A question for Roman Catholics?

Question

Why do you worship images if:

Lev 19:4. "'Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.
NIV

Lev 26:1
26:1 "'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.
NIV

Isa 45:20 Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who pray to gods that cannot save.
NIV

Jer 10:3-5
For the customs of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4 They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good."
NIV

Ps 115:4-8
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

So kneeling before a plaster Virgin, a Crucifix or a Shrine is not WORSHIPPING IDOLS??

So why do Cathoholics wear their scapulars and kiss images of Saint Jude or Mary? I don't light up candles for my Mother, I don't kneel at my father's portrait. I don't cross myself in front of a poster.

Their Jesus images look like roadkill on a pole.

Answer 1

Good question. It was never brought to my attention until 4 years ago. I'm catholic and a friend(baptist, I think) asked me the same question. I didn't know what to say, because I'd never heard that before. So I read the appropriate bible passages and began to think about it. I see your point and his. And I don't think those passages were referring to images of Jesus. I think they are referring to 'false' gods or idols. I'm not perfect and I could be wrong, so I'll listen to what you and others have to say about it and re-evauate my position if necessary.

Answer 2

Come on now. You sound like a reasonably intelligent person. Can you really be so naive as to believe that over a billion equally intelligent people WORSHIP plaster and marble????

The Catholic Church absolutely condemns ALL forms of idolatry, a fact you could have easily discovered for yourself by looking it up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (there are searchable versions online), if you were interested in knowing the truth.

Catholics worship nothing and no-one but the One True God Who sent His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, into the world to die for our sins and open the gates of heaven to us. We do however use images as visual reminders of Our Lord, and of great champions of the faith who serve as role models in our own walk with Christ. Much the same as having pictures of your own family on the wall of your home, or in your wallet. Now, if you WORSHIP these pictures, or the people they represent, you have a very serious problem. But being a reasonable person, I strongly doubt that is the case.

Answer 3

Isa 45:20 Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who pray to gods that cannot save.
NIV


That answers it right there. Roman Catholics don't pray to Mary or the Saints as ones above God. They ask them to intercede on their behalf. Kinda like "From your lips to God's ear" kind of thing. We kiss the cross to show respect for the sacrifice Jesus did in our honor. God did not want people to worship false gods, but we are allowed to ask the saints for intercession. I believe that's mentioned in the New Testament (if you'd care to read it).

Answer 4

People here say they dont worship idols..What a crock..Go to a catholic church and see how many people a kneeling to the cross..or lighting candles in front of the Virgin Mary..God you all are such bigots..How many christians have I seen wearing a cross around there neck and touching it when they pray..Does did make u closer to GOD??

Answer 5

You gave very good reasons why Catholics do not worship idols. It is indeed forbidden by Scripture to worship idols, and this is why Catholics do not do it.

We do not pray to the statues, we pray to the people who are represented by the statues.

The statues that you see are just works of art that remind us of Jesus, Mary and other holy people. The statues remind us of these these holy people in the past. It is the same as the picture on your desk of your wife and your children. It helps you think of those people when you see representation of them.

Thank you for your question.

Answer 6

That was a lot of writing for NO reason.

We do NOT worship Idols. The fact that we do have statues does not mean that we are worshiping the actual statue.

We don't

And to answer your next question:

We don't worship Mary either.

Peace, and God Bless you!

Answer 7

well, I don't nececarily agree with the bible, I view it more as a colection of really good stories. and that's it,
But if someone i.e: my mom and Grandma
want to believe and follow the teachings, thats fine by me.
It also says in the bible, god gave unto thee any fruit bearing tree, and seed bearing herb. And the church says, you can't eat this, or you can't smoke that.
At the same time with their beliefs, they know I am wiccan, and they accept me, my mom even joins in on the solstice celebration. So it would be pretty F^cked up of me not to accept them.
The verses you are talking about are saying, do not worship anyother God than me, well they aren't worshiping these symbols, only using them in prayer. And since God created all of us and this world, don't you thnk he knows how humanity works, We have to put a face on everything, and a name to match, in doing that we come up woth symbols to represent God, because none of us knows what he even looks like.
Just let them belive what they want to and you belive what you want, but don't push beliefs onto eachother.
Blessed be.

Answer 8

The Bible is one of the largest idols out there. So, I am amused that the Bible speaks out against idolatry, while millions of Christians do just that.

People are comforted by idols. These icons represent something they can see and touch. The notion of God is most abstract, so Christians (including Catholics) tend to concentrate the idea of God into physical representations: crosses, statues, and books.

So many people focus on what men have created and not enough on God himself. I'm sure God would be rather sad to see so many people worshipping statues and Bibles instead of him.

Answer 9

Silly clown, they don't worship idols. They're just a visual religion. Think of the statues as mandalas. Oops! Bad analogy.

Think of them as a focal point. Yeah, that's it.

But anyway, don't worry about the catholics. They're equally as convinced as you are that they are on the right path.

Answer 10

We don't worship stautes. It just helps if you have a visual. If we are praying to God or Jesus or asking one of the saints to help us out it helps us to focus on them. It's also pretty traditional for us. We don't need images, but it's traditional. Tradition aside though my first reason is the most significant reason.