What does Exodus 20:4 mean to you?

We should not make what is in heaven or earth?


We are not to make anything that is in heaven or on earth, what does that mean for people who make gold crosses as necklaces or designs for jewelry, T-Shirts, clothes, shoes, etc. What about the ones making a statue of Jesus and praying and bowing down to the statue? Or even the statue of Mary? Jesus isn't a fashion statement or an entertaiment vessel. Why are we dragging his names into such materials?





When the prophet bowed down to Jesus in the bible, Jesus told him to get up because he wasn't the one to be bowing down to but God. Even Jesus does not want anyone to treat him as a God. He never said he was God. Why are we doing what God said in the bible NOT to do?





Please state the name of bible used, followed by references to assist your opinions so I can do further research. Forgive me, but I can not study off of answers with nothing to back them up with.

What does Exodus 20:4 mean to you?
The verse should not be taken literally. It simply means God demands exclusive allegaince like a husband to a wife. It means worshipping something other than God.





Man must not believe in or worship many gods (polytheism). Also, Scripture constantly rejects idols made by hand. "They have mouths and they do not speak. Those worshippers who make them are like them" (Ps 115:4-5). Only the true God gives life and intervenes in history.





Idolatry is not just pagan worship. It also consists of honoring a creature who is not God. This could be demons (Satanism), power, pleasure, money, etc. "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Mt 6:24). Martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast" (Rev 13-14). Idolatry always rejects the Lordship of God.





Adoring the true God gives unity to life, while idolatry is a perversion of man's religious sense, "transferring man's indestructible notion of God, to anything other than God" (Origen).





Peace and blessings!
Reply:I used the SAB (skeptics annotated Bible)





I think it means that God didn't want people to make graven images for him. Not an image of something on earth, heaven or in the waters. Why? God doesn't exist.
Reply:That we should not have crosses, fish, pictures, idols of any sort. We are to worship God alone.


People usually don't study the Bible they allow someone else to tell them waht is there and that is dangerous.





I use the KJV and interlinear Bibles only. The latter has the original Hebrew, Greek and English.





