Christianity In Crisis: The 21st Century.

[Scotth1960]

Well, Scott - I am not a Calvinist and your rant comparing statues of Calvin in Geneva to Orthodox/RCC veneration/worship of icons appears to be misguided and not well thought out. The point remains - the veneration/worship of icons by any group should be rejected by all Christians for the obvious reasons.

Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you...​

Dear Hardcastle, Your slander of my words as "rant" is uncalled for and uncharitable. There is nothing misguided about comparing similar beliefs. Your understanding of images comes from iconoclastic Protestantism, not from an objective reading of the Bible. It comes from pre-suppositions that go back to Charlemagne, and his reading of a MISTRANSLATION of the veneration of icons as "worship". Orthodox Christians do not adore or worship as divine the holy images of the Church. All Protestants venerate and respect the Bible, but we would not slander them to say that the worship the Bible. In the same way, even as the Bible is not God, icons are not God. But we are to love God and love neighbor. One would not think it is detracting from worship and love of God to love our neighbors as ourselves. God commands us to love all people. How we treat people, the very least of these, is how we treat Christ, Who is God. So, we can respect and venerate sacred images. One would not rip up and tear to pieces photographs of one's family, loved ones, people in one's own house. So, if you don't forbid the respect of images of family members, why not respect and venerate images of fellow family members of great Christians like St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. John, St. Paul, the Virgin Mary, etc.? In Erie PA