1
First cleanse yourself from the assumptions that have ruled your mind and become as one beginning again.
2
Look not merely at names but at the substance of the objects called gods among the Hellenes.
3
One is stone like the stones under your feet; another bronze like utensils; another wood already decaying; another silver requiring a guard against theft; another iron consumed by rust; another baked clay no better than a vessel made for …
4
Did not a craftsman make every one of them?
5
Before the craftsman's skill gave them a particular appearance, each was only material that could have been shaped into something else.
6
Even after being shaped, they can be melted, broken, cut, or remade.
7
Those formed from perishable matter are themselves perishable.
8
These are called gods; these are served; before these people bow until they become like what they serve.
9
For this reason the Christians are hated because they refuse to call such things elohim.
10
Yet those who claim to honor the images also show contempt for them: some leave stone and clay objects exposed while locking up the silver and gold objects so thieves cannot take them.
11
The sacrifices and blood offered before things that cannot perceive either honor or insult reveal the contradiction.
12
If the images possess sensation, such treatment would torment them; if they possess none, sacrifice to them proves their inability.
13
No living ish would willingly endure what is done to the idols as worship.
14
Therefore their very endurance is proof of their lifelessness.
15
There is more that could be said, but if this is not sufficient, multiplying words will not cure unwillingness to see.