When it says in the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in the heaven above." Then it goes on the say, "Thou shalt not bow thyself down to them."
But you all bow down to a statue of Jesus on a cross, or bow down to a statue of Mary, then you say you're Christians, people of God, when God plainly says not to do it.
Can you catholics comment on that?
I don't really see why this is always made into a debate. This is probably the least serious of the ten commandments, people break the ten commandments all the time. Yes, it is a sin to kill, a sin to covet thy neighbor's wife, yet people do it all the time...why aren't people asking those questions. Religious people kill, religious people cheat....and people are concerned about praying to too many people?
You speak truth and don't know it. The Prohibition against idols is even greater than worshiping statues. Even if they just pray to Mary in their heart, they have sinned.
It is speaking of the image of animals and other man created gods such as the Greek mythology gods.....we are not bowing down to these statues we are praying to them by kneeling in front of them and praising them.
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.
Sacred images in our churches and homes are intended to awaken and nourish our faith in the mystery of Christ. Through the icon of Christ and his works of salvation, it is he whom we adore. Through sacred images of the holy Mother of God, of the angels and of the saints, we venerate the persons represented.
And Jesus said Call no man Father but the Lord thy God - and catholics call all their priests father.!
And Jesus said Do not say prayers like a set piece, rather say something from your heart. And as an example he said the lords prayer. Now Catholics and many other Chriistians recite the Lords Prayer by rote, which wasn't what Jesus wanted.
Perhaps Catholics are actually anti religion to go against so much !
"Catholics worship statues!" People still make this ridiculous claim. Because Catholics have statues in their churches, goes the accusation, they are violating God?s commandment: "You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down to them or serve them" (Ex. 20:4?5); "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold" (Ex. 32:31).
People who oppose religious statuary forget about the many passages where the Lord commands the making of statues. For example: "And you shall make two cherubim of gold [i.e., two gold statues of angels]; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Ex. 25:18?20).
David gave Solomon the plan "for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made clear by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all, all the work to be done according to the plan" (1 Chr. 28:18?19). David?s plan for the temple, which the biblical author tells us was "by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all," included statues of angels.
Similarly Ezekiel 41:17?18 describes graven (carved) images in the idealized temple he was shown in a vision, for he writes, "On the walls round about in the inner room and [on] the nave were carved likenesses of cherubim."
During a plague of serpents sent to punish the Israelites during the exodus, God told Moses to "make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live" (Num. 21:8?9).
One had to look at the bronze statue of the serpent to be healed, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decorations.
Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one?s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas.
If one measured Protestants by the same rule, then by using these "graven" images, they would be practicing the "idolatry" of which they accuse Catholics. But there?s no idolatry going on in these situations. God forbids the worship of images as gods, but he dozen?t ban the making of images. If he had, religious movies, videos, photographs, paintings, and all similar things would be banned. But, as the case of the bronze serpent shows, God does not even forbid the ritual use of religious images.
It is when people begin to adore a statue as a god that the Lord becomes angry. Thus when people did start to worship the bronze serpent as a snake-god (whom they named "Nehushtan"), the righteous king Hezekiah had it destroyed (2 Kgs. 18:4).
The bottom line is, when God made the New Covenant with us, he did reveal himself under a visible form in Jesus Christ. For that reason, we can make representations of God in Christ. Even Protestants use all sorts of religious images: Pictures of Jesus and other biblical persons appear on a myriad of Bibles, picture books, T-shirts, jewelry, bumper stickers, greeting cards, compact discs, and manger scenes. Christ is even symbolically represented through the Icthus or "fish emblem."
Common sense tells us that, since God has revealed himself in various images, most especially in the incarnate Jesus Christ, it?s not wrong for us to use images of these forms to deepen our knowledge and love of God. That?s why God revealed himself in these visible forms, and that?s why statues and pictures are made of them.
Everything from the Bible gets interpreted for Catholics by the pope and his council. I'm guessing you are quoting "You shall worship no Gods before me", but in the literal English translation. Catholics show great reverence to saints, Mary in particular, but I don't believe the intent is to worship them in the same way as Jesus. But that's just one person's (my) opinion.
If you want a scholarly opinion on the matter, you should check out this site: http://www.ewtn.com/EWTN/Experts/conference.htm.
that quote is about thinking a statue has power. no catholic believes that making a statue gives it power. they do not worship the statue. its like when you take a picture of someone, you do not love the picture. you love what it represents. and if you kiss or hug the picture you know you are not actually having contact with said person.
