Yeah. It’s one of the few things the Bible is fairly consistent about, along with golden calf/bronze bull imagery. I’m pretty sure there’s a historical religious explanation for why the Bible consistently referenced gold/bronze cattle, but I find it fascinating and kinda sad that they’re so blatantly worshipping something that the Bible consistently says is wrong. Like, there’s a lot of stuff in the Bible where it says one thing and then later says, “actually, wait, just kidding lol”; but it consistently talks about not worshipping idols while using cattle imagery.
Judaism likely developed out of worship of a specific deity in a pantheon. All the idol worship bans are probably a way to distance yahweh worship from everything else. It exists only to be different.
The real trouble comes when Biblical literalists try to apply this to modern situations. There are still major religions that have idols, but they tend not to be anywhere near American Christian nationalists. But when you believe every single part of the Bible is true and meaningful for your life today, you have to find some reason for it to be there.
“Umm, err, do you have a poster of Kobe Bryant on your wall? Totally an idol in the same way the Bible talks about golden calfs.”
Yeah. It’s one of the few things the Bible is fairly consistent about, along with golden calf/bronze bull imagery. I’m pretty sure there’s a historical religious explanation for why the Bible consistently referenced gold/bronze cattle, but I find it fascinating and kinda sad that they’re so blatantly worshipping something that the Bible consistently says is wrong. Like, there’s a lot of stuff in the Bible where it says one thing and then later says, “actually, wait, just kidding lol”; but it consistently talks about not worshipping idols while using cattle imagery.
Judaism likely developed out of worship of a specific deity in a pantheon. All the idol worship bans are probably a way to distance yahweh worship from everything else. It exists only to be different.
The real trouble comes when Biblical literalists try to apply this to modern situations. There are still major religions that have idols, but they tend not to be anywhere near American Christian nationalists. But when you believe every single part of the Bible is true and meaningful for your life today, you have to find some reason for it to be there.
“Umm, err, do you have a poster of Kobe Bryant on your wall? Totally an idol in the same way the Bible talks about golden calfs.”