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The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
#11
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
(July 26, 2023 at 11:20 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: The republic does become an idol for some people, where nationalistic paraphernalia gains function beyond it's practical or aesthetic use and becomes a focus for worship and signaling.  I wouldn't spend to much time flirting with the idea that god is just an idea in the company of islamists.  Not because I think it has no merit - I think that's exactly what gods are and what gives theistic religions the ability to manifest consequences in reality.  But for reasons of murder.  Combine those two, national and religious idols - and you get mujahideen.  Every nation and every religion has them.  It's not a bug, it's a feature.  It gives them a chip to bargain with both within their societies and outside of their societies.  Whether that comes in the form of intersectional (para)military support, or in dissident action to establish a perpetual minority rule under threat of death or damage to infrastructure.

That leads me handily into how I would explain any orthodox attempt to end democracy.  An abrahamic fundamentalist doesn't believe in democracy from the word go.  That's not how they think the world works, or even should work.  God isn't just an idea, he's The Man..and he makes The Rules...and this is the right and proper way to organize society.  The developed world is leaning into nationalism and authoritarianism in general - even outside of the religiously concerned™.  That zionists might be produced in these circumstances who are willing to both strangle democracy in their own society and utterly disenfranchise..say..palestinians....is like a clock ticking from one second to the next.

FWIW - you don't seem, to me, like you're in the same zipcode.  Your own magic book idolatry is probably just a latent effect of an islamic upbringing.  Background noise - not doing much of anything but making you seem confused and propagandized to an outsider.

Second paragraph:
 
You should read my last post in “Earth’s recent climate spiral 2.0”. You already know that my approach to spirituality is different from those who have a more traditional approach. So everyone is free to join whichever camp they want. If you are fear-based and have a limited understanding of things you can go there. And if you like new ideas and like to explore and experiment new ideas that can change the world as it is today you can come here.
 
But the issue is this. As people in the second camp we all agree that we as human beings have a destructive / fear-based entity in us called “the ego”. That ego needs limits. If it goes unchecked, it has the potential to turn even the most intelligent / creative people among us into complete monkeys (See Elon Musk for instance).
 
The philosophers of enlightenment were aware of this facts. So they created this ideal system in which all people were limited by the rule of law. All nations were limited by international law and “the Society of Nation” (or the UN in today’s terms). In which rulers were elected and all of them had limited powers so that we no longer have to rely on the “goodness” of a King that is appointed by God. But by representatives whose actions constantly being checked by bodies like the Supreme Court for instance.
 
If I understood correctly: The Israeli president Netanyahu wants greater presidential power by reducing to powers of the Israeli Supreme Court. And that’s why everybody in on the street.
 
Yet those who are in the first camp (bigots, fundamentalists, conservatives, whatever) these guys want that change to happen. If it was up to them, a monarchy or a “Hebrew Republic” would do.
 
And again: That’s what the ego does. It has this ability to make you perceive one thing as something else. And that’s the core of most true spiritual teachings.
 
And the ego likes idols. That’s because it perceives a true connection with God as a threat to its own hegemony over us.
 
So these are deeper subjects. But these are known in all major religious teachings. To people like me seemingly mumbo-jumbo stories in the Bible (for instance) are allegoric stories that are pointing to these deeper spiritual realities.
 
Yet, I don’t expect everyone to understand them. As I said, not knowing (or not being interested) is in most cases simply better than being misguided by some interpretation of religious texts claiming to be the only true / possible interpretation of it.
[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]

#12
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
(July 20, 2023 at 6:43 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: Here is the stance of the Quran as it is mentioned in the Chapter called AL-Anbyah in the Quran. The same story is also mentioned in the Bible.
 
