Jeremiah;- The customs of the peoples are false (ch10)

In Isaiah ch44 and ch46, the prophet mocks the non-Israelite practice of making idols, with particular reference to the idols in Babylon’s territory. He debunks them by outlining in detail how they are made by human hands and highlighting their helplessness without human intervention. Which obviously shows how they are incapable of helping humans, and Isaiah contrasts this condition with the power of the Creator God. Jeremiah ch10, at least in the first half, is another exercise of the same kind. There are three cycles, building up to a climax, of debunking idols and praising the Creator.

Vv1-7

You should not learn “the ways of the nations”, nor be thrown into panic by alleged “signs” in the night sky. For “the customs of the peoples” (referring to idolatrous religion in general) are false.

A tree from the forest is cut down, a craftsman gives it shape with an axe, somebody else adds gold and silver decoration, and it is fastened in place with nails. They are no more impressive than scarecrows in a cucumber field. They cannot speak, and they have to be carried because they cannot move. This probably refers to the way they were carried in ritual procession, like the similar images of the modern Catholic church. Since they cannot do either good or evil to us, there is no need to be afraid of them.

Vv6-7 “There is none like thee, O Lord; thou art great and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee?”

Vv8-13

The makers of idols are stupid and foolish. They bring gold and silver from far places, including Spain (Tarshish), to attach to items of wood. Even the purple clothing spread over them is the work of skilled craftsmen.

V10 “But the Lord God is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting king. At his wrath the earth shakes and the nations cannot endure his indignation”.
He made the whole world, heavens and earth, by his three qualities of power, wisdom, and understanding. He is capable of making mist rise from the earth and heavy rain descend from the sky, and he also brings the wind and the lightning.

Vv14-16

Every man who makes idols is stupid and without knowledge. His images are false and worthless, they have no breath of life in them, and at the appropriate time they will perish.

The God who is the “portion of Jacob”, who holds Israel as his personal property, is very different. He is the one who formed all things.

V11 “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
Not “from the heavens”, because they were never really there. This is a detached remark in prose, which has been added to this prophecy because it relates to the same theme. In fact it provides a fitting moral conclusion.

Junk hot off the press

a reply to: DISRAELI

It is true that holding a piece of something even a crucifix can be regarded as a form of idolatry but in fact it is not, we are not worshipping the icon but the thing it represents to us, we know that a small icon can not save our lives or help us but the thing that it represents Gods' Love and Mercy most certainly can.

Better brains than ours have debated it since the beginning and there have been in fact WARS fought over it but in those wars BOTH sides were wrong as they spilled Christian Blood WRONGLY and blasphemed the name of God claiming they were doing it in his name.

But then there is the very special category of Images NOT made by human hands, the Turin Shroud for example not an icon or idol but a witness to the resurrection a sign left behind for us that they have tried time and again to deny but that is real.

Or the miraculous image of the Virgin of Guadeloupe in Mexico city, an image that caused the conversion of MILLIONS and saved them from death at the hands of there Spanish conquerors as well as converting them to the worship of Jesus and the abandonment of the demonic false god's and Idol's they had formerly worshipped (it spoke to them in a language they could understand) and it is an image that continues to astound with new discoveries, reflections in the eye's, no dye or paint upon the cactus cloth Tilma (the cloak that the convert Huan Diego was wearing when he met the apparition) that should have rotted away but somehow has lasted for hundreds of years.

And what about photographs such as that of the Virgin Mary bowing toward a cross and directing the people to Worship her son in Egypt.

And guess what digital enhancement of the figure on the photograph at Zeitoun seems to show the same features as that image at Guadeloupe.

Now why is the Virgin Mary so important other than the fact she was sent by God, born of a miracle birth herself and to bring his word into the world, his word was ONE with him in the beginning (in other words Jesus IS GOD as we know and God sent part of HIMSELF to take human form, begotten not created true God from true God which is why he say's he whom see's the son see's the father and why everything was made through him and nothing that was made was made without him).

In Jewish tradition the MOTHER not the wife of the KING and Jesus IS THE KING is named QUEEN and second in power only to her son, So it was with Solomon and so it is with Jesus and the blessed Mother, we don't worship her we worship her son and ask her (as Solomon said his mother ask anything of me and I shall not deny it you) to intercede for us - to ask on our behalf.

Yet many Sects especially much later sects that had NO contact with the original Jewish Christians whom KNEW Jesus take just the few pages and deny the traditions of original Christians and deny this honour to the mother of Christ, they do not seek her intercession and even persecute there brothers and sisters from more traditional Christian church's that DO.
aleteia.org...


Remember also the Jews could READ, many of the non Jews that the apostles set out to convert could NOT read and so for many of them and for the bulk of the church history images were the only way they could be brought into the world of the gospels when they were read to them.

a reply to: LABTECH767

Yes, but the cross is of pagan origin, and God has warned his people that they are not to mix unholy with holy. He does not accept it.

And many do bow to the cross, and pray to it. So it has been used as a form of idol worship stumbling many.

a reply to: LABTECH767

So you are not worshiping the POPE but just that which he supposedly represents.

I get it.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

I do not worship any man but Jesus and he is actually GOD in the holy trinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

What do you worship (if anything) if you don't mind my asking since you make a Statement in the manner of an accusation and an inaccurate one at that.

