[1000 silverlings]

Buddhists present the same argument, as do Hindus. The idols are just there to remind them that there’s a God. OK

[Cronos]

Actually you are incorrect about Hindus -- I've lived in India and met rishis and even normal Hindus. Both believe that the idols are actually God -- not symbols or indicators, but they are actually emanations of god (or one of the gods to be more precise). They do believe that you have a bit of god in you, in the sense that you are divine partly as well, hence there is a prayer of the Hindus to worship in front of a mirror (to worship the divine in you) and the indian greeting "namaskar" has it's origins in that (nam = name, askar = "respects"), it's origins meant that they would worship the divine spark in the other. Of course, on never said that to a Shudra!

For Buddhists -- well, it varies. Most Buddhists are Mahayana and so the same applies -- for Theravada Buddhists it's a lot more complex than that -- everything is "divine" in a way, but Theravada is more rigidly a-theistic than the Mahayana vehicle

[Quix]

What is it with this obtuse . . . impossibility of understanding plain Scripture about idolatry?

Evidently they cherish their idols too much to begin to be honest about those Scriptures.