The Attraction of Images

The Attraction of Images
Deuteronomy 4: 1-49

Two or three weeks ago I went for a few days holiday and drove from Los Angeles up the coastal highway to Monterey. I had always heard it was a beautiful drive, and it is. The second night I stopped at a motel and noticed as I checked in that the manager had behind his desk a picture of Mother Teresa and alongside it a couple of pictures of gods, in partly human form but rather rotund and with lots of arms. Over breakfast next morning, the manager confirmed that he was a Hindu and treated me to quite a long sermon, covering much of the contents of the Sermon on the Mount. That stayed with me, but so did the pictures of the gods. The use of such images in worship is a regular feature of religions, and it was a regular feature of Israel’s religion in practice, but not one the Old Testament itself approves...