Even devout Catholics do not worship the Pope, neither do devout Orthodox worship there various Patriarch's, they are merely seen as the head of the Lower Church the Church on Earth and fulfilling the role of high priest until Christs return, they are seen as Servants of the Lord which as long as they Serve God they ARE but in fact those among them whom ARE serving God are our Brothers, call no man on earth FATHER Except your father that is in heaven, not sure were the tradition of them adopting the title father came from but in seeming and I do say Seeming in contravention of these words of Jesus but many say it is because they are the head of the Church which is a family though in fact Pastor is a far more appropriate term since they are the Shepherds of the Lords Flock, Following in the footsteps of the Apostles, do you love me feed my sheep, do you love me tend my sheep, do you love me take care of my sheep but it may also simply be a term of respect that eventually just took and stayed, all the oldest Christian Church's though adopted this tradition, I personally have no problem with it though God is our REAL father.

a reply to: LABTECH767

" he is actually GOD"

If you really believe the new testament is the word of God. Why don't you accept Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus," ?

Why does the Torah warn... "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,"

It is said in buddhism, once we name a bird a bird, we will never see the real bird again. Our mind for expediency, labels everything it see's using pattern recognition. So it doesn't have to continually compute vast amounts of stimili recieved through the sensations. So in lebelling God with our mind as this or that, we are no longer communicating with God, only a facsimile of god that exists in mind. That facsimile is not God (aka Why do you hate me so).

The 3 to 4 generation curse is interesting. It probably suggests that our incorrect beliefs will flow through our children. Cursing them for many generations. Suggesting its probably better being an atheist than believing in ghosts that only exist in our minds.

originally posted by: glend

" he is actually GOD"

If you really believe the new testament is the word of God. Why don't you accept Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus," ?

or 2Tim2:16-16?

Why does the Torah warn... "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,"

the Torah is for all Israel not a Christian today. Still idols are dangerous devices

It is said in buddhism, once we name a bird a bird, we will never see the real bird again. Our mind for expediency, labels everything it see's using pattern recognition. So it doesn't have to continually compute vast amounts of stimili recieved through the sensations. So in lebelling God with our mind as this or that, we are no longer communicating with God, only a facsimile of god that exists in mind. That facsimile is not God (aka Why do you hate me so).

The 3 to 4 generation curse is interesting. It probably suggests that our incorrect beliefs will flow through our children. Cursing them for many generations. Suggesting its probably better being an atheist than believing in ghosts that only exist in our minds.No man is cursed because of his father in this day and age each man will be punished for their own sin.

" he is actually GOD"

If you really believe the new testament is the word of God. Why don't you accept Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus," ?

or 2Tim2:16-16?

Why does the Torah warn... "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,"

the Torah is for all Israel not a Christian today. Still idols are dangerous devices

It is said in buddhism, once we name a bird a bird, we will never see the real bird again. Our mind for expediency, labels everything it see's using pattern recognition. So it doesn't have to continually compute vast amounts of stimili recieved through the sensations. So in lebelling God with our mind as this or that, we are no longer communicating with God, only a facsimile of god that exists in mind. That facsimile is not God (aka Why do you hate me so).

The 3 to 4 generation curse is interesting. It probably suggests that our incorrect beliefs will flow through our children. Cursing them for many generations. Suggesting its probably better being an atheist than believing in ghosts that only exist in our minds.

No man is cursed because of his father in this day and age each man will be punished for their own sin.

a reply to: glend

In the beginning was GOD and with God (PART OF GOD) was the WORD (and all that the WORD means such as Thought, Mind etc).

God sent his Son whom is also HIMSELF the WORD to take on human form, now he created the physical universe so this was and is a genuine physical form a MAN but within that MAN is GOD.

He who sees the Son see's the father, NONE come to the father but by the SON, you can not see God's spirit or being it is beyond your comprehension so he made his SON from a PART of himself and made that part the mediator between him and us.

Now the only ones denying this are the JW's whom are not a good cult to be quite frank about it but are still nonetheless Christians so our brothers and sisters regardless of there error.

We DO have but one mediator, that is Christ and WITHIN Christ is GOD THE WORD SEPERATED BUT STILL WHOLY ONE WITH THE FATHER and the MAN he sent from himself to inhabit in this world, in Jesus words the BODY Is MORE THAN CLOTHING, his body is both figuratively and actually the LIVING TEMPLE OF GOD, tear down this temple and 'I' (God) shall raise it in three days.

If you can not SEE that Christ is GOD you will NEVER See GOD (though that really is up to God and he can change anything).


8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

the Torah is for all Israel not a Christian today.

That is implied by Paul in Galatians 2:21. But he neverless said the law was spiritual in Romans 7:12,14,16,22. Then there is Matthew 5:18-20 that leaave's no if's or but's. A good topic for discussion in itself.

a reply to: LABTECH767

In history there are some christians that have achieved very high levels of spirituality in their lifetime by reading the same text that we read. How is it they can move mountains and we cannot?

Perhaps they did not try to comprehend the words with their mind but with their heart. They perhaps saw God as "LOVE" and saw Jesus the "SON OF LOVE" being represented in their own heart as love. Such a perspective does not invite idols in the mind. It allows ones heart to surrender to "LOVE". Using that "LOVE" to overcome the limitations of the mind and all its idols/labels of incomprehension. I think if you try reading scripture in that light all the contradictions will disappear.

Luke 10:26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
Luke 10:27 "He answered, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Love is the bread of life.
Love is the light of the world.
Love is the door of the sheep.
Love is the resurrection and the life.
Love is the good shepherd.
Love is the way, the truth, and the life.
Love is the true vine.

a reply to: glend

Paul did not imply the law he restated the law.

That is all but the Sabbath.