Crosses are pagan and not to be venerated. The cross that Jesus was put on was a device of torture and murder.
Reply:I hope you will be patient with me while I attempt to answer your question. First, I realize that you are asking for reference to assist in opinions, but keep in mind that if you are asking for opinions, you are not going to get a lot of 'reference'- only facts can be backed up with references. Opinions are a combination of what we have learned, heard and/or maybe read something about. Secondly, I study from the King James version of the Bible, however, I always research with the Concordance, The Living Bible and the Amplified. Most importantly, I depend upon the Holy Spirit which is the ultimate teacher to teach me what the Word of God says and means. My teaching is based upon the Word. I have read the Bible from cover to cover and I continue to study. I realize in my study that the Bible was written by inspired men of God. I also realize that there are many portions which have been written to certain groups and not ALL of the Bible applies to everybody. I have been taught that the early beginnings, where God's chosen people - the Jews - were given laws and directives in order to separate them from the other nations, in order to give them a 'way of life' and to this day, many of them continue to walk in that way - the old testament. As a new testament believer - I know that the old testament is history and law and information so that I would know how the Jews were supposed to live. When I read the scripture you have submitted - it only tells me that during that time - God did not want His people to use anything in the earth, or from heaven or anything from below to substitute as their God. During that time, it was believed throughout the various nations that gods were made of many substances. If you read history, you will find that many countries still use eartlhy or heavently (sun god, moon, stars, etc.) as a form of worship to a god that has control over heaven and earth. God did not want his people to be a part of this practice. He was their God and showed them many times his power and majesty. To the new believer, you might think that the charms and bracelets, etc that today's Christians might use are forms of worshipping idols- or replacements of God - but that is not so. Because of all the laws - the Jews and new Christians could in no way serve the law. God knew this and sent Jesus to FULFILL the law - but the law was not as it was in the old days - the new covenant that Jesus said he gave unto us was to"love one another as (I) have loved you." And how did he love us - through the cross - and his forgiveness of sins, his death, burial and resurrection from the dead. This is the only commandment we must follow. If we accept the law of Love - then all the other commandments will cover. We are to be witnesses of his goodness, win others to his love and show others the same love he showed us. In other words, I no longer can look at you or anyone with a judgment mirror and point out faults and frailties. I must look at others with Jesus as the mirror and see them as HE sees them and forgive and love everyone. Jesus IS God in the flesh. And the Holy Spirit is our comforter and guide. The spirit man inside us always makes contact with the Holy Spirit and cries out when we deny him the true Word and study and worship. As humans, we will always go against what God would have us to do. This flesh is something we must die to daily. It is a constant to keep the tongue from guile and repeating untruths, hurting people with our words; it is a constant to keep the body from doing what it wants (overeating, fornication, anything that is against the will of God for our bodies are the temple of God - it is where God resides)- but we have to remember that we are a three fold person - we are a spirit first - (this is what has been reborn and can never sin), we live in a body (the body is the temple of God) and we possess a soul (our intellect- thought process, emotions.) I am happy that I live in the new testament. Again, I like to know what happened in the past, but I don't concentrate on that. I keep my mind focused on what JESUS SAID. I study that. The new testament and all that Jesus has taught us, all that Paul has taught us that he learned from the Holy Spirit and from Jesus are what I focus on. I study what the gift of the Holy Spirit does for me and how I can stir up that gift inside of me in order to live the kind of life God would have me to. Remember - the Word says that we cannot get to God unless we go through and by Jesus. Jesus sits on the right hand of the Father whereby His own blood has been sprinkled on the Mercy Seat and when we sin or fall short of God's will for our lives, Jesus is there offering us to the Father in forgiveness and ready to make us whole and complete because everything was sinful and wrong in the world was made right (we were made righteous) through Jesus. He is our advocate and elder brother. Thank you for asking the question and allowing me to shed some light as the Holy Spirit has given it to me. God bless you.
Reply:That is because Jesus is not God nor his son. He is a prophet of God. People also should not draw portraits that claim that is how Jesus looked like. Someone sees a Davince piece, they say it is Jesus's appearance.
Reply:"IN Exodus 20:3-6 God forbids making graven images for the purpose of idolatry but does not forbid the making of graven images per se. Elsewhere he commands that statues and other graven images be carved for religious purposes. The Catholic Church permits statues because they remind us of unseen things, but it condemns the idolatry of statue worship.





"[The Lord said] make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. . ." (Ex. 25:18-19).





"You shall make the tabernacle with . . . cherubim skillfully worked" (Ex. 26:1).





"The Lord said to Moses, `Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole" (Num. 21:8-9).





"He made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. . . . He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the Temple . . . And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. He carved all the walls of the Temple round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers" (1 Kgs. 6:23, 27-29).





"[The brazen sea] stood upon [statues of] twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east" (1 Kgs. 7:25).





"And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about" (1 Kgs. 7:36)."





Please use the Greek Septuigint for research.


In Christ


fr. Joseph
Reply:Simply put, Exodus 20:4 means that we are not to create, build, manufacture, or covet, any physical object in the entire universe, such as animals, earth creatures and objects, sun, moon, or stars-- and then worship them as though they were a conscious and listening God, which would hear the prayers of people, and thereby protect them. Exodus 20:4 is a verse directly and specifically directed toward discouraging "IDOLITRY" which was expressly forbidden.


Moses believed that when the people worshipped IDOLS, they would lose sight of the real God who is invisible and unseen by the physical eyes.


Anyone who attatches any attribute of God to anything physical, including prayer beads or gold crosses commits idolitry in the eyes Of God.


