02-01-2010, 08:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-01-2010, 09:05 PM by Director Michael.)
Daniel2 Wrote:If anyone makes any kind of prayer to an intermediary alone and by addressing it's name, and they are not praying or bowing or performing any kind of rituals to an actual statue or other physical icon that symbolizes the intermediary, would this be considered *serving* an intermediary?
One who prays to some entity other than the One True G-d has made that entity into a deity for himself (a false deity, since there is no Deity other than G-d). Praying to an entity is a type of service to that entity (and a person who does this is not at the spiritual level of a Pious Gentile who follows the Noahide Code as it is commanded by G-d within the Torah of Moses). However, it is not a capital sin unless the person would bow down to his false deity (which might or might not be represented by a physical object), or do one of the other acts of idolatrous worship that constitute a capital sin (by serving the false diety in its traditional worship ritual, or by burning incense, pouring a libation, or slaughtering a sacrifice).
Daniel2 Wrote:Similarly, if one states that an intermediary is their lord, or they give thanks or praise to it and only mention the intermediary's name without even mentioning the claim that it's an intermediary, is this considered just believing, or is it serving?
Those types of statements just show a belief in the intermediary. They don't consititute a service to the intermediary.