The 31st commandment of Mosaic Law is to not make human forms even for decorative purposes
Where in scripture?
Exodus 20:23
Do not make anything to rank with me; neither gods of silver nor gods of gold shall you make for yourselves.
A plain reading of Exodus 20:23 suggests that the verse is consistent with the previous Bible verses and Mitzvot that we’ve discussed. It prohibits the making of gods or idols of silver or gold.
Jewish tradition interprets the verse as a prohibition against making human forms that could be used as idols. According to Mitzvah a Day, which is a blog that is similar to this one, except that it is written from the Jewish perspective, Jewish tradition holds that “Making sculptures of the human head (with or without the body) is forbidden and is punishable by 39 lashes from Bet Din. Drawing and engravings of heads are permitted.”
According to My Jewish Learning, “Over time, this commandment has been interpreted in a variety of ways. The most common prohibition, and the one that's most obvious from the text, is against creating sculptures of people, animals, or planets for the purpose of worshipping them. One of the primary messages of the Torah is that worshipping idols is not allowed, so it's not surprising that creating pieces of art that could be used as idols was prohibited.
“…Today most traditional rabbinic authorities go by the ruling in the Shulhan Arukh, sanctioning depictions of the human body that are somehow incomplete. For example, a sculpted bust would be acceptable, but not a full human form; a drawing in which part of the body is obstructed by a piece of furniture or another person would also be acceptable.”
According to Catholic Answers, “It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues. … God forbade the worship of statues, but he did not forbid the religious use of statues. Instead, he actually commanded their use in religious contexts!”
Catechism of the Catholic Church
2131 Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified against the iconoclasts the veneration of icons - of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new "economy" of images.
2132 The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it."70 The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone:
2141 The veneration of sacred images is based on the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God. It is not contrary to the first commandment.
Discussion
According to Catholic Answers, “Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas.”
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.
From the many painted images in the catacombs underneath Rome, we know that the very first Christians used images of men, angels, and Jesus to assist them in their worship.
Shroud of Turin
When God made the New Covenant with us, God was revealed to us in a very visible form. To this day we can still see the true likeness, not a mere depiction, of God – the second person of the Trinity - in the Shroud of Turin. The existence of the Shroud has reinforced the faith of millions of people. Would it be inappropriate to gaze upon the Shroud? Would it be inappropriate to take photographs of the Shroud? Before the invention of photography, would it have been inappropiate to make a painting or statue simulating the image of the Shroud?
Our Lady of Guadalupe
If God didn’t want us to uses images of the human form in religion, why did He give us the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe?
At the risk of straying off-topic, I’ll briefly discuss the miracle for those who are not familiar with it. In 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young woman, while he was on a hill near Mexico City. She instructed him to ask the local bishop to build a church on the site. He talked to bishop, but the bishop asked for proof of the vision. Juan Diego returned to the site and explained the situation to the Blessed Mother.
Three days later, the image of Our Lady miraculously appeared on his cloak and he showed it to the bishop. Four technical studies were conducted between 1751-2 and 1982, the findings of three of which have been published.
· The material of the cloak is soft to the touch, almost like silk, but is a coarse weave of an agave fiber.
· Studies show no under-drawing.
· The fiber should have decayed centuries ago. The cloak has maintained its structural integrity for over nearly 500 years, while replicas of the same material normally last only about 15 years before suffering degradation.
· The cloak repaired itself with no external help after a 1791 ammonia spill that initially did considerable damage.
· In 1926 an anarchist bomb destroyed the altar, but left the cloak unharmed.
· In 1929 and 1951 photographers found human figures reflected in the Virgin's eyes – the same type of reflection that is found in human eyes.
· In 1936 biochemist Richard Kuhn analyzed a sample of the fabric and determined that the pigments on the image were from no known source.
Per a plain reading of Exodus 20:23, we must not make gods or idols of silver or gold. However, the 31st Mitzvot that specifies that we must not make human forms even for decorative purposes is not binding on Christians.
Conclusion
Not binding on Christians
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