Alan: Not one professed Christian in a thousand knows The First Commandment in its entirety.
And those who have read all the words have Absolutely No Intention of doing what it says.
I have been down this road before...
But I will mention again that the Jewish interpretation of the First Commandment (an interpretation which strikes me as the only possible interpretation) proscribes any representational art that uses creatures as its subject. NOTHING was to come between humans and the contemplation of God's creation.
Such rigid proscription is not a "course of action" I would choose.
But, if people agreed (as Jews and Islamics agree), proscription would be a completely workable solution - as well as a solution that finally obeys The First Commandment.
Ironically, the supposed purpose of statues is to "keep history alive."
Yet "the Jews" - without statuary or any other representational art -- are a singularly historical people.
A convincing argument is made that the historical books of the Old Testament actually merged history with divinity - perhaps a prelude to The Incarnation whereby, mythically at least, the transcendant God was made into the very Flesh of sensory reality.
It can even be argued that Jews invented history, at least as a discipline/pastime revered by "commoners."
Although there are two versions of the decalogue/Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, here is the First Commandment (THE FIRST!!!) as set forth in Exodus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_the_Lord_thy_God
A pertinent aside...
I have written at length about strict application of The First Commandment to escape the looming socio-political and semantic ravages of "Deep Fake" technology.
Tracking Down Deep Fake Videos
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/09/npr-tracking-down-fake-videos.html
No comments:
Post a Comment