Abraham questioned his father and his people, “What are these statues to which you are so devoted?”. They replied, “We found our forefathers worshipping them.” He responded, “Indeed, you and your forefathers have been clearly wrong.” They asked, “Have you come to us with the truth, or is this a joke?” He replied, “In fact, your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, Who created them ˹both˺. And to that I bear witness.” ˹Then he said to himself,˺ “By Allah! I will surely plot against your idols after you have turned your backs and gone away.” So he smashed them into pieces, except the biggest of them, so they might turn to it ˹for answers˺. They protested, “Who dared do this to our gods? It must be an evildoer!” Some said, “We heard a young man, called Abraham, speaking ˹ill˺ of them.” They demanded, “Bring him before the eyes of the people, so that they may witness ˹his trial˺.” They asked, “Was it you who did this to our gods, O  Abraham?” He replied ˹sarcastically˺, “No, this one—the biggest of them—did it! So ask them, if they can talk!”
 
https://quran.com/al-anbya
 
https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Parallelism:_..._the_Idols
 
I mentioned an extract of this Chapter directly in order to discuss its relationship with the anti-blasphemy actions that have started to spread in many places especially in the UK. Here is a good article on that:
 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/protests-outs...00074.html
 
So my argument is that if you are a theist, you must know that God does not like idols. This is something that is mentioned in many places in all Abrahamic books.
 
So the second question is “What is an idol?”. In İslam we have about 99 names that are mentioned in the Holy Book to designate God or Allah. So anything that is not these 99 things all at once (at the same time) does not fall into the definition of God or Allah. So everyone knows that a statue that you may have bought as a souvenir in Nepal (for instance) is not God or Allah. So if you are a theist you do not worship that.
   Now in my definition, any extreme attachment to anything that is not “The power that arranges the movement of galaxies and stars” is a type of idolatry. That could be money, that could be anything in my life my house, my car, by body even my country, even my planet, all of the mosques of the world put together, a copy of a religious scripture, all the libraries of the world, basically everything.
 
    Real spirituality (as defined by one of my favorite Muslim Scholars) is a Matrix (Movie, 1999) philosophy. The main subject here is that “none of these is real / Only spirit / God is real).
 
So in my understanding (and I am not saying that people should not be protesting or reacting in any peaceful means when they feel attacked or insulted in some way) extreme attachment to any type of religious object is also a form of idolatry.
 
I believe that it’s not ok to make fun of religious figures and I have the right to express that thought wherever I like.  But the murder of the Teacher Samuel Paty in France in October 2002 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Samuel_Paty) for me is an act of idolatry. And so are all those protests mentioned in the article above.
 
Spiritual people are people who are focused on inner realities. People who are focused on external objects (as defined by the Quran itself) are just people “Who do thing because their ancestors were doing exactly the same thing”.
 
And this is the very reason while people hate dogmas and all sorts of dogmatic / Zealous belief systems. And I think this is going to be the main challenge of all theists during this century. I think we are being challenged to rectify – basically everything – about our belief systems.

Actually it's not mentioned in all Abrahamic books. 
The Hebrews had all kinds of idols in their capitol until around the invasions that sent them into Exile. They were polytheistic until around the time Isaiah told them to stop.
Yahweh had a wife/consort, -- Ashera. King Hezekiah was told the invasions were the result of the representations of all the other gods. And that was the case until around 500 BCE, when they were told to stop allowing the WORSHIP, (not belief) of other gods.

When the Northern Kingdom seceded from the South, the King in the North (was his name Jeroboam ?) set up a "mimic" of the temple in Jerusalem and instead of the two golden sphynxes on top of the arc, he set up Two Golden Bulls, (which is one of the reasons why, when the priests got around to writing the "story" of the Exodus, they slammed the idea of a "golden bull" which Moses finds when he came down from Sinai, (in the myth).

There is an important over-looked fact here, that there clearly is a transition from "idol-worship" to the use of artifacts which "symbolize the presence of" ... a god. By the time Jeroboam set up the Bulls, human thought had transitioned to the symbolic age.

The use of the words "idols" and "pagans" are pejorative terms (no longer used in academia), to slam the representations of what are believed to be *real* beings, and beliefs that are not held by those using those terms.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell  Popcorn

Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist 
#13
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
(July 28, 2023 at 8:06 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote:
(July 20, 2023 at 6:43 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: Here is the stance of the Quran as it is mentioned in the Chapter called AL-Anbyah in the Quran. The same story is also mentioned in the Bible.
 
