That seeking “life” in anything but God is idolatry (“If you do not eat my flesh you have no life in you” John 6) was another idea from Paul, my laundry basket friend. I learnt a lot from him, and he messed me up a lot. (He was, after all, younger than i am now when we were good friends). I guess the moral of the story is– Don’t substitute human guidance for God’s guidance, both interior and through scripture.

Being told where and when and how we should or should not encounter God is placing human limits on him and his grace. Idolatry is a misunderstood word because our modern societies no longer have idolatrous groups – people who believe the physical manifestation of their god is actually IN the image. And in that inability to really understand the idolatrous behavior of people from 10,000 years ago, many things have been called idolatrous when in fact they are appreciation of God’s grace through all our senses including sight.

What a lovely comment.
I just meant that I wondered whether, if I were more spiritual, I would turn to God when sad, restless, bored etc and He would fill the vacuum. Instead, I often turn to God–and often turn to art!

They are there to make a holy place to worship God but they were there to teach in the early Churches too. Up until the invention of the printing press in 1470, 90% of world could not read.  They could hear the gospel being preached but an illiterate  Dad in the year 500 AD, could bring his little boy to the Church and show him the Crucifix and show him how much Jesus loved us.  He could show him a painting of the Holy Family and the son could see in his mind how God became human like us with a family just like he had.  He could show him the statutes of the early Church Fathers like Polycarp and Ignaituis who were martyred  for defending the faith.  he could teach the faith to his son through art. Throughout the ‘dark ages” the only art was in the Church.

God Bless