Was It Idolatry?

[Newfie_Catholic]

Greetings my fellow Catholics and Orthodox, for the past year I have completely embraced Traditional Catholicism. However I have not always been so. In the public school system I was taught that all religions are equal and have truth, my gradeeacher even taught us how to meditate. In school we drew buddah and pictures of hindu “gods” ( who I now know are devils like all other pagan gods), in the curriculim Christianity was put on the back-burner…sorry I mean not mentioned at all! Even this year it was only mentioned when we were surpressing “rights” or not being tolerant. As is quite obvious this breeds modernist heresy in the souls of young school children. I was for a time interested in Harry Potter which did not help matters… For a time I was even ashamed of certain parts of Church history such as the Inquisition and the Crusades, I now know these events were necessary and the work of God. Also for years I loved the history and culture of the Eastern world (which is not in itself evil) and studied much about it. To make a long story short I bought some Ancient Egyptian artwork with images of isis, osiris, anubis etc… needless to say I now feel VERY eneasy about this art. I have been repenting of this for three to four years now and have one question am I an idolator or heretic; and what do I do now?

 

[MarkThompson]

No, it is not idolatry to keep such images as objets d’art. And if you ever have a chance to visit the Vatican Museums, make sure you see the galleries of ancient and Egyptian sculpture, which too many people skip.

 

[AndrewA]

Plus I have read all 7 Harry Potter books and see nothing wrong with them.
It is just fiction

 

[AndrewF1995]

Greetings my fellow Catholics and Orthodox, for the past year I have completely embraced Traditional Catholicism. However I have not always been so. In the public school system I was taught that all religions are equal and have truth, my gradeeacher even taught us how to meditate. In school we drew buddah and pictures of hindu “gods” ( who I now know are devils like all other pagan gods), in the curriculim Christianity was put on the back-burner…sorry I mean not mentioned at all! Even this year it was only mentioned when we were surpressing “rights” or not being tolerant. As is quite obvious this breeds modernist heresy in the souls of young school children. I was for a time interested in Harry Potter which did not help matters… For a time I was even ashamed of certain parts of Church history such as the Inquisition and the Crusades, I now know these events were necessary and the work of God. Also for years I loved the history and culture of the Eastern world (which is not in itself evil) and studied much about it. To make a long story short I bought some Ancient Egyptian artwork with images of isis, osiris, anubis etc… needless to say I now feel VERY eneasy about this art. I have been repenting of this for three to four years now and have one question am I an idolator or heretic; and what do I do now?

Your doing nothing wrong, I am a more traditional catholic and I love harry potter. Its not real or anything…

 

[Monica4316]

Greetings my fellow Catholics and Orthodox, for the past year I have completely embraced Traditional Catholicism. However I have not always been so. In the public school system I was taught that all religions are equal and have truth, my gradeeacher even taught us how to meditate. In school we drew buddah and pictures of hindu “gods” ( who I now know are devils like all other pagan gods), in the curriculim Christianity was put on the back-burner…sorry I mean not mentioned at all! Even this year it was only mentioned when we were surpressing “rights” or not being tolerant. As is quite obvious this breeds modernist heresy in the souls of young school children. I was for a time interested in Harry Potter which did not help matters… For a time I was even ashamed of certain parts of Church history such as the Inquisition and the Crusades, I now know these events were necessary and the work of God. Also for years I loved the history and culture of the Eastern world (which is not in itself evil) and studied much about it. To make a long story short I bought some Ancient Egyptian artwork with images of isis, osiris, anubis etc… needless to say I now feel VERY eneasy about this art. I have been repenting of this for three to four years now and have one question am I an idolator or heretic; and what do I do now?

If you bought the images as objects of art, that’s different, imo… but if you feel uncomfortable about this, just make an act of contrition, confess it to a priest, and don’t think about it anymore. If you don’t practice idolatry or heresy now, you’re not an idolator or heretic, because you’ve repented of anything you might have done in the past. If you’ve confessed it and still feel guilty, for several years, - that type of guilt is not from God. We only need to repent once for a given sin, then we confess it and it is forgiven forever - unless we do it again. God bless

 

[GerardMajella]

Let’s be clear. The items in your possession are, in fact, idols, because they are pictorial representations of other gods.

