Kneeling to statues

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I know that as catholics we shouldn’t worship the statues in Church or at home but if we kneel Donne to the statues while praying to God does this count as worshiping the statues?
 
michael-kaw said:
I know that as catholics we shouldn’t worship the statues in Church or at home but if we kneel Donne to the statues while praying to God does this count as worshiping the statues?
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Absolutely not. Why would you think such a thing?
 
Think of the statue as being just like a framed picture of your mom, spouse or kid on your desk. You might kiss the picture or talk to it, but you aren’t directing those actions to the picture, you are directing them to the person depicted.
 
michael-kaw said:
I know that as catholics we shouldn’t worship the statues in Church or at home but if we kneel Donne to the statues while praying to God does this count as worshiping the statues?
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Worship requires intention and an act of the will. It does not matter where one is physically positioned, if one does not intend to worship that object, it can’t happen.

Would anyone believe that these persons are bowing down to a kleenex box?
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When someone brings an honest question, I don’t see any good reason for asking them “Why would you think such a thing” just because the answer seems obvious to us.

Uncharitable, perhaps?
 
I don’t know, Longtime posters always say this. I don’t take any offense to it. it’s helpful to know the context and place where they learned such
 
How is it helpful to ask the question in a way which is more likely to cause offense than just obtain an answer?

I don’t know about you, but in my life experience the phrase “why would you think such a thing” is more of a rhetorical, and sometimes sarcastic question, than a real one.
 
Look, I’m not saying that I do it. But there is another VERY well known and respected poster who does this nearly daily.
And no one seems to care. Never told they are “mean” or uncharitable.
I’ve given up thinking about it.
 
michael-kaw said:
I know that as catholics we shouldn’t worship the statues in Church or at home but if we kneel Donne to the statues while praying to God does this count as worshiping the statues?
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It is going to depend on who you ask.
If you ask a Catholic, she will say no. It is not worship.
However, if you ask a Protestant, or even some other non-Catholics, they will say that bowing down before a statue is an act of worship. And yes, they will tell you that Catholics worship statues, and that Catholics worship Mary as well. Please see:
https://carm.org/roman-catholicism-mary-idolatry
It is not only Protestants who will say so.
 
michael-kaw said:
I know that as catholics we shouldn’t worship the statues in Church or at home but if we kneel Donne to the statues while praying to God does this count as worshiping the statues?
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The answer to this is standard. Kneeling does not equal worship. And as stated, we worship God, not the statue.
 
So the fact that a person who is “well known and respected” does it, and no one so far has happened to publicly observe that it’s somewhat uncharitable, means… that it’s not?

A very interesting perspective on the power of precedent to make something that’s uncharitable… not uncharitable?

Whatever. I still have my original opinion but I don’t see a use arguing about it.
 
So let me get this straight, if you ask a Catholic she will say no, if you ask a protestant he will say yes.
 
Darryl_B said:
So let me get this straight, if you ask a Catholic she will say no, if you ask a protestant he will say yes.
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Catholics do not believe that bowing and kneeling before a statue is a form of worship. But some Protestants will disagree as they see bowing down and praying before a religious statue to be an act of worship.
 
That is not what you said, I am calling you up on what you said. You can recant, or just simply avoid as you have just done.

I am a male, I am a Catholic convert from protestantism, are you reformed presbyterian, to cite CARM Matt Slick? Look around, if you chose to bow to Jesus Christ, which direction would you turn, to the left, to the right, Jesus Christ is in heaven, and you cannot give Jesus Christ reverence by looking up because you are not bowing. If you could be at the foot of the cross, what homage would you pay, but we cannot do that because we were not there, what homage would you then pay and how?

And what of the Mother of God, we could pay homage to her relics, except there are none, because she was assumed into heaven, and if I would like to pay homage to the Mother of the Theotokos, how can I do that, if she is not here?
 
You are right. Catholics are going to say that it is proper to show reverence and to bow before and venerate statues. However, I believe that you will find some Protestants who will disagree. Some Protestant churches are pretty barren with very few or no images at all. And there are other non-Catholics who tend toward iconoclasm. For example, Maimonides has commented on bowing before and kissing icons as something that he does not agree with. Hindus however, generally have no problem with venerating statues as you will find many different statures in their temples and during their ceremonies you will see them bowing, praying, chanting and ringing bells before them.
 
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