Icon and Idol

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Icon and Idol
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What is an icon?

• (Latin, from Greek eikon, from eikenai to
  resemble)
• a pictorial representation (symbolic
  representation)
• symbol is a sign with a deeper meaning
• symbols represent/sign-ify something else
• symbols point to some deeper reality beyond
  itself
• image (window) (Humans are created in the image
  of God)
• a conventional religious image typically painted
  on a small wooden panel and used in the devotions
  of Eastern Christians

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What is an idol? (the opposite of an icon)

• (Latin, from Greek eidolon from eidos an image)
• an object of uncritical devotion
• when the icon becomes the thing worshipped it
  becomes an idol