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Originally Posted by Archlute  First, it should be understood that in the opening post I was speaking of religious images more broadly than explicitly Theo-centric art. Included in my question was the thought of depicting angels, well-known saints, crosses, Gospel scenes and the like, whether in the media of painting, sculpture, engravings, etc |
Yeah, I see this as rather non-controversial. I don't see anything wrong with religous art in general, and I don't know of anyone who does.
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Originally Posted by Archlute Second, I do not accept the argument that images must be banned even outside of worship upon the mere possibility that one could have a “relapse”, so to speak, during worship. That is again invoking a “weaker brother bars all” kind of argumentation. If it is problem for you, but not for the town mayor, should that forbid him from having a painting of the last supper in his home? |
The substance of my point here was that alcohol and images of God are as morally different as cotton candy and pornography. I don't see the substance of
that point addressed in your post.
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Originally Posted by Archlute God gives us mental pictures of himself as a faithful husband, a good shepherd, a mighty warrior, a strong arm, a mothering eagle, and many more. These are concrete mental images invoked by God himself for the sake of his people’s understanding. If it is a sin to attempt to picture him in anyway in our mind, then that would rule out even these images so abundantly found in Scripture. Obviously that becomes a problem. |
These are not mental pictures of himself. These are analogies or metaphors that teach us about various of God's attributes. You can certainly picture these mentally, but you would only be guilty of meditating on one of God's attributes not a mental image of God.
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Originally Posted by Archlute As I was doing some reading on the issue this evening, I found that my position regarding religious themes in art is not too far off the mark by the standard of past Reformed theologians. |
I'm curious if you found any reformed theologians who disagreed with your position.
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Originally Posted by Archlute He did see the sculpting of even Scripturally based metaphors of God himself to be forbidden outside of worship, but he was certain in defending the propriety of the mental image as a necessity (which would transgress the position of WLC 109 as I understand it). |
Seems inconsistent on his part.
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Originally Posted by Archlute He did see the sculpting of even Scripturally based metaphors of God himself to be forbidden outside of worship, but he was certain in defending the propriety of the mental image as a necessity (which would transgress the position of WLC 109 as I understand it). |
I looked through Johannes G. Vos's commentary on the WLC. He doesn't mention scripturally based metaphors in reference to sins forbidden by the 2nd commandmet.