I am so grieved that some Christians are equating a picture of our spouse with a picture of a man depicting Christ.
First of all the picture of our spouse, really is whom the picture portrays, we know what our spouse looked like, we see them every day.
When someone makes an image of a man to show who Christ is, we know it is not Him. It is a human idea of Him. God told us expressly not to do that.
Acts 17:29
""Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, AN IMAGE FORMED BY ART and thought of man."
I actually saw a site that was defending these images, lying against God by saying He is flattered when we make images of him. He is not only not flattered, He is angry when we disobey His Word.
When we need a picture of a man depicting Christ to remind us of Him, then we are lacking faith.
2 Corinthians 5:7
"for we walk by faith, not by sight."
God wants us to "worship Him in Spirit and in truth." The picture of a man depicting Him is a lie, it is not Him.
Do you look at a picture of a man longingly as though it were Christ,? If the answer is yes, then you are worshiping.
Do you say your prayers in front of the picture and think the man in that picture can hear you? If the answer is yes, then you are worshiping the man in the picture.
When we look at a picture of a spouse on the wall, we do not talk to it? Not usually, we find our spouse and go talk to them directly.
Some people do this at the grave, they speak to the dead in the grave as though they can hear, this is worship and a departure from truth. The person in the grave cannot hear you, nor can it respond, it is not alive nor does it not have powers.
There is a spirit of necromancy in our country, it is subtle, many believers have bought into it, the honoring of the dead at a grave site is a form of worship. How can it be anything else? If we know the person who has died is not in that grave, only their lifeless shell is there. Then why do we speak to this shell? Part of us wants to believe that the person can hear us.
When we walk with the Lord, we can let go of our loved ones, knowing they have passed on to another existence, does not depress us, unless we refuse to let go of them. The memory we have of them should be enough, and we should be able to get on with our lives without them.
Our love for them is not diminished because we have moved on when their life here is over. Loving them after death, does nothing for them and keeps us in bondage to the past. The feeling of love for our passed friends and relatives will always be there, but it has no value for the person who has left us. Their life on earth is over, we need to focus on those who are alive and still with us.
I have heard of people who celebrate birthdays of their dead relatives, this makes no sense, if we remember that the birthday party is for the person we honor. When the person cannot see or hear the party, then the party makes no sense. In fact it is rather goolish to celebrate the birth of someone who has passed on. Perhaps birthday parties are more for those who give them rather than the one they say they honor.
I think this comes from the fear of being without someone. Christ is always with us, He is not gone if we are believers, we need not look at a picture to know of His presence.
When our loved ones pass, we need not fear their leaving, but celebrate their home going if they were saved.Then move on to complete our mission in the Lord.
Perhaps it would be good for believers to begin questioning all the rituals they observe, comparing them with the Word of God, willing to let go of anything that is not Biblical. I assure you, when we seek truth, we find that we don't miss the meaningless traditions that have no other value than to make us feel food temporarily.
Let us release our dead to God and be satisfied for Christ to live in us, without need of props and rituals that are not mandated in the Word.
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