29. Do not make an idol for yourself

The 29th commandment of Mosaic Law is to not make an idol for yourself  

Where in scripture?

Exodus  20:4

You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth

New Testament Reference

Ephesians 5:5

Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Conclusion

Binding on Christians 

Discussion

The second Mitzvah is to not think there are other gods besides Him. Perhaps this discussion might have been better posted there, but at the time I was still just developing a style and format, which is still a work in progress.

Modern man has jumped from carving idols and gods for himself and now has moved on to make himself a god.

While I’m typing this, I also have a EWTN recoding of Fr. Corapi on my television. Interestingly, his discussion touches upon this topic. He said, “Hubris is egotistical pride. It places the created over the creator.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sin, in part, as:

1850 …Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become "like gods," knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of oneself even to contempt of God." In this proud self- exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.

As many writers have pointed out Secular Humanism in effect elevates man to the status of God. It believes in the absolute supremacy of humanity. However, Secular Humanism is too broad of a subject to adequately address in a single blog post, so I’m going to narrow down the topic.

In prior posts I have tried to use facts to prove my conclusions. I have tried to approach posts logically - as if I was proving a geometry theorem. I use established and accepted proofs to prove my theorem.

Today, on Christmas, I’m not going to do that. Instead I’m going present two sides of a question for which I don’t have a definite answer.

Is this Hubris?

Before I proceed with this question, I want to emphasize that Abraham Lincoln was one of the best presidents the U.S. has had. I’m only using this example because most readers are familiar with it.

In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said, “But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”

I certainly do not want to minimize the value of the lives of the many brave men who died at Gettysburg, but Lincoln’s speech typifies the thought and belief processes of most people.

In an earlier post, we discussed how the Catechism of the Catholic regards the meaning of “hallowed”.

2807 The term "to hallow" is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way.

In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln suggested that the sacrifice of men could make ground holy. Is the belief that the blood of brave men can hallow ground merely hubris?

I’m not trying to be “holier than thou.” I’ve fallen into this thinking too. For example, when I purchased my first scapular I wore it for several months without bothering to have it blessed. I told myself that it really didn’t matter whether the scapular was blessed or not because it had special significance to me. As with a blessed scapular, it was a constant reminder to live as a Christian. Even though the scapular hadn’t been blessed, I had felt that I was entitled to share in the same indulgences and privileges as if I was wearing a blessed scapular. Was this hubris on my part?

On the other hand

As I was planning this post, I had intended to come to the conclusion that the above thinking was indeed hubris. I discussed it with youngest my son. He suggested to me that I was minimizing the power of symbolism. According the Catholic Encyclopedia, “symbolism is essential, to every kind of external worship and we need not shrink from the conclusion that in the matter of baptisms and washings, of genuflexions and other acts of reverence, of lights and sweet smelling incense, of flowers and white vestures, of unctions and the imposing of hands, of sacrifice and the rite of the communion banquet, the Church has borrowed, without hesitation, from the common stock of significant actions known to all periods and to all nations. …Religious symbolism is effective precisely in the measure in which it is sufficiently natural and simple to appeal to the intelligence of the people.”

If you have some thoughts or conclusions, please feel free to leave a comment.