BY MICHAEL BROWN , CP OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Mar 27, 2017 | 11:50 AM
If Jesus has changed your life and set you free from homosexual practice, your testimony is not welcome on Vimeo — not now, not ever. And if you see homosexuality as another aspect of sexual brokenness, something for which Jesus died and something from which you can be healed, your opinion is not welcome on Vimeo. Case closed, door shut, end of subject.
edited: to add verses concerning the destruction of the sacred space
Regardless of the worldly reason (the technicality in Vimeo's TOS), YHWH doesn't allow idolatry to mix in with His Name forever and will attack it after He has stopped waiting for them to repent. That logo has to go. It contains solar deity imagery (i.e. the sun disk/halo).
Deuteronomy 7:25 (NIV)
25 The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God.
Ezekiel 5:11 (NIV)
11 Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
Ezekiel 20:7 (NIV)
7 And I said to them, “Each of you, get rid of the vile images you have set your eyes on, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Origins of the Halo (surprise, surprise, Egypt is on the list):
Exhibit A: GotQuestions.org
Question: "What does the Bible say about halos?"
Answer: A halo, also called a nimbus, is a geometric shape, usually in the form of a disk, circle, ring, or rayed structure. Traditionally, the halo represents a radiant light around or above the head of a divine or sacred person. Since halos are found nowhere in the Bible, what is their origin in Christianity?
Interestingly, the word “halo” comes from the Greek word for a threshing floor. It was on these floors that oxen moved round and round in a continuous circle on the ground, making a circular path in the shape we now associate with halos. Many ancient societies, including the Egyptians, Indians and Romans, used a circular sign to suggest supernatural forces, such as angels, at work.
In art, halos originally appeared as disks of gold sketched upon the head of a figure. This depicted a sphere of light radiating from the head of the person, suggesting that the subject was in a mystical state or sometimes just very smart. Because of its shape and color, the halo was also associated with the sun and resurrection. By the fourth century, the halo had become widely used in standard Christian art. Essentially, it was used to mark a figure as being in the kingdom of light. Most commonly, Jesus and the Virgin Mary are shown with halos, along with the angels. In fact, halos are found in art forms all over the world. Sometimes, especially in the East, crowns are used instead of halos, but the meaning is the same: holiness, innocence and spiritual power.
With it not being found in the Bible, the halo is both pagan and non-Christian in its origin. Many centuries before Christ, natives decorated their heads with a crown of feathers to represent their relationship with the sun god. The halo of feathers upon their heads symbolized the circle of light that distinguished the shining divinity or god in the sky. As a result, these people came to believe that adopting such a nimbus or halo transformed them into a kind of divine being.
However, interestingly enough, before the time of Christ, this symbol had already been used by not only the Hellenistic Greeks in 300 B.C., but also by the Buddhists as early as the first century A.D. In Hellenistic and Roman art, the sun-god, Helios, and Roman emperors often appear with a crown of rays. Because of its pagan origin, the form was avoided in early Christian art, but a simple circular nimbus was adopted by Christian emperors for their official portraits.
From the middle of the fourth century, Christ was portrayed with this imperial attribute, and depictions of His symbol, the Lamb of God, also displayed halos. In the fifth century, halos were sometimes given to angels, but it was not until the sixth century that the halo became customary for the Virgin Mary and other saints. For a period during the fifth century, living persons of eminence were depicted with a square nimbus.
Then, throughout the Middle Ages, the halo was used regularly in representations of Christ, the angels, and the saints. Often, Christ’s halo is quartered by the lines of a cross or inscribed with three bands, interpreted to signify His position in the Trinity. Round halos are typically used to signify saints, meaning those people considered as spiritually gifted. A cross within a halo is most often used to represent Jesus. Triangular halos are used for representations of the Trinity. Square halos are used to depict unusually saintly living personages.
As we’ve stated at the outset, the halo was in use long before the Christian era. It was an invention of the Hellenists in 300 B.C. and is not found anywhere in the Scriptures. In fact, the Bible gives us no example for the bestowal of a halo upon anyone. If anything, the halo has been derived from the profane art forms of ancient secular art traditions.
A halo (from Greek ἅλως, halōs;[1] also known as a nimbus, aureole, glory, or gloriole) is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art. They have been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes. In the sacred art of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, among other religions, sacred persons may be depicted with a halo in the form of a circular glow, or flames in Asian art, around the head or around the whole body—this last one is often called a mandorla. Halos may be shown as almost any colour or combination of colours, but are most often depicted as golden, yellow or white when representing light or red when representing flames.
The Israelites were exiled to Babylon (and sacred space burned up) for this kind of behavior (adopting the abominable spiritual practices and imagery of the surrounding nations, not ridding themselves of the paganism). If the natural-born branches couldn't do this, then what makes us gentiles (wild olive branches) think we get a free pass to do the same?
2 Chronicles 36:18-20 (NIV)
18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.
20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
Deuteronomy 6:15 (NIV)
15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.
1 Corinthians 10:19-22 (NIV)
19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
We can't give honor to both.
Not to mention, borrowing imagery from the spiritual practices of the pagans legitimizes their belief(s), contrary to the Bible which says that they are not legitimate. The sun is not to be worshiped. YHWH created the giant fireball in the sky we call the sun; He is not the sun (but its Creator), and we do not worship the sun or anything like it. We did not impose Commands upon ourselves; the Creator of the universe did. And He is unlike what the pagans worship. Ergo set-apart, holy—which we're also called to be.
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That said, obviously, judgment starts with us (so there's no point in saying, "but the lustful pagans! but the Muslims!"—in due time they will be punished. Those who are representative of YHWH on earth need to be corrected/punished first).
1 Peter 4:17-18 (NIV)
17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,
“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”[a]
Footnotes:
a. 1 Peter 4:18 Prov. 11:31 (see Septuagint)
Proverbs 11:31 (NIV)
31 If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!
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