Monday, October 19, 2009

Hope in Religious Icons (patron saint of Honduras, Our Lady of Suyapa)

In a little chapel in the back of La Terraza, newspaper clippings plastering the wood-paneled walls describe how luck, and most likely remorse, rescued her.


The above quote is taken from Amid a Crisis, Hondurans Heap Large Hopes on a Tiny Religious Icon

This article shows the foolishness and inconsistencies of putting one's hope in a religious icon. For example:

1. If the icon could not keep itself from being stolen and had to be "rescued" herself, why should one put their hope in the icon?
2. Note the inconsistencies between bel“We know that only God can solve the crisis we have” and putting one's hope in an icon. While one might argue God could save them through the icon, is this the modus operandi of God, whose Word contains the following:

Isaiah 40:18-22 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? 19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. 20 A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple. 21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.


Hosea 4:12 They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.


Habakkuk 2:18-20 18 "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 19 Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."

No comments:

Post a Comment