We venerate, but do not adore, sacramentals. Adoration, we reserve for the Holy Trinity.Are the rosary, crosses, statues of saints, crucified christ images counted as idolatry?
It is not. We only pray to Mary and the Host of Saints for intercession…we pray that they raise our prayers to the Lord on our behalf, not answer our needs.Is it idolatry to pray to Mary and Saints?
No, because they aren’t worshipped as gods or believed to have any inherent power or divine attribute. A rosary is just a string of beads to count prayers, it can be blessed but that doesn’t count as worship. Statues of saints are just statues and are not in any way thought of as divine in Catholic tradition- you can easily live your whole life as a devout Catholic without owning a single statue. Some people like to own them and light candles and pray before them but that’s only for the sake of being better focused in prayer, tradition, etc… The key word here is before, not to- people pray before a statue, not to it.Are the rosary, crosses, statues of saints, crucified christ images counted as idolatry
As per Catholic theology, no. Catholicism recognizes three levels of prayer: dulia, or veneration, which is offered to saints, hyperdulia, or high veneration, which is offered to Mary because of her special, unique role as Mother of God, and finally latria, which is actual worship, offered to God alone. Protestant theology doesn’t make such distinctions between prayer ‘types’ and therefore it is easy for Protestants to not be able to differentiate between them or mentally separate them. Catholics understand that praying to a saint is not the same as praying to God. We pray to saints with the expectation of intercession, meaning we don’t believe saints have any special power except that which God sees fit to give them (only God has power, as goes the Lord’s Prayer-“Thine is the power”).Is it idolatry to pray to Mary and Saints?
We don’t worship anything but God.Where do we draw the line at was is and isnt idolatrous?
This is correct. To a large extent it’s a matter of convention and interpretation as to how the entire Decalogue is to be divided into ten. The Septuagint’s numbering differs from that of Rabbinic Judaism. Augustine differs from the LXX. Catholics follow Augustine’s numbering, Orthodox follow the LXX.Actually, Protestants, between denominations, don’t all list the Decalogue under the same numbering.
First, consider the context. God delivered the law to people who had a propensity to carve idols / worship idols. This was pretty common during that time between the Egyptians, Hittites and Canaanites…all who influenced the Israelites. In fact, what was the first thing the Israelites did when they were waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, right after God performed some impressive miracles to lead them out of Egypt? Worship a golden calf!3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
The idolater credits the image with Divinity or Divine powers, whereas a Catholic knows that there is no divinity or virtue on account of which the image is to be given adoration, and that no petitions can be addressed to the image, and that no trust is to be placed in the image, rather that the honor which is given to an image is referred to the prototype which the image represents, that is Christ (i.e., divinity). The Saints are likenesses.Where do we draw the line at was is and isnt idolatrous? How do you measure this in the Catholic faith? …
1701 … It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God,"3 that man has been created “in the image and likeness” of the Creator. …
1702 The divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons, in the likeness of the unity of the divine persons among themselves (cf. chapter two ).
When you can’t tell the difference between who you worship, and what is just a tool to help you.Where do we draw the line at was is and isnt idolatrous?
Carved images are not the issue as we can see. The issue is placing them in God’s place.He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”