Where did the belief in idols come from?

Answer 1

This sounds like a loaded question, but I'll offer my best effort anyway.

People don't usually believe in Idols - they usually believe in whatever the idol is a symbol of. When people pray at the foot of a statue of Isis, it isn't that they think the statue can do something particularly amazing, it's just their way of directing their prayers to Isis, whoever and wherever she might be.

In a way, worshipping at an idol isn't so much different than looking at a picture of a saint when you are trying to get closer to God by learning what that saint was meant to teach, or thinking that a church is "holy ground" (or thinking a church is somehow more special than your own house, in some mystical sense).

Sometimes, people probably do mistake the symbol for the thing symbolised - it's just how people's brains work.

Where did this practice come from? Oh heck - it's ancient - probably almost as ancient as the ability to create art or symbols.

Generally, the gods don't seem to most people to manifest physically in a way we can always see. The more mystical, philosophical and spiritual among us might

see god in every blade of grass," but for most people, even when they believe in something, it's hard to _relate_ to that someone or something without a picture, person, image, or _something_ to look at, talk to, touch, or stand in front of.

So I believe that people began creating images, to give them some sort of concrete representation to interact with, when they were actually trying to communicate with something higher and more ephemeral.

Even Christians so conservative that they refer to Catholics (the oldest existing Christian sect) as "Idol Worshippers" usually will attribute some sort of magical talisman status to their copy of The Bible, or the cross at their church, etc.

Some people might make the argument that the injuction isn't against people who worship any other gods but the Christian one - but merely that people should be worshipping something divine that is real, rather than focusing on the symbols, and paying only lip-service to the ideals. It may even be meant to tell people to live by the spirit of holy laws, rather than pretending to follow the letter of the law, or only _say_ they believe in the Creator (or Isis, or Allah, or Mithra).

People use symbols to help they to connect to higher concepts. It can be easy to forget that it's not the symbol itself they're trying to connect to, but the symbol can help.

Where did the belief in idols come from?

From Human beings desire to have God or Gods standing before them, being a part of their lives, able to be talked to, seen, and touched.

When people are warned off of idol-worshipping, I suspect it's not because statues are bad - it's because people are supposed to try and have an internal connection with something real, that isn't dependent on a particular rock, stone, or picture. You're not supposed to confuse the map with the territory.