A reproduction of the Temple of Baal is coming to New York's Times Square
next month as a tribute to the 2,000-year-old original structure that
was destroyed by ISIS last year in Palmyra, Syria.
The reproductions will be made using a 3-D printer, producing a
life-size model of the temple's entrance. Officials say those models
will be installed in both New York City and London's Trafalgar Square
this Spring.
Promoting a False God?
Many are speaking out against putting up a monument in honor of a temple that promoted worship of a false god.
In an article for World Net Daily, Matt Barber explains some of the elements of Baal worship.
"Ritualistic Baal worship, in sum, looked a little like this: Adults
would gather around the altar of Baal. Infants would then be burned
alive as a sacrificial offering to the deity. Amid horrific screams and
the stench of charred human flesh, congregants – men and women alike –
would engage in bisexual orgies," Barber wrote.
"The ritual of convenience was intended to produce economic
prosperity by prompting Baal to bring rain for the fertility of 'mother
earth,'" he explained.
A Mirror of Modern Society
He goes on to point out how some of those elements are being mirrored in society today.
"Modern liberalism deviates little from its ancient predecessor.
While its macabre rituals have been sanitized with flowery and
euphemistic terms of art, its core tenets and practices remain eerily
similar," he said.
"Bar the worship of "fertility" has been replaced with worship of
'reproductive freedom' or 'choice.' Child sacrifice via burnt offering
has been updated, ever so slightly, to become child sacrifice by way of
abortion," he concluded.
But supporters of the reproductions to go up in New York and London say it is an attempt to "preserve history."
"We hope it is viewed as a constructive response to what has happened
there," said Roger Michel, executive director for the Institute for
Digital Archaeology.
The original temple attracted 150,000 tourists a year until 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.
The Institute for Digital Archaeology hopes to construct
approximately 1,000 versions of the arch to be placed in cities around
the world.
Christian sites are also among the many antiquities destroyed by the Islamic State.
Source: CBN News