>>38966
>In the context that the verses were written in it meant not to make idols like the golden calf
The context of Deuteronomy 4 is not the golden calf it's the formlessness of the fire on Mt. Horeb. Now the calf is certainly relevant, because it was clearly intended as an image of the true God and worship was rendered to it for the purposes of worshipping YHWH, so it's not favorable to the idolater at all however the prohibition of divine images in Deuteronomy 4 is explicitly because the Israelites saw no divine form (that is, God has no body to depict, He is not limited to a visible form) and therefore they shall make no image of Him because it would be improper for them to do so. Moses gives an exhaustive list of created things which they are not to depict Him as, men, women, beasts, insects, fish, birds, stars, the sun or the moon, there is absolutely nothing in creation which it is acceptable to reduce God to.
>This tactic of iconoclasm is just a way to try and get christians to destroy christian imagery like angels, Jesus, the nativity scene, and especially the cross themselves
There is nothing Christian about an idol. The objects which you fall down before and call on will not save you, they are nothing and their works are less than nothing. There is nothing in all of creation which is deserving of worship, only God does because He is beyond all things and the things which He has made are subject to Him. It is indeed the worst abomination a man is capable of to worship the creation instead of the creator, because he spits in the face of the only God and robs His glory to give it to ashes.
>>38967
>The Jesuits, for all the good they did in the 1300s/1400s
The Jesuits did not exist in the 1400s or earlier, nor should they be credited for doing anything good because when they were created in 1540 it was for the express and exclusive purpose of destroying the Christian religion by any means possible. Consequently they have never done anything besides promoting false religion and attacking true religion.
>They had to disguise their churches as places of shinto/buddhist worship
This was consistent with the Jesuits' doctrine of lying, where they excused themselves for violation of the commandment against false witness. However, it is strictly incompatible with the command of God not only to bear false witness but to do so for the purpose of denying the Lord and communing with false gods. If they had been Christians while they might have hidden they would not have lied once caught nor could they have under any circumstances denied the Lord Jesus while worshipping false gods, this is the sin of apostasy. But since they were Romanists I suppose it made little difference to them since they were worshipping the idol of their strange goddess Mary anyways.