Remeber the golden calf that was created by the Israelites while Moses was away from them on the mountain recieving the 10 commandments? He was furious upon his return, and immediately had the gold calf destroyed because it was an idolitrous object.
Reply:Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything on heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." New International Version


This is one of the ten commandments written for the hebrews who had just left the idol filled land of Egypt. This commandment was to remind the Israelites that there is only one God not the many they had experienced in Egypt. This is made current in todays christianity by the belief in the trinity father son and holy spirit the three as one. As Jesus is the Son of God he is equal to God and holy spirit. I cannot answer for Mary I am not Catholic perhaps you could ask them about how Mary figures in I really have no clue.
Reply:You claim, "When the prophet bowed down to Jesus in the bible, Jesus told him to get up because he wasn't the one to be bowing down to but God. "





Actually the bible claims the opposite.





Mt 14:33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."





Jesus accepted their worship.





Likewise in Joh 9:38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him."





So if Jesus accepted worship from people, then who was he claiming to be.





Here's what the Jews thought:





Joh 10:33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."





Given these facts do you believe in Jesus for who he claims to be or do you reject him?
Reply:To fully understand verse 4 you have to go on and read verse 5





Exo 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:


Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God... (KJV)





It's pretty simple to me: Don't have any idols, don't make any idols, and certainly don't worship any idols beacause you should only worship God.
Reply:It is interesting that the question ask what does it mean to me? What we should be asking is what does God mean. God who created us has worth above all created things. To worship any created thing would be placing the same value on the created as the creator. God alone is only worthy of our worship. Worshiping any wood or stone made by man would be consided foolish and dangerous. In Revelation 4:11 the bible states only you are worthy oh lord and God to recieve glory and honor and power for you created all things. and by your will they existed and were created. In Chapter 5 in all of men they were asking who is worthy to open the seals which speak of the hope of all man. In fact John the author was lamenting because no one was found worth in all the earth. But there was one found who was worthy and he wasn't just a man but the God man verses 6-10 and we who place our faith in him understand yes He is the creator and that alone should make him worthy and yet even more so is the fact that He became the Lamb and by His blood we were made whole by the ransom of His own blood and now all who believe are found acceptable to God for our worth is found in the Son that has always pleased the father. Our hope can be yours if you place your faith in Him and not in idols that offer nothing. We have hope in the creator not the created and the benefit is we will reign with Him (verse 10).
Reply:Wow I wish you would provide some Bible verses yourself. Every where in the Bible that I have seen someone bow down to worship Jesus, He did not rebuke them at all.
Reply:God is stressing the sin of Idolatry. We can make anything an idol. Money, fame, work or pleasure can become gods, when we concentrate too much on them for person identy, meaning and security.





Many Catholics use images of Mary and/or the saints as "good luck charms." Any cursory reading of the Bible will reveal this practice as blatant idolatry (Exodus 20:4-6; 1 Corinthians 12:12; 1 John 5:21). Rubbing rosary beads is idolatry. Lighting candles before a statue or portrayal of a saint is idolatry. Burying a Joseph statue in hopes of selling your home (and countless other Catholic practices) is idolatry.





KJV
Reply:He never said the exact words "I am God." That does not mean, however, that He did not proclaim that He is God.





John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” At first glance, this might not seem to be a claim to be God. However, look at the Jews’ reaction to His statement, “We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” -John 10:33... The Jews understood Jesus’ statement to be a claim to be God. In the following verses, Jesus never corrects the Jews by saying, “I did not claim to be God.” That indicates Jesus was truly saying He was God





John 1:1 says that “the Word was God.” John 1:14 says that “the Word became flesh.” This clearly indicates that Jesus is God in the flesh
Reply:Exodus 20:3-6 (KJV)


3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.





4Thou 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.





5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;





6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.





You have to read the verse in context. What God is saying is that you should not make idols to worship.





John 1 KJV


1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.





The Word was God, the Word was made into flesh in Jesus Christ.





John 10:30 KJV


I and my Father are one.



FISH