a nun gave me a bible when I was in high school,I'm a catholic too but everytime i'm reading the bible,there is a part that said "lord don't want us to honor everything that is made by man like statues but why is it that catholic churches are full of it?
2006-10-20 01:29:12 · 8 answers · asked by rona_glr 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Do you have pictures of your loved ones?
Statues and pictures of people we love are not idols.
Statues and paintings of Jesus and the saints are just like pictures of the people we love and respect.
The King James Version of the Bible states in Exodus 20:4: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth"
Why were the Jews commanded not to make graven images? Graven images were the standard method of pagan worship. They were representations of false gods.
This is a very clear command.
However God commanded the Jews in Exodus 25:18 and 1 Chronicles 28:18–19, "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them"
And in 1 Kings chapter 7 Solomon made bulls and other images out of precious metals.
It seems obvious that the Jews did not worship the cherubims and Solomon did not worship the bulls he had made. These images did not violate the command of God. Therefore, an image not made for worship is acceptable.
In Numbers 21:8-9, "And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered."
And in John 3:14-15, Jesus says in correlation, "And just as Moses lifted up the [image of a] serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
How can a statue of our Lord Jesus Christ dead on the cross be considered an idol to a false god? A crucifix is the message of the Gospel without words held up for all to see, a visual reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus, no different from a painting, a play, or a movie.
Catholics do not worship statues but the almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
With love in Christ.
2006-10-20 16:09:29 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Two very interesting things happened once God became man.
1) The moment Jesus was born, he became the flesh image of a heavenly thing ... something that is absolutey prohibited by the commandment you cite ... a commandment that would, if followed, actually keep us from worshipping Jesus Christ.
2) When Jesus gave us the new covenant in his blood, he fulfiled all that was written about him in the law, the pslams, and the prophets, and then, the old law, complete with the 10 commandments, and all the other ordinances and statutes EXPIRED.
Jesus shortly established his universal (Catholic) church, and he gave his church the sole authority to make laws to regulate Christian conduct.
The church promptly readopted the 10 Commandments in a slightly modified form, so they would properly reflect the new realities of God's new covenant, and Christ's divine humanity.
And since Jesus is no longer a largely unkown, and mysterious spirit God, images of Jesus would not be idols to a false god, but sacred memorials of the one, true God, who redeemed all mankind, and who promised to return and finish the job.
And since the Church was charged by Jesus with teaching the whole world, and the world was still largely illiterate, sacred art and statuary would also serve a very practical purpose in the life of the budding church ... as a graphical catechism of all Christian beliefs.
Much of the artwork we can see in ancient churches and in the Vatican is there not only to honor God, but to teach the faithful about Jesus, and all the people, places, and beliefs, which remain such an important part of the Judeo-Christian faith Tradition.
The Bible itself was of little use to the unschooled and largely illiterate populace, even after it was translated into Latin in the 4th century, which was the vernacular, and the official language of scientist and scholars of the time.
With the rise of Protestant beliefs and practices in the 15th century, along with the false doctrines of faith alone, and scripture alone, new and later faith traditions grew up, promoted by those who were largely ignorant of many (most) of the theologial truths which God's true church had authoratively defined over the centuries.
The new Bible only folks promptly latched on to the old law, just as they found it in scripture, but they could never satisfactorily explain from scripture WHY only part of the old laws were still to be be legitimately observed.
Why didn't Christians still stone adulterers to death? Why don't Christians have to conform to all the old Jewish traditional laws, but they still have to keep the commandments?
Exactly where is that rule detailed in scripture?
Not willing to accept the God-given authority of the Catholic Church, they'll never be able to correctly explain it.
Now you know!
2006-10-20 07:32:16 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Church doesn't "honor" statues. It honors those men and women who have been champions of the holy Catholic faith, and who therefore serve as witness and examples we can emulate in our own walk with Christ. Statues and pictures are simply visual reminders of these great Christian heros.
Incidentally, your Bible does not say not to "honor" statues. It says not to WORSHIP them. BIG difference. We honor all sorts of people, both inside and outside of the Church. But we worship God alone.
.
2006-10-20 02:09:48 · answer #3 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One reason is that back in the day, statues and stained glass windows were how the priests could teach the bible and the lifes of the saints to people who could not read. Now they serve as a reminder of the kind of people we strive to be.
2006-10-20 01:33:45 · answer #4 · answered by sister steph 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You must interpret OT text in light of the New Testament:
Images and Statues
Deut. 4:15 - from this verse, Protestants say that since we saw "no form" of the Lord, we should not make graven images of Him.
Deut. 4:16 - of course, in early history Israel was forbidden to make images of God because God didn't yet reveal himself visibly "in the form of any figure."
Deut. 4:17-19 - hence, had the Israelites depicted God not yet revealed, they might be tempted to worship Him in the form of a beast, bird, reptile or fish, which was a common error of the times.
Exodus 3:2-3; Dan 7:9; Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32; Acts 2:3- later on, however, we see that God did reveal himself in visible form (as a dove, fire, etc).
Deut. 5:8 - God's commandment "thou shall not make a graven image" is entirely connected to the worship of false gods. God does not prohibit images to be used in worship, but He prohibits the images themselves to be worshiped.
Exodus 25:18-22; 26:1,31 - for example, God commands the making of the image of a golden cherubim. This heavenly image, of course, is not worshiped by the Israelites. Instead, the image disposes their minds to the supernatural and draws them to God.
Num. 21:8-9 - God also commands the making of the bronze serpent. The image of the bronze serpent is not an idol to be worshiped, but an article that lifts the mind to the supernatural.
I Kings 6:23-36; 7:27-39; 8:6-67 - Solomon's temple contains statues of cherubim and images of cherubim, oxen and lions. God did not condemn these images that were used in worship.
2 Kings 18:4 - it was only when the people began to worship the statue did they incur God's wrath, and the king destroyed it. The command prohibiting the use of graven images deals exclusively with the false worship of those images.
1 Chron. 28:18-19 - David gives Solomon the plan for the altar made of refined gold with a golden cherubim images. These images were used in the Jews' most solemn place of worship.
2 Chron. 3:7-14 - the house was lined with gold with elaborate cherubim carved in wood and overlaid with gold.
Ezek. 41:15 - Ezekiel describes graven images in the temple consisting of carved likenesses of cherubim. These are similar to the images of the angels and saints in many Catholic churches.
Col. 1:15 - the only image of God that Catholics worship is Jesus Christ, who is the "image" (Greek "eikon") of the invisible God.
2006-10-22 23:55:34 · answer #5 · answered by Daver 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good thinking. You are right, why not honour the work of artists? They work day and night for such beautiful materials.
2006-10-20 01:31:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
We don't honour the statue, but what the statue represents.
2006-10-20 01:32:36 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Symbolism and iconography are to encourage devotion.
2006-10-20 01:34:04 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