As it's well understood children make pictures before they can write. There seems to be something baked into us that has us wishing to express visually. To capture and share. Obviously mankind has sought to display that which is "inside" to a world "closing in". This dance of experiential worship rarely is prohibited much less voluntarily curtailed. But yes not making images has a religious past for spiritual reasons.

1. The Byzantine "Image Struggle" (8th–9th Century) 

This is where the term was born. For over a century, the Byzantine Empire was torn apart by the Iconomachy (image struggle). Emperors like Leo III and Constantine V ordered the systematic destruction of religious icons, replacing them with simple crosses or secular art. 

• The Motive: Some historians believe it was a response to military defeats; the emperors thought God was punishing them for "worshipping" paintings instead of the divine spirit. 

• 2. The "Statue Storm" (16th Century)

During the Protestant Reformation, a massive wave of iconoclasm hit Europe, known in the Netherlands as the Beeldenstorm. Reformers believed that elaborate Catholic statues and paintings were a distraction from the "Word of God." 

• The Result: Angry mobs stripped cathedrals bare, smashed stained glass, and even decapitated statues—many of which remain "faceless" in European churches today as a historical record of the event. 

In History is discussed the Greek repsonse to imagery as inferior to the LOGOS...2D inferior to 3D.  While the Greeks championed 3d it was Christendom itself which remains  torn between 2D ikons and the more idolatrous 3D. And BECAUSE 3D is more incarnate than merely a window to heaven. 

This is exactly where the history of "not making images" gets incredibly nuanced. In the split between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) traditions, the 2D vs. 3D debate became a defining theological boundary.

To the Eastern mind, a 3D statue wasn't just "more art"—it was dangerously close to a "graven image" (an idol), while a 2D icon was seen as a "window to heaven."

1. The "Window" vs. The "Object"

In the East, the tradition developed a strict theology for 2D icons.

• The 2D Defense: They argued that a flat icon doesn't try to "be" the person it depicts; it is a symbol that points your mind toward the divine. Because it lacks physical depth, it doesn't pretend to occupy our physical space.

• The 3D Taboo: Conversely, were often rejected because they have "body" and "weight." To the Eastern Church, a statue felt too much like the pagan idols of Rome or Greece—objects that people might mistake for the god itself rather than a pointer to the god.

2. The Western "Embodiment"

The Western Church (Rome) took a much more practical approach. They viewed images—both 2D and 3D—as "the Bible of the illiterate."

• Statues as Presence: In the West, 3D statues were embraced because they felt "present" with the congregation. They were tangible reminders of the saints' humanity.

• The Accusation: This is exactly what the East found "idolatrous." They felt that by giving a holy figure 3D volume, you were trying to "trap" the divine in a physical, earthly form.

3. The Reformation’s "Clean Sweep"

Later, the upped the ante by rejecting both. For many Reformers, the 2D icon was just as much of a "lie" as the 3D statue. They believed the only true "image" of God was the Word (scripture) and the Living Person (the believer). This led to the literal "breaking" of both icons and statues across Northern Europe.

Money is Time. The Temples Control Both.

The Summary: Worship is often measured in moments, but who defines the moment? Or if it is worship? Who determines value of each its ceremony traditions and ritual? Proper worship is both SPACE and TIME. 

Here makeNOimage audits the value of both count and coin of a MountBank mafia—the driver of history through TEMPLES in time and space and where religious authorities yoked the calendar to their own spiritual currency. If institutions can change both TIMES and LAWS, they have successfully inserted themselves between the Creator and the Created. 

Interesting that both Images and TIME where controlled substance to the Mountbank mafia and the Roman Solar grid.

The Forensic Audit:

• The 1:7 frequency: The Sabbath isn't a "tradition" to be debated; it is a fixed frequency. We examine how man's traditions of lunar drift and man-made "Leap" adjustments have been used to obscure the original count.

• The Debt of Time: When the "MountBank"/Roman grid controls the clock, they control the rhythm of your life. We investigate the "Spiritual Interest" paid by believers who follow calendars designed for tax cycles or payment plans rather than harvest cycles.

• The Challenge: We invite a forensic examination. Does our daily life follow a true Ikon or fake.  Is our worship pleasing the Creator of ourselves.  Do we follow Him His times and ways or counterfiet with our own.  Are we aligned with "it is written" or enslaved to a "captured image" handed down by a temple that lost the picture and count centuries ago?

The Confession: As a recovering image maker, I recognize the "counterfeit" even in religion. We often worship a picture of Holy and at a time we prefer rather than the Presence. Chasing that which was created rather than following the Creator.