Religious veneration can be idolatry. This is one of the reason I think that the Gra was right to sign the excommunication.
If, that is, the thing venerated is the thing the religion was founded to venerate {God}, and not something substituted, that is proper. This infinite God is a bit scary. If he knows what we need already, why pray to him? And he’s worse than Santa Claus – he knows whether we’ve been bad or good in excruciating detail. And if he says "No," then what? Talk about "The buck stops here." No, what we need is something a bit closer to us, a bit more limited in powers, a bit less in a position to point fingers. Something that leaves open the possibility of a bargain, or an end run around the rules. Like a saint; someone who made the grade, but is still human. And if one doesn’t perform, we can try others; we never have to face the fact that something might be off-limits.
Or maybe it’s a relic, a place, a holy object or a ritual. In theory, the purpose of the relic, holy place, object or ritual is to focus attention on God, and give the religion tangibility. In practice, it very often happens that the tangible expression itself becomes the object of veneration.
Thus the Gra was right. And the excommunication should still be considered valid based on theory alone. The kind of wicked behavior that we see ought to convince us that the Gra knew what he was talking about. Does it not say a lot that no one wants to live anywhere near them?
If, that is, the thing venerated is the thing the religion was founded to venerate {God}, and not something substituted, that is proper. This infinite God is a bit scary. If he knows what we need already, why pray to him? And he’s worse than Santa Claus – he knows whether we’ve been bad or good in excruciating detail. And if he says "No," then what? Talk about "The buck stops here." No, what we need is something a bit closer to us, a bit more limited in powers, a bit less in a position to point fingers. Something that leaves open the possibility of a bargain, or an end run around the rules. Like a saint; someone who made the grade, but is still human. And if one doesn’t perform, we can try others; we never have to face the fact that something might be off-limits.
Or maybe it’s a relic, a place, a holy object or a ritual. In theory, the purpose of the relic, holy place, object or ritual is to focus attention on God, and give the religion tangibility. In practice, it very often happens that the tangible expression itself becomes the object of veneration.
Thus the Gra was right. And the excommunication should still be considered valid based on theory alone. The kind of wicked behavior that we see ought to convince us that the Gra knew what he was talking about. Does it not say a lot that no one wants to live anywhere near them?
