The Catholic & idolatry myth

  • Thread starter Thread starter sistermouse
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I really don’t get it… Why do we have to establish the facts over and over again?
I mean in other threads there was no doubt about that and the discussion was just about whether or not praying to her was the right thing to do…
So now we go back and deny that and until we have established that, we are so far off-topic that we can accuse non-catholics of changing the topic?

Apart from that there are countless webpages talking about this (I filtered out the non-Catholic sources for your convenience):
Why pray to Mary?
Why do Catholics Pray to Mary?
Why Catholics Pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Why Catholics Pray To Mary
Here is a list of prayers… looking at the right column there are quite a few prayers to her…
Children learn to pray - The Hail Mary (“We pray to Mary because she is so close to God, and because she is so close to her Son, Jesus Christ”)
Catholic Prayers - Some Popular Catholic Prayers and Prayers to Mary
Why do Catholics pray to Mary?
How do I Pray to “Mary Who Unties Knots”? (As a non-native speaker this sounded kind of weird to me.)
They all have nice explanations trying to justify prayer to Mary… (as I said, I filtered out the non-Catholic pages.)
If you tell me you don’t pray to her… OK, but at least some Catholics do pray to Mary…

There is even a full thread dedicated to this topic here on CAF:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=344370
They appear to be embarrassed of their faith for some reason. I may ask you Janet to pray for me because I have the flu, but I will not pray to you in the spiritual sense of the word. I also am fully aware that you can read the request and if you were here I could ask you in person to pray to God to heal and comfort me during my illness. Now if I pray to Paul, he cannot hear my unless he is omnipresent, which is only a characteristic of God alone.
 
Maybe all of those sites aren’t clear for you that we don’t pray to Mary in the sense that she can answer prayers. She can only take our prayers to the throne.
Well, when I need to go and see a doctor I surely don’t want to talk to his mom…

I’d rather go and talk to my Lord directly, because I actually have a relationship with Him…
I will therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that I may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I don’t need anybody to “stand in the gap” because there is no gap…
I just do what He commands me to do…

Jeremiah 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Psalm 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Psalm 55:17
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

Psalm 55:22
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Psalm 86:6-7
Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

Psalm 91:15
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

Psalm 145:18
The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Do you remember as a kid asking your mother to ask your dad for something? I sure do.
Dad would rarely if ever say no to mom.
No, actually… I never tried that, because my Dad was the one who made the decisions that were of more importance… My mom then usually told me to ask him instead…
 
I don’t think we are going to come to an agreement on this, but we do not worship anyone or anything but God. In my 32 years as a Catholic, I have never been told to worship anyone or anything except God.
Perhaps your own Catholic instruction may help you decide:

There are several degrees of this worship:
Code:
* if it is addressed directly to God, it is superior, absolute, supreme worship, or worship of adoration, or, according to the consecrated theological term, a worship of latria. This sovereign worship is due to God alone; addressed to a creature it would become idolatry.
* When worship is addressed only indirectly to God, that is, when its object is the veneration of martyrs, of angels, or of saints, it is a subordinate worship dependent on the first, and relative, in so far as it honours the creatures of God for their peculiar relations with Him; it is designated by theologians as the worship of dulia, a term denoting servitude, and implying, when used to signify our worship of distinguished servants of God, that their service to Him is their title to our veneration (cf. Chollet, loc. cit., col. 2407, and Bouquillon, Tractatus de virtute religionis, I, Bruges, 1880, 22 sq.).
* As the Blessed Virgin has a separate and absolutely supereminent rank among the saints, the worship paid to her is called hyperdulia (for the meaning and history of these terms see Suicer, Thesaurus ecclesiasticus, 1728).
In accordance with these principles it will readily be understood that a certain worship ***may be offered even to inanimate objects, such as the relics of a martyr, the Cross of Christ, the Crown of Thorns, or even the statue or picture of a saint. ***There is here no confusion or danger of idolatry, for this worship is subordinate or dependent. **The relic of the saint is venerated because of the link which unites it with the person who is **adored or venerated; while the statue or picture is regarded as having a conventional relation to a person who has a right to our homage — as being a symbol which reminds us of that person (see Vacant, Diet de théol. cath., s.v. Adoration, and authors cited in bibliography; also ADORATION; IDOLATRY; IMAGES; DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY).

So relax and don’t be obstructed to praying and worshiping saints, Mary, or inanimate objects; your church says it is okay and is even encouraged and you may pick up some merit as well.

That is the problem with much of the writings, they tell you and tell you to tell others outside of the Church one thing, then write another. For example, the catechism will say you are saved by faith, BUT, through the water baptismal sacrament or sacrament of pennance. It is all in the BUT; this is double speaking and it is found all over Catholic writings. You have greater faith than the Bereans; they believed what they were told, but still tested against what was “written” to see if it was true. Your faith is greater than theirs because you believe what you are told and it stops there.

