What is a "carved image"?

The 2 commandments of Yahweh are seemingly obvious most anyone could agree they are common moral sense. But I am confused on some, and want to hear opinions about this.

To begin with, Yahushua tells us that all the commandments can be added up into two basic commandments:

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Mathew 22:37-40

So out of the 10 commandments of the old testament, we are told that some are related to loving Yahweh, some are related to loving other humans.

as I see it:
LOVING GOD:
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make idols.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (this is for both?)

LOVING OTHERS:
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.

from mathew 19:

16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

So we can see that keeping the commandments bring us life, i think there are other places where this is told. how keeping the commandments benefit not only you but your children and other people around you.

now that the preliminary discussion about the commandments are put out there (sorry for how long this post is) i will present my questions.

The second commandment from the ten is this:

You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

So if I was a woodcarver, and I carve a wooden eagle. Does this violate the commandment?

If I take a picture of the eagle, does this violate the commandment?

Did the carved charibum on the ark of the ten commandments violate this commandment?

Or does it only violate it if you bow down and serve a created image? An instance I can think of that would be a television, if we are sitting for hours watching a telvision, would that be worshipping (bowing down), and serving (working to get money to pay the cable bill) images?

So the question is,

1. what is a graven image?
2. does the commandment get violated if one is merely created, or if it is worshipped?
3. would famous art be considered in this category? the mona lisa? starry starry night?

these are questions that i am asking, not because i am forcing these on other people. I am studying them personally and am seeing what peoples opinions are on this. thank you all before hand.

It seems to mean Graven image, idolatry of a heavenly deity to worship, I think it's oversimplifying to say carved..I don't know why they do that, a moulded piece of work would achieve the same purpose.

BTW, yer boyo on the Holy Grail or the ark is a Cherubim. Anyway, nobody much knows what a Cherubim looks like except Ezekiel, and his description is of an ugly three headed cowboy, but then Ezekiel was out there most of the time.....wasn't he?

originally posted by: sociolpath
So if I was a woodcarver, and I carve a wooden eagle. Does this violate the commandment?
If I take a picture of the eagle, does this violate the commandment?
Did the carved charibum on the ark of the ten commandments violate this commandment?

Traditionally Islam has gone in for abstract art (on buildings, etc.) precisely because they took the command as literally as this.
I think the Biblical answer would be that treating it as your god, as a substitute for the true God, would be a breach of the command.
And treating something as your god even if it was not carved in wood or stone would also be a breach.
If your king or your president demanded to be treated as God, that would be a breach of the first two commandments.

a reply to: sociolpath

I think the worshipping idols thing is about letting anything become to important. The tale has the desert dwellers worshiping a golden calf. I think the parable is more about the gold than whatever shape it is fashioned into.

Don't 'love' (become addicted to) things, self, money, that kind of thing.

You worship what ever you spend all your time doing. If you spend all your time earning, then you love money too much.

If you're into dope, sex, religion, war, TV, food, whatever it is you can't live without, whatever you are addicted too, thats your idol… thats the meaning of 'worshiping idols', imo.

a reply to: sociolpath

I swear if i didnt know better i would say you want to start a god debate lol.
Nothing wrong with that .
But i think you already know what carved image you bow and serve means.
Remeber the first think moses found the jews doing when he came from the mountain was bowing down to a gold cow.
Lol and it still goes on today .

I think they used the word carved because, at the time, that's how images were made.

a reply to: sociolpath

Like you say two of them are common sense, the rest are not.

a reply to: sociolpath

I love to carve to.

And my interpretation is more along the lines of do not create false idols for people to worship in stead of God or as a conduit.

You know the though and energy put into any piece, it's directing it to that place.

I'm sort of on the fence with the cross, way to glamorous.... They dress it up with whatever is selling.

Anyway just a thought or two.

Cheers!

So maybe we shouldn't carve the turkey tomorrow, just rip off the flesh and eat it.

Did I put an image in your mind?

What about TV commercials? Advertising modern day idols, new car, sports character, celebrity, military recruiting advertisements (the god of war), etc.

I keep wondering about these things because as a species humans have more visual images surrounding them today then ever before in history.

Now peoples main idol is their self (ego), to which via the internet and smart phones people it seems to be taking numerous selfies a day.

If you are surrounded by images on a constant basis, it is impossible to observe your surrounding area because most images are purposefully made to be false, even more so with digital capabilities.

I was skating across the city from a neighborhood adjecent to where I live early this year and I had a vision of this.

In the vision I saw every human, adult and child with a smartphone or tablet in their hands, and on the screens were images of all different kinds. The light from the screen directly beamed into their eyes and there were all sorts of SENTIENT spirits or entities crossing from the image into the people, where they are then stored in their minds or bodies.

In the vision, I was also shown that a video (I'm not sure about photo) of a person already plagued by these entities a picture of them (usually a selfies) can propigate the entity.

These entities are symbiotic with the persons false self, their destructive ego.

It was after that (and learning about the AI behind the scenes) that I deleted fb profile. As the majority of these images are spread by Facebook.

Images feed into the subconscious mind. That is how memes work. And they really do work. An image, maybe a few words, and you imbed an idea (possibly an entire thought construct) in someone and possibly thousands or millions of minds.

Im not trying to change the world. I do hope someday television and advertising will be eradicated, but right now I'm removing myself as much as posible.

a reply to: rickymouse

You did haha

Why not get wild if you are already devouring a slaughtered animal? Sink your teeth in, growl when your relatives ask to pass the sauce.

Or possibly like some natives past did, and thank the spirit of the animal for giving its host body to you for food. Although I think that might be necessary to be at the moment of slaughter.

a reply to: intrptr
I definitively think any type of an addiction acts as an idol. Have dealt with videogame and drug/alcohol addiction in years past and now having come out of it that's what I see it as.

A 'graven image' is another word for 'dead image' or an image with no life in it. What do you see in most if not all churches? Jesus on the cross or an empty cross. It is usually the central image of any church, usually it is made out of wood and is carved. What does Jesus on the cross represent? Jesus' DEATH on the cross, the cross representing a tool of death, it is a graven or dead image. Jesus' death has nothing to do with eternal life. Eternal life is within life itself, what we are living right now.

a reply to: sociolpath

To me it means to put something else in God's place in your heart. So, the idea of Beyism with Queen Bey would be verging on idolatry. The culture of celebrity worship is idolatry in a sense depending on how deeply you engage in it. Sports team fanatics can be idolatrous if you give the devotion to your team the sort of reverence you ought to reserve for God.

In a normal, healthy sense, it is not wrong to cheer for your team or to enjoy the music or acting work of a celebrity, but we all know how far people these days can carry it. There is a point where you put those things on the pedestal, make them objects of your adoration. Think Belieber.

Or maybe... you stray into a deep love for another image which is highly sacred to another...
Ex: Holy Spirit Of The Father And Of The Son Is Their Flag... You Being One... Stray To Embrace Another... Typical And Comely.
Do Not!
But... There Is Too Stones And Metals And Woods Which Throw Us All Off Topic.