we are not to make statues of other gods nor worship them. A statue of Jesus on or off the cross isn't another god, He is God. We have statues and pictures to remind of Him and looking at them can help us concentrate on our prayers.