Yeah - fair enough.
This is great:
http://www.geocities.com/rebornempowered/priesthood/ch1.htm
Hebrews ch.5-7 deals with Melchizedek. A gentile, maybe, but he's never reffered to as a pagan.
Footnotes: I have some Star Wars figures in my house, a Mandalorian army no less. I don't worship them, good grief, I let my kids play with them.
The problem with idolatry is that it deflects man from trusting god. It places emphasis on matter, & obscures spiritual understanding. One analogy is this:
My son has a model of what he thinks I look like. This model is on his shelf. Every night before he goes to bed he brings this model down from his shelf in order to share his daily problems with it. He cries to it & hugs it. When I come into his room, & ask him if he wants me to read him a story, or listen to his day he completely ignores me & continues talking to the model. No matter what I do I can't get through to him - he has detached himself from me & speaks only to the model, seeking council from an inanimate object. So it is with all created matter. "God is spirit, & his followers must worship in spirit & truth".
I agree with what you are saying in principle. Another analogy would be that hallucinogens can be useful in the right setting, but not for children or people with mental disorders. Everything depends on context and what you know/how you deal with it. I don't think it's fair to say that because I have a statue of Mary in my garden (which I don't) that I go out and offer it tea and cake every day.