We all make our choices when it comes to faith and whom we will put that faith in; this is why in the end we are all held accountable for those choices before God. If your faith is in accordance with God, then you are doing very well; if mine is not, then I am going to be in hell by my own choice.
 
But what you are missing here is that we are praying through her. Asking for her intercession. Just like a non Catholic would ask a friend to pray for them.

Do you remember as a kid asking your mother to ask your dad for something? I sure do.
Dad would rarely if ever say no to mom.

We are not praying to her in hopes that she will answer our prayers. We know only God can do that.

One part that you didn’t bold was centering it on the person of Christ

Maybe all of those sites aren’t clear for you that we don’t pray to Mary in the sense that she can answer prayers. She can only take our prayers to the throne.
Are you to embarrassed?
The Hail, Holy Queen: Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! our life, our sweetness, and **our hope! **To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

It is a prayer TO, not THROUGH and there are hundreds more just like it. You can rationalize before men, but what about before God? If you faith is in accordance with God, then you have no issues at all. 🙂
 
That is the way that I’ve seen it explained many times. However, when you ask your friends and family or church to pray for you, you are asking people who are alive. I think that’s really where the disagreement is centered: whether or not one can communicate to the dead.
What does God warn about trying to communicating to dead spirits? Which by definition a dead saint is alive in spirit because they have not received their glorified bodies.
 
There are several degrees of this worship:
Code:
* if it is addressed directly to God, it is superior, absolute, supreme worship, or worship of adoration, or, according to the consecrated theological term, a worship of latria. This sovereign worship is due to God alone; addressed to a creature it would become idolatry.
* When worship is addressed only indirectly to God, that is, when its object is the veneration of martyrs, of angels, or of saints, it is a subordinate worship dependent on the first, and relative, in so far as it honours the creatures of God for their peculiar relations with Him; it is designated by theologians as the worship of dulia, a term denoting servitude, and implying, when used to signify our worship of distinguished servants of God, that their service to Him is their title to our veneration (cf. Chollet, loc. cit., col. 2407, and Bouquillon, Tractatus de virtute religionis, I, Bruges, 1880, 22 sq.).
* As the Blessed Virgin has a separate and absolutely supereminent rank among the saints, the worship paid to her is called hyperdulia (for the meaning and history of these terms see Suicer, Thesaurus ecclesiasticus, 1728).
In accordance with these principles it will readily be understood that a certain worship may be offered even to inanimate objects, such as the relics of a martyr, the Cross of Christ, the Crown of Thorns, or even the statue or picture of a saint. There is here no confusion or danger of idolatry, for this worship is subordinate or dependent. The relic of the saint is venerated because of the link which unites it with the person who is adored or venerated; while the statue or picture is regarded as having a conventional relation to a person who has a right to our homage — as being a symbol which reminds us of that person (see Vacant, Diet de théol. cath., s.v. Adoration, and authors cited in bibliography; also ADORATION; IDOLATRY; IMAGES; DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY).
👍
newadvent.org/cathen/15710a.htm
 
I hope one of two things 1) either you can support your claim with evidence that the Church condones the adoration of anything other than God or 2) bearing false witness is not a big deal in your faith. Which is it?

God bless you
I chose #1, so you will be able to relax and say I worship saints and Mary and other things besides God without violation of the Church teaching on the matter:
newadvent.org/cathen/15710a.htm
There are several degrees of this worship:
Code:
* if it is addressed directly to God, it is superior, absolute, supreme worship, or worship of adoration, or, according to the consecrated theological term, a worship of latria. This sovereign worship is due to God alone; addressed to a creature it would become idolatry.
* When worship is addressed only indirectly to God, that is, when its object is the veneration of martyrs, of angels, or of saints, it is a subordinate worship dependent on the first, and relative, in so far as it honours the creatures of God for their peculiar relations with Him; it is designated by theologians as the worship of dulia, a term denoting servitude, and implying, when used to signify our worship of distinguished servants of God, that their service to Him is their title to our veneration (cf. Chollet, loc. cit., col. 2407, and Bouquillon, Tractatus de virtute religionis, I, Bruges, 1880, 22 sq.).
* As the Blessed Virgin has a separate and absolutely ***supereminent rank among the saints***, the worship paid to her is called hyperdulia (for the meaning and history of these terms see Suicer, Thesaurus ecclesiasticus, 1728).
In accordance with these principles it will readily be understood that a certain worship may be offered even to inanimate objects, such as the relics of a martyr, the Cross of Christ, the Crown of Thorns, or even the statue or picture of a saint. There is here no confusion or danger of idolatry, for this worship is subordinate or dependent. The relic of the saint is venerated because of the link which unites it with the person who is adored or venerated; while the statue or picture is regarded as having a conventional relation to a person who has a right to our homage — as being a symbol which reminds us of that person (see Vacant, Diet de théol. cath., s.v. Adoration, and authors cited in bibliography; also ADORATION; IDOLATRY; IMAGES; DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY).
 