Abraham questioned his father and his people, “What are these statues to which you are so devoted?”. They replied, “We found our forefathers worshipping them.” He responded, “Indeed, you and your forefathers have been clearly wrong.” They asked, “Have you come to us with the truth, or is this a joke?” He replied, “In fact, your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, Who created them ˹both˺. And to that I bear witness.” ˹Then he said to himself,˺ “By Allah! I will surely plot against your idols after you have turned your backs and gone away.” So he smashed them into pieces, except the biggest of them, so they might turn to it ˹for answers˺. They protested, “Who dared do this to our gods? It must be an evildoer!” Some said, “We heard a young man, called Abraham, speaking ˹ill˺ of them.” They demanded, “Bring him before the eyes of the people, so that they may witness ˹his trial˺.” They asked, “Was it you who did this to our gods, O  Abraham?” He replied ˹sarcastically˺, “No, this one—the biggest of them—did it! So ask them, if they can talk!”
 
https://quran.com/al-anbya
 
https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Parallelism:_..._the_Idols
 
I mentioned an extract of this Chapter directly in order to discuss its relationship with the anti-blasphemy actions that have started to spread in many places especially in the UK. Here is a good article on that:
 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/protests-outs...00074.html
 
So my argument is that if you are a theist, you must know that God does not like idols. This is something that is mentioned in many places in all Abrahamic books.
 
So the second question is “What is an idol?”. In İslam we have about 99 names that are mentioned in the Holy Book to designate God or Allah. So anything that is not these 99 things all at once (at the same time) does not fall into the definition of God or Allah. So everyone knows that a statue that you may have bought as a souvenir in Nepal (for instance) is not God or Allah. So if you are a theist you do not worship that.
   Now in my definition, any extreme attachment to anything that is not “The power that arranges the movement of galaxies and stars” is a type of idolatry. That could be money, that could be anything in my life my house, my car, by body even my country, even my planet, all of the mosques of the world put together, a copy of a religious scripture, all the libraries of the world, basically everything.
 
    Real spirituality (as defined by one of my favorite Muslim Scholars) is a Matrix (Movie, 1999) philosophy. The main subject here is that “none of these is real / Only spirit / God is real).
 
So in my understanding (and I am not saying that people should not be protesting or reacting in any peaceful means when they feel attacked or insulted in some way) extreme attachment to any type of religious object is also a form of idolatry.
 
I believe that it’s not ok to make fun of religious figures and I have the right to express that thought wherever I like.  But the murder of the Teacher Samuel Paty in France in October 2002 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Samuel_Paty) for me is an act of idolatry. And so are all those protests mentioned in the article above.
 
Spiritual people are people who are focused on inner realities. People who are focused on external objects (as defined by the Quran itself) are just people “Who do thing because their ancestors were doing exactly the same thing”.
 
And this is the very reason while people hate dogmas and all sorts of dogmatic / Zealous belief systems. And I think this is going to be the main challenge of all theists during this century. I think we are being challenged to rectify – basically everything – about our belief systems.

Actually it's not mentioned in all Abrahamic books. 
The Hebrews had all kinds of idols in their capitol until around the invasions that sent them into Exile. They were polytheistic until around the time Isaiah told them to stop.
Yahweh had a wife/consort, -- Ashera. King Hezekiah was told the invasions were the result of the representations of all the other gods. And that was the case until around 500 BCE, when they were told to stop allowing the WORSHIP, (not belief) of other gods.

When the Northern Kingdom seceded from the South, the King in the North (was his name Jeroboam ?) set up a "mimic" of the temple in Jerusalem and instead of the two golden sphynxes on top of the arc, he set up Two Golden Bulls, (which is one of the reasons why, when the priests got around to writing the "story" of the Exodus, they slammed the idea of a "golden bull" which Moses finds when he came down from Sinai, (in the myth).

