Yup, according to one of my neighbors I am going to hell for using things like this Madonna picture or any old religious medals, rosaries, icons...anything that has been 'blessed'.
'I got it at the goodwill, how do I know its been blessed?'
'You have to assume its been blessed.'
'I do???'
'Yes, this is serious, you can't use them!'
'I can...'
'no, its wrong'
'it isn't...'
*hours later*
'look, it was at the goodwill in a baggie of broken jewelry...if its blessed, its still blessed and on to a new life as something else...'
'no that wrong, you are using blessing's to make money!'
(well, not the way I do it)
At some point you have to agree to disagree, and while I offered to sell her all the religious items at a cut rate deal so she could keep them in a sanctified manner and away from the heathen paws of us pagans, she refused and stormed off.
So, if I am offending anyone by using these medals, religious icons and images for my found object jewelry, I'm sorry...I never mean to offend (profit, yes, offend, no). And if I am going to hell over this I got a lot of questions when I get there.
Doesn't the Catholic Church do Bingo Games? Don't they make money off of it? What's the difference? Besides their attitude toward sinning is usually something like "Oh well I'll ask for forgiveness for it".
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I personally do not think God cares one way or the other. Human Beings put their own significance on everything. Their own interpretations.
ReplyDeleteExodus 20:4, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:"
Deuteronomy 29:17, "And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)
So I do not think anyone that is truly religious would put so much on what you are doing. It's a material object. Not to be confused with God or Spirit or Awareness. It's hypocrisy.
First off, it's a lovely piece of art that you've created. I agree that God doesn't care one whit about using a religious symbol in your artwork. The symbols are of human making, as is the concept of an object being "blessed". Keep making your art, your way, and if there's profit involved, kudos to you!
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