About the so-called worshipping statues?

[anhphan]

Deuteronomy 15 “Cursed is anyone who makes an idol—a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
Isaiah 44: 9-17 All who make idols are nothing,
and the things they treasure are worthless.
Those who would speak up for them are blind;
they are ignorant, to their own shame.
10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol,
which can profit nothing?
11 People who do that will be put to shame;
such craftsmen are only human beings.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
they will be brought down to terror and shame.
12 The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.
13 The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in human form,
human form in all its glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
14 He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
15 It is used as fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me! You are my god!”

These are the Bible versemy friend quoted to oppose worshipping statues. How can I reply him? Thank you very much.

 

[RandomAlias]

he bows down to it and worships.

He prays to it and says,

“Save me! You are my god!”

Tell him that he is quite right, worshiping statues is wrong and sinful.

And tell him you haven’t seen anyone bow down to statues, worship them, pray to them and say “Save me! You are my god!” We believe in, love, worship, pray to, and hope for salvation by the one true God. That’s what you should tell your friend.

 

[Mary_Ellen]

Well,
since Catholics don’t worship statues, what’s the problem? We use them as remembrances of loved ones, Jesus and the saints, much as one would have photos of parents, spouses, or children. We worship Christ, represented by statues of Him. We pray for the intercession of the saints, represented by statutes. We don’t worship the statues themselves.

Also,
remember that not all images are ‘graven’. God Himself instructed the Hebrew people to fashion a serpent, place it on a pole, and hold it up so that the people could see it. The serpent-statue did not have any power - it was the power of God which saved the people from the snakebites.
God Himself also instructed his people to construct the Ark of the Covenant with two cherubim on top.

The real idols of our world are those things that take us away from God: our pride, our phones and games, our televisions and hobbies, our anger and outrage, our money and selfishness, our cars, our food, our books, our intellectual superiority, our ‘causes’, the list goes on and on…depending on the individual and the society. Really, how often do we confess sins against the First Commandment: thou shalt have no other gods before Me?

 

[pianistclare]

Really. If your friends don’t know BY NOW that this is an old saw used to put down Catholic practices that they clearly don’t understand I would just ask them to read up on Catholicism and find the truth for themselves and not believe every bogus comment they read.

 

[ajcstr]

Show them this picture and say “What’s the problem, even our statues worship statues!”

Fatima Shrines Beckon Pilgrims to Northeast US| National Catholic Register

OK, bad joke, but in response, what are we allowed to make images of? How about a picture of Jesus? How about a cross in a church? How about the images of angels that Moses was instructed to put on the Ark?

Its not the image itself, but what you do with it.

 

[Wesrock]

Saint John of Damascus issued a thorough response in the eighth century to the iconoclasts (icon destroyers) in the eastern church. It may be interesting to peruse his arguments in his three treatises on the divine images.

 

[Wesrock]

And just to add, the Israelites were healed when they looked at the carving of a snake lifted up, the Israelites were directed to carve cherbim on the ark of the covenant, and the veil to the Holy of Holies was decorated with heavenly images. Certain, then, the commandment was not a proscription on all graven images, but was intended for a certain purpose.

 

[tawny]

Great response, as usual Clare.

 

[anna]

Since we do not worship statues, we are on safe ground The statues of Saints have been around since the Middle Ages. To me they are a reminder of a certain person whose life held a meaning to us and that the church declared a Saint. Also statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph are close to one’s heart… Most of what I read was concerning idols of false gods, whom people were worshiping,dancing,and praying to, etc…something like the golden calf.
In the bible Jesus also tells Peter "Whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. So concerning a deceision to declare someone a Saint holds to my beliefs especially everytime I see a new Saint’s likeness . God Bless.’.

 

[Melodeonist]

We don’t worship statues. That’s absurd. Likewise, we don’t chat to photographs of relatives. The statues, just like photographs, help remind us of the depicted person.

 

[Wesrock]

Since we do not worship statues, we are on safe ground The statues of Saints have been around since the Middle Ages. To me they are a reminder of a certain person whose life held a meaning to us and that the church declared a Saint. Also statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph are close to one’s heart… Most of what I read was concerning idols of false gods, whom people were worshiping,dancing,and praying to, etc…something like the golden calf.
In the bible Jesus also tells Peter "Whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. So concerning a deceision to declare someone a Saint holds to my beliefs especially everytime I see a new Saint’s likeness . God Bless.’.

I’m not sure what the full story on statues is, but the Church has been using icons and other images of saints since many centuries earlier.

 

[phil19034]

Since we do not worship statues, we are on safe ground The statues of Saints have been around since the Middle Ages.

Actually, they have been around since the 1st / 2nd century. There are statue like carvings of Jesus and The Apostles on cemetery vaults from that time period

Here is a pic from the Sarcophagus of Sabinas which is a very early sarcophagus which depicts many scenes with Jesus and Peter.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[anna]

Thank you, I never viewed the pic from the Sarcophagus of Sabinas how beautiful each one is. I thank you for sharing that with me. Everyday I learn something new on this site. God Bless.

 

[De_Maria]

These are the Bible versemy friend quoted to oppose worshipping statues. How can I reply him? Thank you very much.

Make sure to tell him the difference between an idol and a statue.

An idol is an image which is worshipped as a god. They can be pictures, statues, but can be natural things like animals and plants, even stones.

A statue is an image of something, usually a famous or beloved human being who is remembered in the icon.

We are allowed to make statues.

We are not allowed to worship them.

Here’s the verses from the Bible that you can use to counter your friend.

Exodus 25:18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.

Numbers 21:8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Now, you need to provide him some reasons why we HONOR our Saints. Show him these verses:

Matthew 10:41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

Notice that it says, “in the name of a prophet” and “in the name of a righteous man”. That’s because God loves His saints. Protestants are scandalized when we do anything in the name of anyone but Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ loves His Saints and answers our prayers in their names.

If they don’t believe you when you tell them that, then show them this:

Acts 5:15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

Acts 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

Note that God not only acts through our prayers when we invoke the names of His Saints, He also acts when we reach out to them through their aprons and shadows.

If you need anymore help, let me know.

Sincerely,

De Maria

 

[Sir2v4]

Hebrews tells us that we are “surrounded by a cloud of witnesses” and the presence of statues in Catholic Church is a reminder of this reality, and in particular, that the Mass is a union of heaven and earth.