There is an important over-looked fact here, that there clearly is a transition from "idol-worship" to the use of artifacts which "symbolize the presence of" ... a god. By the time Jeroboam set up the Bulls, human thought had transitioned to the symbolic age.

The use of the words "idols" and "pagans" are pejorative terms (no longer used in academia), to slam the representations of what are believed to be *real* beings, and beliefs that are not held by those using those terms.

(Sorry for re-opening an old debate).
 
   I’m not very knowledgeable in these issues but I’ve seen many idols from the Arabian Peninsula in the Archaeology Museum of İstanbul that seem to confirm what you are saying. So let’s look at one of the oldest of these idols:
 

   
[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]

#14
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
(September 22, 2023 at 6:30 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: To me “idolatry” means over-identification with any aspect of the physical world. So if you are over identifying with some rules that were set by religion without understanding the meaning and aim of these rules when they were first issued, you are very definitely into idolatry.
   

Yes, I think this definition makes sense. And I think that even if we don't have the same religious beliefs as the writers of the Koran or the Old Testament, over-identification with mistaken things is a real worry. 

Probably you're familiar with the more modern concept of a fetish. People can have commodity fetishes, sexual fetishes, or religious fetishes, but they function pretty much as an old-fashioned idol. 

So for example maybe a person wants to be intelligent and sophisticated, but it's hard to actually have those qualities in oneself. So that person buys a watch or a car or something which makes him look as if he has those qualities. He has displaced something real and valuable onto a symbol, and made himself satisfied with that. Or you might want to be young and carefree, so you buy the brand which advertises itself this way, though you're still a slave to commodities.

Likewise with sexual fetishes, the original idea was that normal men want sex with women, but real women are scary, so the sexual desire is displaced onto shoes or something less threatening. 

In every case, a person wants a good thing but replaces it with a fake, because the fake is easier. 

I've heard some Christians speak of bibliolatry, in which literal-minded Christians worship the Bible itself and neglect the real meaning of the religion. They are so worked up over their commitment to the text that they forget to be good people. 

So I suspect that some Muslims might be guilty of something similar -- freaking out over symbols and neglecting actual goodness.
#15
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
1) Fetish is a Freudian term. Like the man is seeing in his dream that his female cousin is offering him a pair of balloons this means that he is willing to have sex with his cousin but is unable to admit it to himself.
 

[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]

#16
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
You can use the term in that way - but fetishes are positively ancient and don't have to have anything to do with sex. The veneration of objects believed to have magical or supernatural potency.

Like magic books. The reason that abrahamism forbids idolatry, fetishes, and totems, is that they're competition for it's own idols, fetishes, and totems. Think of it like this. The big crucifixion sculptures in churches and cathedrals? Those are idols. The magic books littered all over the place? Fetishes. The crosses people wear around their necks, totems. You can probably come up with islamic analogs for each in your own experience.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
#17
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
  The subject is very wide. If we start studying this subject in scientific terms we could write something as wide as a university thesis on this.
 


 
 
[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]

#18
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
There isn't a whole, or a partial, science to crystals. You're right that they're not idols, they're often employed as fetishes and totems...but here's the question I have-

Why would it be bad if you -did- worship them? So god is a jealous god. Is he going to hurt you if you want to see other people? As for whether or not you can grab a magic book and then start harassing passersby on a street corner...yeah, you can do that, it happens with some regularity.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
#19
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
(September 22, 2023 at 6:30 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: [Image: 220px-%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk_oturan_i...%C3%BC.jpg]
 

I think you're mistaken. That's just a woman from Orange County having a "spa" day.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell  Popcorn

Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist 
#20
RE: The Issue of Idolatry in Abrahamic Religions
(October 4, 2023 at 6:44 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote:
(September 22, 2023 at 6:30 am)Leonardo17 Wrote: [Image: 220px-%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk_oturan_i...%C3%BC.jpg]
 

I think you're mistaken. That's just a woman from Orange County having a "spa" day.

No Sir, If Belisarius didn’t sell it and replace it for a fake she is right here in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations Smile
[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]




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