Are you to embarrassed?
The Hail, Holy Queen: Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! our life, our sweetness, and **our hope! **To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

It is a prayer TO, not THROUGH and there are hundreds more just like it. You can rationalize before men, but what about before God? If you faith is in accordance with God, then you have no issues at all. 🙂
I agree… I used to sing it in Latin with the most fervor… looking at it in English is kind of stunning… so much towards Mary and then “after this” show us Jesus followed by more sweet words for Mary…
(Salve Regina, mater misericordiae, vita dulcedo et spes nostra salve, ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae, ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes, in hac lacrimarum valle, eia ergo advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte, et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria… just from memory… I’m not quite sure where the commas go… I just put them in the pauses.)
 
Perhaps your own Catholic instruction may help you decide:

There are several degrees of this worship:
Code:
* if it is addressed directly to God, it is superior, absolute, supreme worship, or worship of adoration, or, according to the consecrated theological term, a worship of latria. This sovereign worship is due to God alone; addressed to a creature it would become idolatry.
* When worship is addressed only indirectly to God, that is, when its object is the veneration of martyrs, of angels, or of saints, it is a subordinate worship dependent on the first, and relative, in so far as it honours the creatures of God for their peculiar relations with Him; it is designated by theologians as the worship of dulia, a term denoting servitude, and implying, when used to signify our worship of distinguished servants of God, that their service to Him is their title to our veneration (cf. Chollet, loc. cit., col. 2407, and Bouquillon, Tractatus de virtute religionis, I, Bruges, 1880, 22 sq.).
* As the Blessed Virgin has a separate and absolutely supereminent rank among the saints, the worship paid to her is called hyperdulia (for the meaning and history of these terms see Suicer, Thesaurus ecclesiasticus, 1728).
In accordance with these principles it will readily be understood that a certain worship ***may be offered even to inanimate objects, such as the relics of a martyr, the Cross of Christ, the Crown of Thorns, or even the statue or picture of a saint. ***There is here no confusion or danger of idolatry, for this worship is subordinate or dependent. **The relic of the saint is venerated because of the link which unites it with the person who is **adored or venerated; while the statue or picture is regarded as having a conventional relation to a person who has a right to our homage — as being a symbol which reminds us of that person (see Vacant, Diet de théol. cath., s.v. Adoration, and authors cited in bibliography; also ADORATION; IDOLATRY; IMAGES; DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY).

So relax and don’t be obstructed to praying and worshiping saints, Mary, or inanimate objects; your church says it is okay and is even encouraged and you may pick up some merit as well.

That is the problem with much of the writings, they tell you and tell you to tell others outside of the Church one thing, then write another. For example, the catechism will say you are saved by faith, BUT, through the water baptismal sacrament or sacrament of pennance. It is all in the BUT; this is double speaking and it is found all over Catholic writings. You have greater faith than the Bereans; they believed what they were told, but still tested against what was “written” to see if it was true. Your faith is greater than theirs because you believe what you are told and it stops there.

We all make our choices when it comes to faith and whom we will put that faith in; this is why in the end we are all held accountable for those choices before God. If your faith is in accordance with God, then you are doing very well; if mine is not, then I am going to be in hell by my own choice.
What I take from that is all worship ultimately goes to God.

You are correct, we all make our own choices. I am comfortable with my choice to be a Catholic. I know in my heart I only worship God and God alone, so no worries here 👍
 
I agree… I used to sing it in Latin with the most fervor… looking at it in English is kind of stunning… so much towards Mary and then “after this” show us Jesus followed by more sweet words for Mary…
(Salve Regina, mater misericordiae, vita dulcedo et spes nostra salve, ad te clamamus,
exsules filii Evae, ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes, in hac lacrimarum valle, eia ergo advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte, et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria… just from memory… I’m not quite sure where the commas go… I just put them in the pauses.)
You have guts being here. If you came from Protestant to Catholicism, then you are most favored, but a Catholic to a Protestant you are straight from the pit and a traitor or maybe just a strayer…👍
 
What I take from that is all worship ultimately goes to God.

You are correct, we all make our own choices. I am comfortable with my choice to be a Catholic. I know in my heart I only worship God and God alone, so no worries here 👍
Be careful; you may be cursed if you believe you are assured…you don’t believe you are assured of your salvation are you?
 
