Here is how I interpret the broad religious warnings against "graven images" and why

They are a classic example of how religion, as practiced by humans, tends to get fundamental concepts wildly, spectacularly, disasterously wrong.

I believe the original messaging- which turns up in many religions, including the western monotheisms- was specifically intended to communicate the idea that "God" the concept was too big, broad, and ineffable to be contained in a word, a symbol, a picture.

More widely the intent, the deep intent, is hopefully to get people to grok that ALL their language, their symbolic abstractions, while undeniably useful tools, are just that- a necessarily limited and limiting fascimile of the real "thing", which which exists above, beyond, and outside of language.

The point is that no map will ever perfectly reflect the territory. So as long as you remember that you are dealing with a map, and not the actual thing itself, you're fine.

Religion, of course, misinterprets this to "kill everyone who makes maps"