Why do people make statues of Jesus, even though the Bible says, "Do not make of Me any graven image?

Question

That is also one of the Ten Commandments. Why do people make portraits and statues (a graven image) of Jesus and sometimes God, even though God himself says not to? Remember, if you read the New Testament in the Bible, Jesus clearly states that, "Me and the Father are of one being." Why have so many people disobeyed this commandment?

Answer 1

The bible says "Do not make unto thee any graven images." That has an entirely different meaning. If you're really interested to know more about why we (I'm assuming you mean Catholics) do this, let's talk about it sometime. ^__^

In short, we do not pray "to" statues or images. They're merely a point of meditation... something to help the mind and heart focus on holiness. But for a better explanation, here's something to read about the Church's *actual* position on statues, idolatry, etc. It's something you would NEVER hear from someone who's anti-Catholic. And believe me, I know they're out there. I can't tell you how many times kids told me they couldn't play with me cause I was Catholic, and they're parents said so. =P

I think that when people want to know about another religion, they should always ask someone who is a member of that religion... because others, frankly, don't know what they're talking about. I don't usually like copying and pasting. It seems a little cheap. But this answer is very thorough, so I'll go ahead and do it this time. Enjoy, heheh. ^__^ Later, gator! ~Holly

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DO CATHOLICS WORSHIP STATUES?

"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).

It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues.

Anti-Catholic writer Loraine Boettner, in his book Roman Catholicism, makes the blanket statement, "God has forbidden the use of images in worship" (281). Yet if people were to "search the scriptures" (cf. John 5:39), they would find the opposite is true. God forbade the worship of statues, but he did not forbid the religious use of statues. Instead, he actually commanded their use in religious contexts!


God Said To Make Them

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."


The Religious Uses of Images

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 doesn’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).


What About Bowing?

Sometimes anti-Catholics cite Deuteronomy 5:9, where God said concerning idols, "You shall not bow down to them." Since many Catholics sometimes bow or kneel in front of statues of Jesus and the saints, anti-Catholics confuse the legitimate veneration of a sacred image with the sin of idolatry.

Though bowing can be used as a posture in worship, not all bowing is worship. In Japan, people show respect by bowing in greeting (the equivalent of the Western handshake). Similarly, a person can kneel before a king without worshipping him as a god. In the same way, a Catholic who may kneel in front of a statue while praying isn’t worshipping the statue or even praying to it, any more than the Protestant who kneels with a Bible in his hands when praying is worshipping the Bible or praying to it.


Hiding the Second Commandment?

Another charge sometimes made by Protestants is that the Catholic Church "hides" the second commandment. This is because in Catholic catechisms, the first commandment is often listed as "You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3), and the second is listed as "You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain." (Ex. 20:7). From this, it is argued that Catholics have deleted the prohibition of idolatry to justify their use of religious statues. But this is false. Catholics simply group the commandments differently from most Protestants.

In Exodus 20:2–17, which gives the Ten Commandments, there are actually fourteen imperative statements. To arrive at Ten Commandments, some statements have to be grouped together, and there is more than one way of doing this. Since, in the ancient world, polytheism and idolatry were always united—idolatry being the outward expression of polytheism—the historic Jewish numbering of the Ten Commandments has always grouped together the imperatives "You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3) and "You shall not make for yourself a graven image" (Ex. 20:4). The historic Catholic numbering follows the Jewish numbering on this point, as does the historic Lutheran numbering. Martin Luther recognized that the imperatives against polytheism and idolatry are two parts of a single command.

Jews and Christians abbreviate the commandments so that they can be remembered using a summary, ten-point formula. For example, Jews, Catholics, and Protestants typically summarize the Sabbath commandment as, "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy," though the commandment’s actual text takes four verses (Ex. 20:8–11).

When the prohibition of polytheism/idolatry is summarized, Jews, Catholics, and Lutherans abbreviate it as "You shall have no other gods before me." This is no attempt to "hide" the idolatry prohibition (Jews and Lutherans don’t even use statues of saints and angels). It is to make learning the Ten Commandments easier.

The Catholic Church is not dogmatic about how the Ten Commandments are to be numbered, however. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "The division and numbering of the Commandments have varied in the course of history. The present catechism follows the division of the Commandments established by Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confession. The Greek Fathers worked out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and Reformed communities" (CCC 2066).


The Form of God?

Some anti-Catholics appeal to Deuteronomy 4:15–18 in their attack on religious statues: "[S]ince you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth."

We’ve already shown that God doesn’t prohibit the making of statues or images of various creatures for religious purposes (cf. 1 Kgs. 6:29–32, 8:6–66; 2 Chr. 3:7–14). But what about statues or images that represent God? Many Protestants would say that’s wrong because Deuteronomy 4 says the Israelites did not see God under any form when he made the covenant with them, therefore we should not make symbolic representations of God either. But does Deuteronomy 4 forbid such representations?


The Answer Is No

Early in its history, Israel was forbidden to make any depictions of God because he had not revealed himself in a visible form. Given the pagan culture surrounding them, the Israelites might have been tempted to worship God in the form of an animal or some natural object (e.g., a bull or the sun).

But later God did reveal himself under visible forms, such as in Daniel 7:9: "As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was Ancient of Days took his seat; his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire." Protestants make depictions of the Father under this form when they do illustrations of Old Testament prophecies.

The Holy Spirit revealed himself under at least two visible forms—that of a dove, at the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32), and as tongues of fire, on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4). Protestants use these images when drawing or painting these biblical episodes and when they wear Holy Spirit lapel pins or place dove emblems on their cars.

But, more important, in the Incarnation of Christ his Son, God showed mankind an icon of himself. Paul said, "He is the image (Greek: ikon) of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." Christ is the tangible, divine "icon" of the unseen, infinite God.

