Mary Beard TV - Albert Einstein - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Mysteries of the Bible TV - George Bernard Shaw - Chanakya - John Calvin - Voltaire - Storyville: Tokyo Girls TV - Exodus 20:4-6 - Exodus 32:4-6 - Exodus 34:17 - Leviticus 19:4 - Leviticus 26:1 - Deuteronomy 5:7-10 - I Kings 15:13 - II Kings 17:10-12 - II Chronicles 15:8 - II Chronicles 15:16 - Isaiah 2:8&18 - Isaiah 10:10&11 - Isaiah 45:16 - Isaiah 48:5 - Isaiah 57:5 - Jeremiah 50:2 - Ezekiel 14:5-9&13-17&19&21 - Ezekiel 20:7&8 - Ezekiel 23:48&49 - Ezekiel 44:12 - Micah 1:6-8 - Zechariah 13:2-4 - Wisdom 14:27-29 - Bel and the Dragon 1:1-3&14&15 - I Esdras 2:10-12 - I Corinthians 8:4-7 - II Corinthians 6:16 - I John 5:21 - Koran 4:51 - Koran 7:138 -
Tens of thousands of figurative artworks right across Europe were destroyed or debased by protestants who saw this sort of sacred art as idol worship. Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art II, BBC 2022
Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no-one idolized. Albert Einstein
A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
How could they worship a golden calf after all they had come to know about God? Mysteries of the Bible s4e11: Ten Commandments, A&E 1997
The savage bows down to idols of wood and stone, the civilised man to idols of flesh and blood. George Bernard Shaw
God is not present in idols; your feelings are your god; the soul is your temple. Chanakya
Every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols. John Calvin
The pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed. Voltaire
‘I’ve never felt so passionate about anything in my life.’ Storyville: Tokyo Girls, male fan, BBC 2017
‘I’ve never seen anything like it. This isn’t a fad. It’s a religion.’ ibid.
There are around 10,000 teenage girls who call themselves idols in Japan. ibid.
‘As an idol, there’s a best-by date. I can’t do this for ever.’ ibid. idol
‘Idols used social media to lure fans to their handshake events.’ ibid. journalist
‘A CD is $10. If you buy a CD, you get a ticket to a handshake or a photo together. I spend at least $2,000 a month.’ ibid. old man
Otaku are becoming mainstream. ibid.
AKB48, Japan’s most popular idol band, holds an election every year. ibid.
‘If they were older, they wouldn’t interest me.’ ibid. Male fan
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:4-6
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord.
And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Exodus 32:4-6
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. Exodus 32:19
Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. Exodus 34:17
Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:4
Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 26:1
Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Deuteronomy 5:7-10
And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron. I Kings 15:13
And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:
For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. II Kings 17:10-12
And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord. II Chronicles 15:8
And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. II Chronicles 15:16
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
And the idols he shall utterly abolish. Isaiah 2:8&18
As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Isaiah 10:10&11
They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. Isaiah 45:16
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. Isaiah 48:5
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? Isaiah 57:5
Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. Jeremiah 50:2
That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself:
And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.