Repost: As I told a friend when speaking to him concerning the subject of images and their place in Christian life and worship, I told him that I am a man of strong convictions. Upon things that I believe to be certain in life, I believe on them strongly and fight opposition to them strongly, and, upon things that are not so certain, I tend to let those things slide as matters of opinion until it is demonstrated to me otherwise. For living in such a manner, I have been called by some to a legalist, by some to be divisive, and by some to be nitpicky and overbearing. Despite this, I pray that in this particular matter at least you will see in my discourse the same love that you see in yourself when you in tears tell a beloved person of their future judgment and desserts in hell. For of the Ten Commandments, there is but one that carries with it a particular judgment, and it is a weighty judgment indeed. Therefore, for the sake of your children, your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, I pray that you take heed to what I write in this post, because whether or not you affirm it, your failings with regard to this commandment will surely as the Lord lives affect all of them.
By and large the subject at hand, expressly images that are supposed depictions of Jesus Christ, is relegated to the realm of opinion rather than to the realm of certainty. I am not sure why there is such lack of questioning with regards to this subject, but I suppose is greatly based upon the Catholic influence on the church, to whom images are not merely decorations but aids for worship and have been so for centuries. Also, visual depictions of Jesus Christ might very well fall into the same realm as notions such as regarding the church as a building, tithing, and taking the communion elements off a silver platter—such things have been practiced so long that no one knows differently and therefore assume that they are proper notions. I therefore challenge you in this matter, as I would in all matters, to allow a bit of doubt to creep into your religious practices and to test them with the declarations of Scripture. Do not merely say to yourself, “I do not see in the Ten Commandments a command that specifically says, ‘Do not draw pictures of Jesus Christ,’” but ask yourself, “How can I glorify God more with my practices?” “How can demonstrate the glory of God in face of Christ better to world that spits on images of him?” (cf. 2Cor. 4).