You are missing the point on the Ark. It's not about seeing the Ark. Its about how God ordered man to make the Ark. God ordered man to make a graven image when he ordered them to make the Ark. He also ordered men not to make graven images. So, once again, did God break his own law?
Perhaps you are missing a more important point......maybe I can illustrate it this way....what God authorises is always according to his will....what man authorises by going against the law of God is never in accord with his will.
What is the difference for example, between magic and a miracle?
Making images when God expressly said
not to is against his will....pure disobedience to an express command. I think that is irrefutable.
How does anyone know what Mary or Jesus even looked like? No physical description is ever given for either. Would you show a photo of someone else and claim it was a picture of your mother?
It is all about
seeing the Ark because that was the very reason why no one saw the finished product except the ones authorised by God to construct it. Two men were given special talents in order to accomplish exactly what God instructed. Why else would God have the Ark covered in transport so that no one could see it. Why else would it be contained in a place where no human, except the one person authorised to view it, was allowed? It was NOT to become an idol. It was not material things that God said should be worshipped or given undue reverence to, like the things contrived by man, or the relics that humans think are of some special significance. Man makes idols out of many things.
The same point goes for the copper serpent. God ordered men to make a graven image. Did he violate his own commandment?
You don’t get that is was the
authorisation that made the difference between something sacred to God and something that humans dreamed up because they justified it? Look what happened with the golden calf...and this was straight after the people of Israel had vowed to keep God’s laws. They called that calf “Jehovah” and held their own festival with it at the center of their worship.....but it was a relic from idol worshipping Egyptian religion, and it offended God to a great degree.....He sent Moses down to put a stop to it, and he put those idol worshippers to death.
And lets not forget about the two large statues of angels AND the walls of the Temple decorated with carved images of angels, palm trees and flowers. All graven images commanded by God to be made?
Again all these were made at God’s command, none were the idea of any man. Solomon was given complete instructions from God on how to construct his temple and what to include in it.
Solomon’s own palace was itself highly decorated but none of the trappings of his wealth were used in worship. You do understand the difference between a decoration and something that is used as an idol I hope....
You really should consider all viewpoints and learn something.
I have done that all my life.....and continue to do so. The Bible is a book from God and it is wise to study it thoroughly and to understand it in its entirety....that is when you learn something instead of being programmed from birth to cling to what is not Christ’s teachings. Jesus did not give his parable of the “wheat and the weeds” for nothing. Those “weeds” were planted a long time ago and they were to continue to grow in the world until the reapers removed and destroyed them at the “harvest” time.
I believe that the reapers are all ready to go....
What you are rejecting could be what Jesus is trying to teach you. Open your mind because closing your mind never results in anything good. Once you have opened your mind that you could possibly be wrong about this I will show you where you went wrong in your thinking.
Now I find that quite amusing.....you perhaps should take that advice to heart yourself....and maybe do some more exploring....there is a difference between a reason and an excuse.....God knows the difference but sometimes we do not...we tend to justify doing what God tells us not to because we find it appealing, or because we have been lied to and don’t want to change.
Human nature is what it is.....the devil has exploited it from the beginning....