First....the 10 Commandments were for the Jews only.
Second...we NEVER bow to a statue of Mary.
Third...we do not bow to Jesus on the cross....we bow to Jesus present in the Holy of Holies...tabernacle.
Fourth....God did say those words....but then commanded that cherubim be carved and placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
Fifth....God further instructs Abraham to make a snake out of bronze for the people to look at after they'd been bit and they would be healed!!!!! A graven image for healing....commanded by God!!!!! Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
8 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." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. (Numbers 21:4-9).
Sixth.....many people who ac use us Catholics of "worship ping statues" have no problem in putting out statues themselves in their Christmas manger!!!!!
If you go into a Catholic Church you will see many people genuflecting (or bowing) to a box, usually gold, called a Tabernacle. Sometimes that Tabernacle has a crucifix over it. The Tabernacle has the body of Christ in it. We genuflect to the body of Christ, not the crucifix. We are bowing to God Himself.
We also bow to the altar where God Himself has been. This altar has some of God on it.
Sometimes Catholics will touch or even kiss images of Christ or Saints when they are petitioning them. This is not bowing. This is showing an emotional attachment to the person with whom they are speaking. Just as a grandmother will kiss the pictures of her grandchildren or deceased husband.
Hope this helps you understand how emotionally attached we are to the ones in Heaven. There is no sin in having images of people who have gone on before us. We even have photographs of some Saints who have gone on before us. We sometimes "talk to" or touch those too.
We catholics do a lot of bowing to a lot of things,we bow to our cardinals,the pope,bishops & mother Superior,we also bow to an image of Christ,but my learned friend, i woke up
to the fact that the belief of Christ/god and all other beings
that are non existent,is out dated and not the done thing by me. I hate mentioning God / Christ as to me they are has be ens,they had been alive once now they are dead and there is no coming back once you have gone there!!
Pastor Billy says: I have a friend who is an Evangelical Protestant he is collector of art and toys etc. In his house you'll find numerous statues of animals, comic book superheroes, TV series collectible figures from star wars, buck roger and battle star galactic. Does mere creation and possession of these items make them idols and graven images spoken against in scripture?
Based on your question everything fashioned by the hands of man could technically be a graven image. Images of Jesus Christ reinforce the reality of the Incarnation. You must examine the full context of what was being commanded and to whom when quoting from Exodus or the other list in the OT.
What were the Jewish people of the time doing? How did their action deny the one God? Did they teach life existed in the graven images? Did they worship the images?
Now the final question do Catholics do same as the first people of the book? No they do not. Catholics teach the Trinity to all others and the only reason some Protestants maintain the teaching of Holy Trinity One God is because they retained it from Catholicism. Catholic artwork is not God and is not made Gods. Religious artwork you elude to in Catholicism is considered sacramental. They help in mediation on the glory of the one God. Images of the saints remind me of the greater family of God we as Christians are all members in. Those already with God are most righteous yet they are not Gods and therefore are not worshiped.
In reading the OT you'll discover many examples of God instructing the people to create images and beautify the temple with statues and co lour. In the desert they are instructed by God through Moses to bow before the serpent on a pole so as to be healed does this constitute a denial or rejection of the commandment you ask about?
The commandment is making the point of not having other Gods and as Catholicism teaches of the One God there is no case to be had. Ask yourself this question, do I know the hearts of all men to accuse them of not worship ping the One God?
"[The Lord said] make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. . ." (Ex. 25:18-19).
"You shall make the tabernacle with . . . cherubim skillfully worked" (Ex. 26:1).
"The Lord said to Moses, `Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole" (Num. 21:8-9).
"He made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. . . . He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the Temple . . . And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. He carved all the walls of the Temple round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers" (1 Kgs. 6:23, 27-29).
"[The brazen sea] stood upon [statues of] twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east" (1 Kgs. 7:25).
"And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about" (1 Kgs. 7:36).
Yes, "to bow thyself down to them" means to worship.
When Catholics bow before a crucifix, statue, or the altar, it is a sign of respect to the person represented by the crucifix or statue. Bowing as a sign of respect is also seen in other cultures.
Question to roman catholics;?
