{"id":3231,"date":"2008-12-12T11:35:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-12T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/12\/the-second-commandment-and-biblical-literalism\/"},"modified":"2008-12-12T11:35:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T11:35:00","slug":"the-second-commandment-and-biblical-literalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/12\/the-second-commandment-and-biblical-literalism.html","title":{"rendered":"The Second Commandment and Biblical Literalism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The second commandment (on the counting of some this is the second part of the first commandment) as found in Exodus 20:4<\/a> reads as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shall not make for yourself a carved image<\/u>\u2014any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth<\/u>.\u201d<\/div>\n

Then you take a look at the bumper of the car of your average person who claims to be a Biblical literalist and see this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wonder what a so-called Biblical literalist would say if challenged about this. Perhaps that the symbol doesn\u2019t really<\/em> look like anything that could actually swim? But the verse is pretty clear \u2013 don\u2019t make any likeness of anything that is in the water under the earth (which of course reflects as well a certain ancient<\/a> view of the world<\/a>, but let\u2019s not get sidetracked onto that<\/em> subject).<\/p>\n

Perhaps they might point out that elsewhere in the Bible we see evidence that this commandment was not observed strictly<\/a>. But that just shows the problem with Biblical literalism \u2013 there are conflicting statements and inconsistencies in practice.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the appropriate thing to do would be to point out the consequences<\/a> of making such an image. And then, just before going on your way, you might want to let them know that you have no intention of stoning them to death \u2013 because you aren\u2019t a Biblical literalist\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second commandment (on the counting of some this is the second part of the first commandment) as found in Exodus 20:4 reads as follows: \u201cYou shall not make for yourself a carved image\u2014any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Second Commandment and Biblical Literalism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The second commandment (on the counting of some this is the second part of the first commandment) as found in Exodus 20:4 reads as follows:"You shall not\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/12\/the-second-commandment-and-biblical-literalism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Second Commandment and Biblical Literalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The second commandment (on the counting of some this is the second part of the first commandment) as found in Exodus 20:4 reads as follows:"You shall not\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/12\/the-second-commandment-and-biblical-literalism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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