"You shall not bow down to them or worship them"

[fred_conty]

(Deuteronomy 5:8-9):
"You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me".

I understand that Christians do not worship the statues inside most Churches, but how to justify the “no bow down” command shown above since I see many persons bow down to the statues and to the pictures inside those Churches!

I have a king james version of the bible with all kinds of pictures of Jesus, apostles, holy women in it.

If a statue of Mary has been damaged, let’s say it was dropped, and the person no longer wants it, they my break up the rest of it in pieces and throw it away. If we worshipped it, would we do that?

A book can’t always be judged by its cover. We may kneel, or bow, but what is going on in the inside of a person is not what it may look like to someone else, especially if they have their own traditional teaching.

In addition, Catholics are not the only christians who honor God and the saints thru pictures and images. They have the same understanding as catholics.

I think the bottom of the problem is that some christians do not hold that people who have died before us are in heaven, but rather, waiting on the final judgment or armagedon, or some other event. So how can you pray to someone that is nothing, or that may only be in some sleep mode. And of course, the people in the O.T. didn’t seem to have any concept of people in heaven.

Maybe I’m mistaken but it seems to me that many protestants don’t object to having a picture of Jesus any more, it is just Mary and the saints they avoid. Tho I said this I saw a statue of Mary or some woman in the vestibule of a Baptist church. But I certainly don’t think that they worship it.

Just some thoughts.​

“O Saints of God abiding in the arms of mercy, pray for us.” (hymn)

 

[Begbie_123]

But Deuteronomy 5:8-9 is clear!, beside GOD is a jealous GOD, so I see no room for any maneuver.

We cannot worship THINGS by accident.We worship only God and venerate his Mother and Saints.Do you have a picture of family member in your wallet? Do you realize it only represents them? Same with us.

However when I genuflect upon entering the church I am acknowledging Christ’s True Presence in the accidents of the Eucharist in the tabernacle.

God commanded Moses to make an ark on which there were two statues or “images”,cherubim in adoration.He also commanded Moses to construct a bronze serpent so that His people when bitten by a snake would be cured.

To be VERY kind friend-please do NOT tell us what we worship.

We know.

God knows.