I'm curious of our refutation to this image

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MoonlitYT

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Ive seen this image before, another protie propaganda, and didn’t really give much thought about it until know. My Catholic friends are confused of how to defend the catholic veneration when they saw this image.

Why isn’t it called veneration when Buddhist worhsip what the statue of Buddha represents?

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Well, it’s obviously a mash-up of unrelated images, crafted to stir up trouble. I wouldn’t bother refuting it or even drawing attention to it by reposting it.
 
Anyway, there are about a bazillion threads here at CAF with questions and good answers about statues of saints and praying to saints. Let’s use the Search tool.
 
The images are presented as being the same but they are not. What is lacking is the persons intent. Do they intend to worship a god? Without the intent there is no worship. The idea that they have the same woman in the same position does not express intent but it is a rather a week attempt to say it does.
 
Yup. That’s like saying it’s the same thing if you have a picture of a thug with a knife, a coroner with a knife, a chef with a knife, and a surgeon with a knife.

“They’re all cutting meat! It’s the same thing!”

“Um… one of them is cutting meat, one of them is cutting humans to hurt or kill them, one of them is cutting corpses to find out what killed them, and one of them is trying to heal humans. Pretty different.”
 
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MoonlitYT said:
Ive seen this image before, another protie propaganda, and didn’t really give much thought about it until know. My Catholic friends are confused of how to defend the catholic veneration when they saw this image.

Why isn’t it called veneration when Buddhist worhsip what the statue of Buddha represents?

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Shiva, Ganesh, Money (?), Virgin Mary. Two are considered to be deities, so the photos for them would mean adoration. For Virgin Mary it is veneration not adoration.

For Buddhists the statue represents an Arhat (one who is worthy) or Bodhisattva, which is not a god, and reverence is shown for their wisdom.
 
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The image is just the meme version of an old ignorant misunderstanding of Catholic teaching.

So you can ignore the meme part and just skip to the tired old question:

“Do Catholics worship statues?”

or

“Do Catholics worship saints?”

or

“Do Catholics worship Mary?”

And find the obvious answer (“No” plus explanation for those still confused) in basic search tool on Catholic.com.

Have fun! 🙂
 
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To the extent you have to “refute” a meme, on which I frankly wouldn’t waste my time:
  • the veneration of both pagan idols and pagan gods is wrong, under the First Commandment;
  • Our Blessed Mother is neither a pagan idol or pagan god, and the Church encourages us to respect and venerate her as the great saint that she is, not as an idol or a god.
If someone has a “problem with Mary”, they likely won’t accept the above explanation, but it is the truth.

You can also refer them to the apologetics that Mnathaniel posted above; as they said, these are very tired old questions.

I find it better to just not have discussions with those having “problems with Mary” or problems with saints or problems with Catholic statues. Just pray for them, they have a lot of confusion and are unlikely to accept any explanation.
 
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Vico said:
Money (?)
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FYI, the third one is Santa Muerte, a “folk saint” invoked by Mexican folk Catholicism. That one’s probably a better argument than the first two since it’s actual Catholics involved (well, we could debate how Catholic they are).
 
Despite the constant claims to the contrary I see on CAF I have yet to see any evidence at all, outside scriptural claims about golden calves, that anyone, anywhere has ever worshipped any statue or similar object believing the object to be itself a god rather than the residence of a god, or as a symbol of a god.

I suppose the eucharist would be an example, at least in the case of consecrations considered invalid by the person doing the considering, but that is not what I am discussing here. Can anyone point to an actual case off object-worship?
 
Did you ever hear of the cult of gaia? It is a big movement.

These people workship planet earth as their god.
 
Wampa said:
FYI, the third one is Santa Muerte , a “folk saint” invoked by Mexican folk Catholicism. That one’s probably a better
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Yeah it gives me the creeps. I remember reading an article that said that the cult is satanic. Exorcists are working over time in Mexico.
 
Aulef said:
Did you ever hear of the cult of gaia? It is a big movement.

These people workship planet earth as their god
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So if this is so, how do the followers of Gaia worship?. What do they do? Is it only earth that is their god? Where can I find a website that explains how this planet is worshipped as a god?
 
What do you even know of the Santa muerte cult? Nothing I’m willing to bet. But yes it is SATANIC.
 
Referring to the post of the four images, I don’t think Catholics really bow towards the statue and make a show of reverence to the actual statue the way that lady is doing. They might kneel, they might make the sign of the cross, but I don’t know that they bow like that to s statue.
 
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FiveLinden said:
Despite the constant claims to the contrary I see on CAF I have yet to see any evidence at all, outside scriptural claims about golden calves, that anyone, anywhere has ever worshipped any statue or similar object believing the object to be itself a god rather than the residence of a god, or as a symbol of a god.

I suppose the eucharist would be an example, at least in the case of consecrations considered invalid by the person doing the considering, but that is not what I am discussing here. Can anyone point to an actual case off object-worship?
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Modern Catholic Dictionary states, for idol “An object becomes an idol when it is treated as an end in itself, with no reference to God.” and “it may be oneself, or some creation of one’s own mind or will.” Also from the same source, superstition is “giving to a creature the worship that belongs to God”. And for Pantheism, "Any of a variety of views that claim that all things are divine, or that God and the universe are really identical, or that there is ultimately no real distinction between God and what believers in creation call the world. "

Pope Vigilius (537) 540-555, Canons against Origen From the Book against Origen of the Emperor Justinian, 543
Can. 6. If anyone says that the sky, and the sun, and the moon and the stars, and the waters above the heavens are certain living and material * powers, let him be anathema.
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(Sources of Catholic Dogma, Denzinger: Denzinger - English translation, older numbering)
 
27lw said:
Referring to the post of the four images, I don’t think Catholics really bow towards the statue and make a show of reverence to the actual statue the way that lady is doing. They might kneel, they might make the sign of the cross, but I don’t know that they bow like that to s statue.
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I am Byzantine Catholic. It is normal to make the sign of the cross with bow, and even kiss, an icon. The icon may be of Christ, Virgin Mary, Saint, Angel, Prophet, or Bishop. This is veneration when it is given to creatures.
 
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