Are all believers in God automatically idol worshipers?

DaveC426913 said:
I think you might want to read that more carefully. It very nicely makes my point, several times.
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If your point is:

"...acting toward that object, person or concept as though it is worthy of worship"
This refers to things that are NOT otherwise worthy of worship. Worshipping a god is the definition of worshipping the thing that is worthy of the worship. i.e. not some substitute.

"... treating as God that which is not God, and in particular acting toward a representation of God as if it is God. .."
i.e the worship is directed at something other than the god.

"..worshippers are well aware that the signpost is not to be confused with that which is signified."
i.e. the idol is not the god. The god is not the idol.[/QUOTE]

Then I fully agree.

If your point is:

A mental construct is an idea; a mental thing.
Demonstrably different from an idol, which is a physical thing, by definition.
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Then I don't.

I think that idols in the broader theological sense can be ideas or concepts. They don't have to be physical objects like statues.

That's my point.
 
Yazata said:
I think that idols in the broader theological sense can be ideas or concepts. They don't have to be physical objects like statues.
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Such as?


It would require an abstraction of the god, so that one finds onesself worshipping some construct that is, itself, a substitute for the god.
How does one worship an idea that is an abstraction of another thing?
 
Greatest I am said:
The Christians and Muslim Gods are subject to the conventional description. I am not sure about Unitarians but the Gnostic Christian God certainly does not fit the conventional description.
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That's fine. Many Christian's and Muslim's view of God do not conform to the conventional descriptions in their respective religions, either.
 
Well, this thread seems to be quite off the rails... entertaining as it is though, I'm curious if there is a point (beyond attempting to claim that any sort of worship is false idol worship, despite quite clear language in virtually every text of major religions)
 
It's gone off the rails because the original intent - riling up religious people - was executed in the opening post.
 
Greatest I am said:
If I am God, then the image of myself is as close to truth as a mind can make it.
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That assumes that you know your true self.

And obviously if you aren't God, then your belief that you are would be idolatry, in the sense of putting something that isn't God in the position that should be occupied only by God.
 
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