Southern Baptists Endorse The Use Of Icons!
The Southern Baptist Convention finally gets it. Orthodox don't worship images! The Southern Baptist's icon of Billy Graham stands outside the Lifeway Headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Lifeway is the main educational materials publisher for the SBC and the former Baptist Bookstore. The icon of Billy Graham is appropriate. Should we accuse Southern Baptists of idol worship? Of course not. The image of Billy Graham is to remind us of a life spent in servitud
e to the things of God and in the SBC's own words is a "tribute" to him. Perhaps now the SBC can make the historic connection and not think it so strange to see our Orthodox icons used in a very similar manner. Orthodox are just a bit more cognizant of the fact that the people whom the images represent are not dead but worship around the throne of God in the Great Liturgy as we do here on earth. Therefore, we can ask the real life subject of the icons to pray for us. Orthodox also have been around about 1800 years longer than the SBC so we have a larger collection.
The Southern Baptist Convention finally gets it. Orthodox don't worship images! The Southern Baptist's icon of Billy Graham stands outside the Lifeway Headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Lifeway is the main educational materials publisher for the SBC and the former Baptist Bookstore. The icon of Billy Graham is appropriate. Should we accuse Southern Baptists of idol worship? Of course not. The image of Billy Graham is to remind us of a life spent in servitud
e to the things of God and in the SBC's own words is a "tribute" to him. Perhaps now the SBC can make the historic connection and not think it so strange to see our Orthodox icons used in a very similar manner. Orthodox are just a bit more cognizant of the fact that the people whom the images represent are not dead but worship around the throne of God in the Great Liturgy as we do here on earth. Therefore, we can ask the real life subject of the icons to pray for us. Orthodox also have been around about 1800 years longer than the SBC so we have a larger collection.
... a much larger collection! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to call them idolators anyway. Graham is still alive.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Nathan! But I've gotta call you on this, bro... if it's going to be a competition of 'who can consider their collection to be bigger', the 'winner' would have to be us crazy Baptists who believe that we are all one church in Christ: Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant. We can claim 'em all! ;) But of course, it's not a competition. Love ya man!
ReplyDeleteTongue in cheek Adam.
ReplyDeleteGood point , even with tongue in cheek .
ReplyDeleteA Reformed church I used to attend has pictures of the Church Fathers -- Luther, Calvin, , Edwards, Warfield, Spurgeon, Machen , Hodge , Dabney --
prominently displayed in their narthex (um... "foyer") . And in the tract rack a booklet from Banner of Truth publishers about why we shouldn't have pictures of Jesus because they are idolatrous.
Truth is stranger than fiction.