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FollowTheWay
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Why worship statues of saints, of Mary, or of Jesus??
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AshleyBelle
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Good question! That would truly be awful! Why would anyone worship statues???
I’m Catholic, and I agree with the church, that worshipping statues would be idolatry.
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djrakowski
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Note that this is a Catholic forum, and thus this question makes no sense. We don’t worship statues of anyone.
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cfrancis
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Good question! The Bible certainly declares idolatry a sin, and so does the Catholic Church. In fact, I think all of Christianity believes the Bible on this subject
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djrakowski
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And here’s what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say about idolatry:
**2112 **The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of “idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.” These empty idols make their worshippers empty: “Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.” God, however, is the “living God” who gives life and intervenes in history.
**2132 **The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype,” and “whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.” The honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,” not the adoration due to God alone:Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.
**2112 **The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of “idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.” These empty idols make their worshippers empty: “Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.” God, however, is the “living God” who gives life and intervenes in history.
**2132 **The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype,” and “whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.” The honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,” not the adoration due to God alone:Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.
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FollowTheWay
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I was Catholic, there are statues of Mary and saints and Jesus. What do you think praying the rosary is, what do you think lighting candles at the feet of these statues are, or what about the many other practices like parading with Mary statues.
Did the Lord not get mad when we made a golden calf out of him?
Did he not tell us that he showed up on mount Horeb as a flame so that we would not make an image out of him?
Does Exodus 20 not say not to make an image of anything in Heaven above?
What about Acts 17:29-30
Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
amazing what the bible tells us huh??
Did the Lord not get mad when we made a golden calf out of him?
Did he not tell us that he showed up on mount Horeb as a flame so that we would not make an image out of him?
Does Exodus 20 not say not to make an image of anything in Heaven above?
What about Acts 17:29-30
Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
amazing what the bible tells us huh??
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PatienceAndLove
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Are you trolling?
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FollowTheWay
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no im simply “gently correcting” my fellow brothers whom are very lost
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chris_molter
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Beats me. I don’t.
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PatienceAndLove
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I would have to disagree.
How long were you Catholic for? At what age did you leave the Church?
Read this article: Do Catholics Worship Statues?
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Booklover
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djrakowski
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The Rosary is a prayer in which we medidate upon episodes in the life of Jesus while asking for Mary to pray for us. That’s hardly worship. Candle-lighting is an action undertaken in prayer to symbolize the rising of that prayer to Our Lord in heaven. Marian processions are not acts of worship, but rather honor we give (and all Christians should give) to the one who bore Jesus into this world in the form of a man.
Yes, he did… because the Israelites had substituted that calf for the One, True, Living God. They worshipped it as God, which is not what’s done with Catholic iconography (including statues).
Note that the commands of Our Lord did not proscribe the *creation *of religious images, but rather the *worship *of religious images.
Yes, and it says that you shall not bow down to them and worship them.
Is God guilty of having broken His own commandment? Read this passage and let me know if God is guilty of having commanded the sin of creating images for the purpose of worship:
The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” (Numbers 21:8, NIV)
Not only did the Lord command the creation of an image, he required it for physical salvation!
Yes, it IS amazing what the Bible tells us! Read through the descriptions of the ornamentation contained within the temple of the Lord in the Old Testament, specifically the images of angels perched over the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant.
You see, we’re not violating the words of Our Lord in scripture because we’re not worshipping images. We’re not offering our sacrifices to images, and we don’t expect them to fulfill the requests contained in our prayers. Thus, your objections are unfounded.
The Church dealt with the heresy of iconoclasm over 1000 years ago, but your post-Reformation perspective doesn’t allow for a sufficient view of Christian history to inform you of that. I suggest you do some reading on the subject.
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theox
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ROFL! Please guide me oh wise one for your comments are endearing and your logic infallible!
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cfrancis
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Yes, especially when we read ALL of it!
Ex 20
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness **of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. **
5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Note, you state: “Does Exodus 20 not say not to make an image of anything in Heaven above?”
Whereas, God states: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”
Now, that said, please look at the temple built by Solomon in 1 Kings 6:
18 There was cedar on the house within, carved in the shape of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, there was no stone seen.
23 Also in the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
24 Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub and five cubits the other wing of the cherub; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits.
25 The other cherub was ten cubits; both the cherubim were of the same measure and the same form.
26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.
27 He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and the wings of the cherubim were spread out, so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. So their wings were touching each other in the center of the house.
28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 Then he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inner and outer sanctuaries.
32 So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
33 So also he made for the entrance of the nave four-sided doorposts of olive wood
34 and two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots, and the two leaves of the other door turned on pivots.
35 He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the engraved work.
And in 1 Kgs 7:
13 Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.
14 He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.
24 Under its brim gourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, completely surrounding the sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast with the rest.
25 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts turned inward.
Please notice in this account, unlike the casting of the bronze serpent, Solomon’s design of the temple did not come from instructions from God.
Is it the image/likeness which concerns God, or the worship and attention one gives to such an image and likeness?
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FollowTheWay
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I was a Catholic up until the age of 20, whats amazing is that it all happened because I read 'The Bible" it was the douay reihms version.
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CHESTERTONRULES
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Catholics don’t worship statues or images.
God created the earth, however, and he uses the physical world to accomplish his goals.
Now if God simply forbids the making of graven images, then there are problems elsewhere in the Bible. First, in Exodus 25:18-21, God commands Moses to make two statues of angels (cherubim) for the top of the Ark of the Covenant. Later in Numbers 21:8-9, God commands Moses to make a bronze serpent, so that the people who were bitten by snakes could look upon it and be healed. Now it is true that centuries later King Hezekiah destroyed it; however, this action was done because the people worshipped it as a god (2 Kings 18:4). In the Gospel, Jesus compared Himself to the bronze serpent (John 3:14). Continuing in the Old Testament, the inner sanctuary of the Temple contained two large statues of angels according to 1 Kings 6:23-28. In the following verses, Solomon also had the walls of the Temple decorated with carved images of angels, palm trees and flowers (1 Kings 6:29ff). During the Babylonian Captivity, Ezekiel had a vision from God about the design of the new Temple. According to Ezekiel 41:17-25, this new Temple contained graven images of angels and palm trees. These passages in the Bible indicate that God does not forbid the making of statues. If God truly condemned the making of graven images in the “Second Commandment”, then He must have changed His mind later in the Old Testament.
users.binary.net/polycarp/graven.html
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djrakowski
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What’s even more amazing is that through the reading of my New International Version (NIV) of the Bible (a Bible that’s missing 7 canonical books), I was led to embrace Catholicism!
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GladCatholic
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Well the next time I see a golden calf in a Catholic Church, I’ll followyourway–oh, by the way, which of the 20,000+ denominations do you belong to?
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PatienceAndLove
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You mean the Latin Vulgate? I <3 the Latin Vulgate.
Did you read the article I posted?
BTW- how old are you now?
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PatienceAndLove
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Lets be nice to the poor boy. He’s confused and needs to be lead back home, not torn down.
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