I'll try to keep this short. And it's not my intent to open a can of worms by asking for thoughts on this, but I found this interesting and thought provoking at least.
I just recently finished J.D. Salinger's "Franny and Zooey" (which I love by the way) and in there he drops a quote from "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" as follows.
"Sir, we ought to teach the people that they are doing wrong in worshipping (sic) the images and pictures in the temple."
Ramakrishna: "That's the way with you Calcutta people: you want to teach and preach. You want to give millions when you are beggars yourselves....Do you think God does not know that he is being worshipped in the images and pictures? If a worshipper should make a mistake, do you not think God will know his intent?"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
This sounds very universalistic. If an image helps one to focus, that's one thing. But the image should never be the worship. Plus we should never make the mistake that the image is a true representation of God. It is an artist's rendering, and therefore never exactly accurate (read J.I. Packer, "Knowing God" for more about this).
Plus, I've never read in the Bible where God says, "Well, you tried. You were a bit off, but you did your best." In the OT and NT God is very strict with his judgments.
We really got to be careful with this stuff (as well as emergent church stuff). There might be some good points raised, but when it comes down to it they're really just saying try to be a good person, love others, help your brother, and God will reward that. They miss the whole Jesus-on-the-cross-empty-tomb thing. Forget it...I gotta post.
I wasn't thinking of literal images when reading this, but more the idea of engaging God as best you know how. I think you should be careful to know and teach good doctrine as best as you can, but it's the very idea of good (or best) doctrine that has kept unity from the church for so long...screw it. new post.
i used that quote as a devotion tonight for the missions trip that i am on, i had high school jrs discuss it and worship, so thanks for adding it there timmy
Post a Comment