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Kissing Icons in Athens: Answering the Charge of Shirk from Exodus
What the video says
A man whispers inside a church in Athens, where people are praying, and answers the objection that kissing icons violates Exodus 20:3-5, which forbids making images and bowing to them. He says the first thing Christians do on entering the church is kiss the icons, and he responds to a Muslim caller who calls this an innovation and shirk.
He argues Muhammad found images of Mary and Jesus in the Kaaba and did not destroy them. He then cites Exodus 25, where God commands Moses to make images of the cherubim for the Ark of the Covenant, and says Exodus 20 prohibits idolatry, as the golden calf episode in Exodus 32 shows. He adds that in Numbers 21 God told Moses to make a bronze serpent so that the people who looked at it would be healed, which he says Jesus alluded to as a type of himself on the cross.
Key moments
- 0:00 The speaker is in a church in Athens and whispers because people are praying there; he quotes Exodus 20:3-5 forbidding images and worshiping them, and says the first thing one does entering the church is kiss the icons.
- 0:33 He answers a Muslim who calls the practice an innovation and shirk, saying Muhammad found a picture of Mary and Jesus in the Kaaba and did not destroy it.
- 1:06 He cites Exodus 25, where God commands Moses to make images of the cherubim and place them on the Ark of the Covenant.
- 1:46 He says Exodus 20 was a prohibition against idolatry, shown by God's displeasure with the golden calf in Exodus 32.
A man whispers inside a church in Athens, where people are praying, and takes up the objection that kissing icons violates Exodus 20:3-5, which forbids making images and bowing to them. He notes that the first thing Christians do on entering the church is kiss the icons. A Muslim caller had told him the practice is an innovation and shirk, and he answers the charge directly.
His first argument is that Muhammad found images of Mary and Jesus in the Kaaba and did not destroy them. He then turns to Scripture and cites Exodus 25, where God commands Moses to make images of cherubim and place them on the Ark of the Covenant. He reads Exodus 20 as a prohibition against idolatry rather than against images as such, and points to the golden calf episode in Exodus 32 as the example of what God condemned.
He adds a third biblical example: in Numbers 21 God told Moses to make a bronze serpent so that the people who looked at it would be healed. He says Jesus alluded to that serpent as a type of himself on the cross. The video moves quickly between the church setting, the caller's objection, and the biblical texts, keeping the focus on whether the command in Exodus 20 rules out the veneration Christians show to icons.
The examples from the Kaaba, the Ark, and the bronze serpent are the core of his case, and each one is meant to show a difference between honoring an image connected to God's work and worshiping an image as a god.
Main points
- The speaker whispers in a church in Athens because people are praying there, and says the first thing one does entering the church is kiss the icons.
- A Muslim caller calls the veneration of icons an innovation and shirk, appealing to Exodus 20:3-5.
- The speaker answers that Muhammad found a picture of Mary and Jesus in the Kaaba and did not destroy it.
- He cites Exodus 25, where God commands Moses to make images of cherubim for the Ark of the Covenant.
- He reads Exodus 20 as a ban on idolatry, citing the golden calf in Exodus 32 and the bronze serpent in Numbers 21, which he says Jesus called a type of himself on the cross.