Why worship statues??

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PatienceAndLove said:
I never understood the “relationship” thing. Two of my friends use that line as their “religious views” on Facebook:

Would you explain this “concept” to me, and where it came from?
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I was an evangelical for nearly a decade, and I used this line all the time when trying to drag Catholics out of the Church. When you hear someone say, “I have a relationship, not a religion,” they’re saying, “I’m not Catholic.” They equate religion with empty actions intended to curry favor with God (as though we’ve never read the scriptures about our works being filthy rags), but fail to see the love of God behind them. And they fail to understand the import of the book of James in which we’re reminded that faith without works is dead.

But the Bible has numerous references to religion, so the objection is meaningless. It borders on spiritual pride, and the Bible has a few things to say about pride…
 
FollowTheWay said:
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??
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Disclaimer: nobody is required to give personal information on these forums.

How old were you when you left the Catholic Church?
 
djrakowski said:
I was an evangelical for nearly a decade, and I used this line all the time when trying to drag Catholics out of the Church. When you hear someone say, “I have a relationship, not a religion,” they’re saying, “I’m not Catholic.” They equate religion with empty actions intended to curry favor with God (as though we’ve never read the scriptures about our works being filthy rags), but fail to see the love of God behind them. And they fail to understand the import of the book of James in which we’re reminded that faith without works is dead.

But the Bible has numerous references to religion, so the objection is meaningless. It borders on spiritual pride, and the Bible has a few things to say about pride…
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That’s what I was looking for- thank you!

BTW- how do the following scriptures fit into the “relationship v religion” argument?

Second Epistle Of Saint Paul To The Thessalonians 3:6
And we charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us

Second Epistle Of Saint Paul To The Thessalonians 2:14
Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.
 
FollowTheWay said:
You do realize that Catholic doctrine is riddled with this stuff, for instance that a priest cannot marry:…
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Priestly celibacy isn’t a Catholic doctrine. It’s just a discipline. Right here, you show that you lacked basic understanding of your own Catholic faith before you left.
 
Gamera said:
I don’t get it. Who worships statues?
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PatienceAndLove said:
Apparently, Catholics do.
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If that’s true (and of course, it’s not, but I know you know that 😉 ), then FollowTheWay should be consistent and condemn Anglicans and Lutherans for their sacramental theologies, as well as Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Christians for venerating icons.

The people making this argument on CAF almost never apply it to the churches mentioned above, and that suggests an ignorance of world religions or an anti-Catholic agenda.
 
Gamera said:
We do? Huh. I’ve been Catholic for 43 years, and I’ve never seen anybody worship a statue. Have I missed something? 🤷
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Just the run-of-the-mill anti-Catholic arguments.
We worhip statues, pray to Mary, etc…
 
Thing said:
FollowTheWay worships statues of course, did’nt you know?
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Actually- he’s the one protesting the worship of statues are un-Biblical.

But I am assuming that you are being sarcastic- so ignore the above comment.
 
Gosh, if we Catholics are supposed to worship statues then we aren’t very good at it. How come no priest has every told me to worship a statue anytime in the past 43 years? How come our Catechism teaches that worship is reserved for God alone? How come we’re taught that statues are just inanimate objects, not living things? If we’re supposed to worship statues, you’d think we’d do a much better job.
 
FollowTheWay said:
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.
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When you were Catholic, did you think the statues were alive?
 
When I was a Baptist before I got saved, we said prayers to pieces of cloth.
 
PatienceAndLove said:
I was gonna say, that sounds so un-Baptist!
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Then you’ll love this… there were no crosses in, on or around the Baptist church I used to attend (except for the crosses hanging from chains around people’s necks, or embossed onto the covers of Bibles). They excused this lack of obvious connection to historical Christianity by claiming that such images are a distraction to “true” worship. In other words, it was their way of saying, as I mentioned before, “We’re not Catholic.” :rolleyes:
 
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