Apparently he doesn't have a TDAXP Secret Decoder Ring.

When a transcultural religion like Christianity enters a new culture it is reinterpreted through the aesthetic language and sensibility of that culture. There is no “mockery” or “disdain” in this. The pre-Christian Celts liked to fill space with intricate, curved designs, such as the well-known Celtic knots. Irish Christians used this aesthetic langauge in their illuminated manuscripts and as designs on crosses. No doubt there were some who thought this barbaric, even insulting. But it was just normal people expressing their religious belief in an aesthetic language that made sense to them. He Qi likely is doing the same.

But the difference is: Jesus is not **your** savior, but everyone's in theory. Or say, an image of God, to make it more inclusive. You might say that a person would not piss on an image of his own God, or that it is blasphemy — but perhaps his God, or his concept of Jesus, would permit him to do so, perhaps require him to do so. (For instance, if he thinks Jesus is against idolatry, or the worshiping of symbols as if those symbols are any where near capable of drawing a picture of such an omnipresent, all powerful, HUGE God.)

From your answer about the wafer, and your agreement that believing the idol means worshiping the idol as if it were god, it would seem that Communion is an idolatrous affair.

BTW, I'm not trying to disparage your faith, but only seeking a better guidance toward it.

Feinians, please ditch the incense…;)

Is it merely this: that idols are worshiped as if they **are** gods, but icons, as you say in this post, merely remind one of a god?

If so, then I wonder if the outrage from the Jesus statues (chocolate, urine-covered, etc.) is a negative reaction resulting from idolatry, or the feeling that Jesus is getting pissed on or is being made into something sweet and edible. (Nevermind the wafer-eating idolatry….)

Catholicgauze – Stonecutters only. Sorry.

ElamBend – this overly structured and weirdly semantic stuff exists, but it's ultimately superfluous. Faith and Hope remain, but Love does too, and is greater than these.

Curtis –

“Is it merely this: that idols are worshiped as if they **are** gods, but icons, as you say in this post, merely remind one of a god?”

Generally, yes. You can normally replace “icon” with “picture” or “photograph” with no lack of meaning.

“If so, then I wonder if the outrage from the Jesus statues (chocolate, urine-covered, etc.) is a negative reaction resulting from idolatry, or the feeling that Jesus is getting pissed on or is being made into something sweet and edible.”

Certainly one shouldn't confuse a depiction with a substance. However, besides being blasphemy, such is cruel. If someone would defecate on a picture of your mother, they are not evacuating on your mother. That does not make it all right.

Much of this art is a equivalent of mutilating family photos.

“(Nevermind the wafer-eating idolatry….)”

The consecrated Host is the body and blood of Christ. The “wafer” is, really and truly, the body and blood of Christ, as the wine becomes, really and truly, the body and blood of Christ. Communion is not an Icon of those events, but rather their Re-Presentation.

–this, I like very much. Even a skeptic can find guidance from the Bible! (I usually go with the ask, seek, knock lines, though…!)

[1] http://mycropht.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/jonestown-libertarians-gun-rights/