Thou Shalt Not Take Photographs

A thread in one of the forums that I browse mentioned an incident with someone who claimed that photography was "against their spiritual beliefs"

My initial reaction was that this is a weird extremest position. But it piqued my interest and I did some Googling and I found a relevant passage in scripture.

Exodus, Chapter 20, Verse 4.

This is not an obscure passage, rather it is the second of the Ten Commandments. Written in stone. A common foundation core to the religion of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Here it is in a modern translation, the New International Version:

"You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below" [Citation provided]

Sure, it doesn't mention "Photography". The phrase "make for yourself an image" seems to encompass painting and drawing, photography and video, holograms and carvings - any sort of image.

But am I taking it out of context? Here is the whole commandment:

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."

So really, it is about false Gods, the worship of idols.

This is about people carving an image of a golden calf and worshiping that. Building a shrine in their home to worship the golden calf every day. Having a small carving of a golden calf that they can take with them on their travels, so that they can worship the golden calf everywhere they go.

Which sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

Yet, if you go into any home, you will find that the seats are arranged around a shrine for viewing images. People spend hours every day worshiping at the alter of "American Idol". We don't go anywhere without our smart phone so that we can get our fix of the latest images from round the world.

When God was chatting to Moses on Sinai, was he foreseeing a world where we would all have youtube in our pocket, where we would be checking the latest pictures on Facebook more often than eating?

For me, I'm going to keep taking pictures. But if anyone objects on spiritual grounds, at least I see their point of view.