We read that when the magi were "going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matt. 2:11). Though God did not reveal a form for himself on Mount Horeb, he did reveal one in the house in Bethlehem.

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.


Idolatry Condemned by the Church

Since the days of the apostles, the Catholic Church has consistently condemned the sin of idolatry. The early Church Fathers warn against this sin, and Church councils also dealt with the issue.

The Second Council of Nicaea (787), which dealt largely with the question of the religious use of images and icons, said, "[T]he one who redeemed us from the darkness of idolatrous insanity, Christ our God, when he took for his bride his holy Catholic Church . . . promised he would guard her and assured his holy disciples saying, ‘I am with you every day until the consummation of this age.’ . . . To this gracious offer some people paid no attention; being hoodwinked by the treacherous foe they abandoned the true line of reasoning . . . and they failed to distinguish the holy from the profane, asserting that the icons of our Lord and of his saints were no different from the wooden images of satanic idols."

The Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566) taught that idolatry is committed "by worshipping idols and images as God, or believing that they possess any divinity or virtue entitling them to our worship, by praying to, or reposing confidence in them" (374).

"Idolatry is a perversion of man’s innate religious sense. An idolater is someone who ‘transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God’" (CCC 2114).

The Church absolutely recognizes and condemns the sin of idolatry. What anti-Catholics fail to recognize is the distinction between thinking a piece of stone or plaster is a god and desiring to visually remember Christ and the saints in heaven by making statues in their honor. The making and use of religious statues is a thoroughly biblical practice. Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know his Bible.

Answer 2

what verse are you reading? the ten commandments state not to make any idol (graven image) that you would worship. This could be something like a statue and something like money or t.v. When God says not to make a graven image it means an image you would worship. This is also the same with a statue of Jesus. It is o.k. to make a statue of or in reference to Jesus as long as you do not worship the actual statue itself. As long as you are worshipping Jesus and not the physical statue. For Jesus Christ is our LORD and SAVIOR.

Answer 3

First, the bible says not to make any graven images unto thee- meaning making them for yourself. Did not say anything about making images 'of Me'.

God is speaking of man creating an image to use in false worship; an idol- i.e, thou shall have no other gods before me. If just any statue or picture was considered a 'graven image', God would be breaking His own commandment- He had Bezalel place two cherubim on the two ends of the mercy seat on the arc of the covenant. (Exodus 37) It's not the statue or picture itself that offends God, it's the place those objects take in your heart that is the sin.

The dictionary definition of 'graven image' is an idol or fetish carved in wood or stone. An 'idol' is a material effigy (crude figure) that is worshiped as a god A 'fetish' is an object believed to have magical or spiritual powers especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.

I don't think pictures of Jesus, people or family, or statues of Jesus or people, created under ordinary circumstances fall into that category. They are just reminders of the ones we love or admire; some are memorials built to remind us of specific occasions or the great services/sacrifices specific people made.

People who pray to a statue of Jesus do not know Jesus nor do they have a relationship with Him. I don't think they're idolizing the statue, but they simply have no expectation of the living God beyond the statue; that image is as real as He gets for them. Sad.

Answer 4

You are correct, but also, you must remever even though the trinity is God the Father / Son and Holy spirit. All seperate yet one. So, in a sense it was God the Father that spoke gave the ten commandments to Moses. Hence then would that be mainly refering to God the Father, since Jesus lived among us, then why would it be a problem to paint a portrait of Jesus since it's an already exposed part of God?

Answer 5

Most people don't know the bible and some just don't care! Why do they go against the other commandments? You will never have an answer to why people do the things they do. This is the way of man. Maybe in their brains they think that they are doing something to show worship and devotion- like when they build extravagant churches where you view service on big screens!

Answer 6

I believe that those images were of when he walked the earth. They moe and likely were not concidered graven images. Those images of him are peaceful (most are). I think those people were
trying to give us later in years an idea of what he looked like and the grief and suffering he went through for all of us, not yet born. The commandment may have been made following those fist images.
It is only a possibility!

Answer 7

Then you should throw all the pictures of your family, your mom & dad, your friends and your children away. You don't love the pictures of your family, same thing with statues & pictures of Jesus. What crazy person loves the statues or pictures? They just make it easier to focus when you're praying. It helps to visualize. Nobody's worshiping the pictures. Expand you mind just a bit and you'll understand the concept.

Answer 8

people are driven by the desire to embrace reality with all the senses. if they can see hear, touch, or speak, they will always be driven to create. i've never heard god say not to create.
connecting our hearts to the "graven" image would be to deny the freedom of heaven though. so even though we create an image the perspective of making it "graven" is still up to every individual.

Answer 9

The Messiah came in to fulfill what was written of him in the law and prophets. We no longer worship with mens hands but now worship our creator in spirit and truth. Not realizing that it is in the heart and mind where worship occurs, mankind continues to do forms of outward worship and is still looking outside of himself for his creator and making graven images as a form of outward worship. Our creator dwells within the hearts and minds of mankind, that's the only place you will find him. Either that light is light or that light is darkness and if that light is darkness how great is that darkness?

Answer 10

It's too bad that people who claim to follow Jesus do such things. Know that there are those who do not make statues. Seek them out that follow the Word of God.

Answer 11

Bravo, you are one of the few intellegent people. I am related to martin luther the founder of the lutherine church and yes your right. Do not have statues, Christ is not to be remembered as dead on a cross but resurected. Don't pray to saints or mary they cant help you God said in Genisis I am a jealous God you pray to me and no other. God is in your heart not on your wall or on your dash board. Son I don't know who you are but I am impressed with your abilitiy to learn, ask, and know. Bravo!