Be careful; you may be cursed if you believe you are assured…you don’t believe you are assured of your salvation are you?
I believe I have been saved, am being saved and look forward to being saved!
 
You are ashamed? That’s okay and you missed the point, the God and cracker in the entire context was the way the unbelieving world will view the actions of Catholics and that is it.
Fantastic. However, to tell a Catholic that they think God is a cracker (or however you phrased it) is extremely offensive.

We believe in the real presence of God in the Eucharist, and we get that directly from Scripture. You, however, do not believe this way, and that’s your right. You have several posts here; enough, I would think, to have a sense of what is and is not offensive.
 
When I was a Baptist (before I got saved) we said prayers to pieces of cloth.

Isn’t that idolatry?
Actually, prayer cloths are biblical, although I think the name is a misnomer because you are not supposed to be praying to the piece of cloth. The cloth is a sacramental (ie something whose blessing works through the faith of the user). They are supposed to be used in the same way as the handkerchiefs and aprons which touched Paul were used. Prayer cloths have been touched by the relics of Saints and they usually have some documentation as to which Saint’s relics were used and what their patronage is so that they may be used to best effect.
Acts 19:11-12
11God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2019:10-15&version=NIV
 
Fantastic. However, to tell a Catholic that they think God is a cracker (or however you phrased it) is extremely offensive.

We believe in the real presence of God in the Eucharist, and we get that directly from Scripture. You, however, do not believe this way, and that’s your right. You have several posts here; enough, I would think, to have a sense of what is and is not offensive.
Well if he wanted to display what this might look like to a complete outsider it is just a rational view of things… Without knowledge of the Catholic faith one might assume this looking at one of the pictures of Eucharistic adoration… If he just wanted to display this I couldn’t find anything offensive in it.
Without knowledge of the background one might assume that, but this goes for a whole lot of things. To an outsider without in depth knowledge a lot of things might look strange…
Someone who grew up in a small village in India might look at a knife and fork and assume that we are fighting over our food all the while we only use these tools to eat. Different cultures also come with different eating habits and these might seem strange to others…
Inasmuch this is the case for eating habits, someone who has little or no knowledge of the Catholic faith views a picture of Eucharistic adoration as someone kneeling before a wafer.
 
What I take from that is all worship ultimately goes to God.

You are correct, we all make our own choices. I am comfortable with my choice to be a Catholic. I know in my heart I only worship God and God alone, so no worries here 👍
You have to wonder why Protestants come here and try so hard to tell us we beleive things we dont believe. Makes you wonder if they are here to convince us that the Catholic faith is wrong or if they are really trying to convince themsleves.
 
The level of charity in this thread is falling quickly. I am thankful to the few people who have offered apologies for mis-communication.

The topic of the OP was that a person who had no idea what a person or religious group believed ascribed motives of idolatry.

Images are **not **and have never been idols. Idols are idols by their very nature. Their **purpose is to worship the item at a level of infinite power. That is what *defines *an idol. The item **itself **(in the idolater’s mind,) holds power, intrinsically.

Nowhere, in all of Scripture is it forbidden to use images as an aid to worship!! Anyone who wants to peddle that here is kidding him/her self. If that were so, all paintings, fish symbols, crosses, and especially Scripture itself would be forbidden. What do you think those letters on the page you read are? Letters are symbols. Words create images. The mind thinks in pictures.

To all of my “Bible-only” Protestant friends: Your Bible itself is an idol in the weird, mistaken definition some have presented here. Do you know that we are commanded not to “read” Scripture? We are commanded to “pray” the Scriptures. Before the printing press ALL of Christendom prayed without the “visual aid” of Scripture!

Images have always, always, always been used as an aid to worship. Those who say other wise are lying to themselves, us, or both. Please take off your blinders and look again to authentic Christianity. Look to the Church Fathers for how to worship. They were taught *directly *by those who learned at the feet of Christ.
 
I am sorry I ever posted this question. I see now that anyone not Catholic sees Catholics as worshiping all sorts of things as if the objects were a god. My question was answered as I looked over all the posts. People got pretty heated with names going back & forth and all. I just wondered if all Protestants thought we worshiped idols. Sadly, the answer is yes. But as I hold my rosary with my picture of Jesus propped up on my desk, I know I am not worshiping a picture or beads on a chain…I am worshiping Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. I have many problems to overcome in my life and in my situation, but I have never, nor will I ever, worship ANYONE or ANYTHING but my Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, His Son, and the Holy Spirit…which, by the way, is a total of ONE GOD!!
I apologize for any feelings of anger this post may have caused…this was not my intention.
mouse
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top