[Vision2020] Icons [was A Post Regarding Douglas Wilson]

[Ralph Nielsen]

Seeing the icons on Gary Greenfield's blog site prompts me to pass  
this on.

After the takeover of the Christian church by Constantine, Jesus and  
other important figures in the church were represented in the same  
royal garb as was worn in the court of the emperor in Constantinople  
(present day Istanbul). The large churches became known as royal  
palaces or basilicas. On the ceiling was usually a large mosaic of  
the Emperor Jesus glowering down on his humble subjects. The clergy  
were dressed in expensive robes that put to shame the lilies of the  
field. The Christian liturgy was very similar to the court ceremonial  
of the day.

However, statues were not used in the Eastern Church because carved  
images were forbidden to the ancient Hebrews in one of Yahweh's Words  
(Commandments). But the Western Church continued the use of statues  
for religious purposes, as had been done for many centuries by the  
pagan Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.

Several centuries later many Protestants went even further in  
ecclesiastical iconoclasm and forbade both statues and pictures. To  
this day in many old Dutch Calvinist churches the original Catholic  
stained glass windows have been replaced by plain Protestant glass.  
So instead of worshipping an icon or a statue many Protestants now  
worship the Bible. Idolatry has been replaced by Bibliolatry.

Ralph