Hipster painter + retro rapping priest + Virgin Mary = THIS
There are three possible kinds of God: the god of one's own ego, in which the atheist believes, and which is also the god of modern confusionism; the god of nature, of stone and gold and silver, which belonged to the old religions of idolatry; and the Supreme God, who made both man and nature, and redeemed them both upon the Cross.
Those who tell us that they deny the existence of God are merely substituting one god for another.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Hey, so in the book of Exodus, God calls some His "people". Isn't everyone God's people? Also, the punishment for hurting a woman in a way that she miscarries is only punishable by a fine; doesn't that somewhat contradict the (entirely right) teaching that life begins at conception? And finally, don't the 10 Commandments say not to make graven images, regardless of whether or not we worship them? Thanks so much, it means a lot that you give your time to us Catholic tumblr-ers! God bless you
Is this a test? :-)
The key to all of these is that God’s plan unfolded little by little through history. He had to prepare his people for what was to come, in the fullness of time, in Christ. It happened little by little, not all at once.
So at the beginning, Israel understands that he has chosen Israel for himself as his “chosen people.” That’s why he gives them such privileges (his still-partial revelation of himself to them, the Red Sea event, the Law) that he doesn’t give to other nations. But even by the end of the prophecy of Isaiah (especially books 60-66), Israel is already realizing that its privileges are about to be shared with all the other nations. So the “chosen people” becomes, in Christ, all peoples who are gathered to him in Baptism. In theological terms, Israel “prefigures” the Church.
That’s also why the rather imperfect understanding implicit in certain elements of the Law, like the point you mention about miscarriage.
It’s also there in the Ten Commandments. Israel was told (repeatedly) not to make graven images, since the people who surrounded them were so obsessed with idols. God needed to get across something that we now take for granted — that he is entirely spiritual, dwelling in Heaven, etc. Any idol of him that they would make would be instantly misunderstood, and he would be worshiped just like any other “god” of the time.
But in Christ, God becomes visible, and he does indeed show himself fully to us. So now we can in fact make images of him as a reminder to us of his perfect humanity, and the first Christians understood this fully. It’s a case of a prohibition becoming outmoded by God’s own sovereign option.
God bless you!
- Father Shane