As you are clearly feeling uncomfortable with these idols, and feel wary that they might violate your faith in the one true God, you are perfectly entitled to dispose of these idols as you deem fit. In fact, if you feel these images pose a serious threat to your faith and belief, then it makes perfect sense to rid yourselves of these images.

I suppose one could argue, as others have in this thread, that these are “works of art”, but clearly your conscience is weighing you on this matter - and for good reason.

 

[Newfie_Catholic]

Thankyou for the feedback and advice. Just so we are clear I never worshiped these pictures and only drew hindu “gods” for a school project in grades 3,4 and5.

 

[Robert_Burns]

Greetings my fellow Catholics and Orthodox, for the past year I have completely embraced Traditional Catholicism. However I have not always been so. In the public school system I was taught that all religions are equal and have truth, my gradeeacher even taught us how to meditate. In school we drew buddah and pictures of hindu “gods” ( who I now know are devils like all other pagan gods), in the curriculim Christianity was put on the back-burner…sorry I mean not mentioned at all! Even this year it was only mentioned when we were surpressing “rights” or not being tolerant. As is quite obvious this breeds modernist heresy in the souls of young school children. I was for a time interested in Harry Potter which did not help matters… For a time I was even ashamed of certain parts of Church history such as the Inquisition and the Crusades, I now know these events were necessary and the work of God. Also for years I loved the history and culture of the Eastern world (which is not in itself evil) and studied much about it. To make a long story short I bought some Ancient Egyptian artwork with images of isis, osiris, anubis etc… needless to say I now feel VERY eneasy about this art. I have been repenting of this for three to four years now and have one question am I an idolator or heretic; and what do I do now?

Robert: When were you Baptised? Remember a non Catholic even an Idoliter can Repent and become “Converted” to the One True Faith. Idolitry is defined as worshipping something as GOD other than ALMIGHTY GOD the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost. .
If you were a Baptised Catholic and embraced false Religions and their tenets you probably should confess those sins to a Priest. Only you would know how much culpability you have depending on how you viewed what you were doing at the time as compared with what you knew to be true. You confessor can help you if you need Him to.

If , however , you were not yet Baptised when all these things occured and you have recently converted - then they happened on your road to conversion and are not considered in the same sense as if they occured after Baptism.

In either event - GOD has led you to where you are today. So , if needs be - you are one good confession away from putting all these things behind you and it may even be that they are behind you already. So dont fret going to confession - the Priest is there to forgive you , not judge your past.

Congratulations for having enough grace to see these things for what they are.

Many people dont.

Pax

 

[Alexander_Smith]

Plus I have read all 7 Harry Potter books and see nothing wrong with them.
It is just fiction

Which means nothing I am sorry to say. There are many, many problems with the Harry Potter book series. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the writing, but I certainly wouldn’t let my kids read them. The characters are rewarded for disobedience, the non-magic users are classified in a discriminating way as if they were inferior, there is a character who is gay purely for shock value.

Not only that, but the magic spells aren’t things like fireballs and ice storms as you see in fantasy series books, but more sinister and occult type things. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spells_in_Harry_Potter

It’s no secret that the Harry Potter series have ushered in a renewed interests in the occult in kids. It’s not a good thing by any means, and should not be supported.

It makes no difference whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.

 

[Robert_Burns]

Which means nothing I am sorry to say. There are many, many problems with the Harry Potter book series. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the writing, but I certainly wouldn’t let my kids read them. The characters are rewarded for disobedience, the non-magic users are classified in a discriminating way as if they were inferior, there is a character who is gay purely for shock value.

Not only that, but the magic spells aren’t things like fireballs and ice storms as you see in fantasy series books, but more sinister and occult type things. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spells_in_Harry_Potter

It’s no secret that the Harry Potter series have ushered in a renewed interests in the occult in kids. It’s not a good thing by any means, and should not be supported.

It makes no difference whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.

I saw a Priest who performs Exorcisms being interviewed on EWTN who was saying that the Church will be in need of more Exorcists in the near future mainly because of the affinity for Witches and Warlocks and Vampires and the Occult being forwarded by the Media today. He said that it is not even a question that these things eventually lead to more cases of possession. Pretty Scary stuff if you ask me.

Pax