ל Literal Iconoclasm in San Antonio, Texas. A news story from San Antonio tells of a man who broke down idols in a Roman Catholic cathedral there.
...
Temple Beth-El Rabbi Barry Block also expressed sorrow over the destruction.
"San Fernando Cathedral is a treasure to us all," Block said. "Anything Temple Beth-El
can do to help our friends at the cathedral, we'll certainly be there."
While detained, Rodriguez reportedly told police officers he was God and was saving
souls by destroying the idols that sinners worship. Police said he told them he was
proud of his work and that it had been done in the name of his father. He also
reportedly told police he had died and the person he used to be no longer is alive.
A man proclaiming himself the "Prince of Peace" intent on saving souls from idol worship
ran amok Tuesday morning at San Fernando Cathedral, toppling seven statues, reducing
parts of them to piles of dust.
Mr. Rodriguez takes his Christianity seriously, and is a reminder that ours is a
radical religion that raises tough questions about idolatry and blasphemy. Is he crazy?
Well, maybe he was reading things like these passages from
II Kings 18:3-4 and II Chronicles 14:2-3 describing the good kinds Hezekiah and Asa:
...
And Asa did that which was
good and right in the eyes of the
LORD his God:
For he took away the altars of
the strange gods, and the high
places, and brake down the
images, and cut down the
groves:
And he did that which was
right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that David his
father did.
He removed the high places,
and brake the images, and cut
down the groves, and brake in
pieces the brasen serpent that
Moses had made: for unto those
days the children of Israel did
burn incense to it: and he called
it Nehushtan.
Or maybe Mr. Rodriguez was reading the New Testament, where Matthew 21:12 says
And Jesus went into the
temple of God, and cast out all
them that sold and bought in the
temple, and overthrew the tables
of the moneychangers, and
the seats of them that sold
doves,
I'm not sure what a Christian (or Jew, or Moslem) ought to do nowadays, except that
until one is pretty sure, one oughtn't to create public disorder and one oughtn't to
complain much when the police come and lock you up afterwards. The question matters,
though. If (a) God is offended by idolatry, especially when mixed with true religion; or
(b) breaking down idols helps to rescue people who would otherwise be damned, then there
is a strong case for breaking down idols. Of course, both those premises need proving
first. And a strong case does not mean a conclusive case: what ought to be done when
goods deeds are illegal is always thorny, and the Bible also has many examples where
good men did *not* break down idols--e.g., Paul did not disrupt Roman temples.
[ http://php.indiana.edu/~erasmuse/w/04.01.15a.htm . Erasmusen@Yahoo.com. ]
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