y do catholic and orthodox christians bow before images of jesus mary and other saints ?

Question

i am a hindu . and i feel disgusting when christians preach not to worship idols and openly violate what they say.in my country muslims ,sikhs and jains also donot worhip idols.but they are not hypocrites like christians and stand true to what they say, atleast they are not violating their own preachings openly!!!

Answer 1

Please do not compare catholic and orthodox to real christians.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

It's what's in your heart that matters, are they worshiping the actual stone or wood idol or what that idol represents, the true and living god? There are a lot of doctrinal issues that I don't agree with the Catholic Church on, but that doesn't mean that some Catholics don't have an honest and real relationship with Jesus Christ.

Read Ravi Zacharias, he is a Christian who used to be a Hindu, he can help you.

Answer 4

"Digusting"? "Hypocrites?" Is this the summation of hindu vision? Somehow I doubt that.

Ah well, there are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see.

There mere fact that Christians bow in front of images DOES NOT mean they are bowing 'to' the images.

You see, before you criticize another religion's beliefs and practices, it would help if you actually knew something about other religion's beliefs and practices first:

Deut. 4:15 - from this verse, some people 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.

Lastly, I will leave you with Proverbs 12:15: The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.

Answer 5

Protestants being thus impious enough to make liars of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and of the Apostles, need we wonder if they continually slander Catholics, telling and believing worse absurdities about them than the heathens did? What is more absurd than to preach that Catholics worship stocks and stones for gods; set up pictures of Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and other saints, to pray to them, and put their confidence in them; that they adore a god of bread and wine; that their sins are forgiven by the priest, without repentance and amendment of life; that the pope or any other person can give leave to commit sin, or that for a sum of money the forgiveness of sins can be obtained ? To these and similar absurdities and slanders, we simply answer: "Cursed is he who believes in such absurdities and falsehoods, with which Protestants impiously charge the children of the Catholic Church. All those grievous transgressions are another source of their reprobation."

"But what faith can we learn from these false teachers when, in consequence of separating from the Church, they have no rule of faith? ... How often Calvin changed his opinions! And, during his life, Luther was constantly contradicting himself: on the single article of the Eucharist, he fell into thirty-three contradictions! A single contradiction is enough to show that they did not have the Spirit of God. "He cannot deny Himself" (II Timothy 2:13). In a word, take away the authority of the Church, and neither Divine Revelation nor natural reason itself is of any use, for each of them may be interpreted by every individual according to his own caprice ... Do they not see that from this accursed liberty of conscience has arisen the immense variety of heretical and atheistic sects? ... I repeat: if you take away obedience to the Church, there is no error which will not be embraced.

Source(s):

Against the Reformers
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible online

Additional Reading

St Alphonsus Mary De Liguori (1696-1787)
Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Answer 6

It is a sin. They are worshipping an Idol and the bible does not condone it. Muslims regard muhammed as an idol and worship him so they are just as wrong. By the way mary was a chosen girl to bear Jesus but when we get to heaven she will be just the same as all of us that make it. We may not bow before her. This thing about it is a symbol of their religion, its hogwash, its blaspheming God and putting mary before Jesus.

Answer 7

Because they are symbols of our religion. And its not worshipping idols thats wrong, it's worshipping FALSE Idols. Mary and Jesus are not those.

And you're a little free with the christian bashing. Ive been catholic for 21 years and I can't say I've ever preached anything about my religion to anyone.

If you're going to bash another religion, at least get your facts straight.

Answer 8

I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. We are Christians that do not venerate the cross, Mary or any other objects or images. Our worship is to Jehovah, the Most High God. There are not idols or images of Him in our Kingdom Halls or in our homes. Like you, we are disgusted by such forms of worship in "Christianity".

Answer 9

Nobody believes the statues have any power in themselves. They simply represent the figures they portray.

Those who worship idols actually belive the idols have power.

Answer 10

It's merely an acknowledgement, a sign of respect, rather like tipping one's hat. It's not idol worship. Get over it.

Answer 11

I don't bow down to any image, but I do pray to God and ask in the name of Jesus Christ.