Q for Christians: How can a christian be an idolater?

Question

1Co 5:11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler--not even to eat with such a one.

Do you think he was referring o Catholics, because they worship images?

I know that Catholic Church didn't exist by that time (although Catholics claim it was first established by Peter)... but may be Paul was making a prophecy ;-)

Answer 1

Anybody can be an idolater with regard to anything. To idolize is to venerate or love to a higher degree than that object deserves. Some people venerate objects that remind them of Christian Saints, or of Christ himself. They even pray to those objects, or, if they are deceased Saints, pray to them. Prayer is a form of worship. To pray to any one or any thing other than God is idolatry. That is why Roman Catholics have a problem that they need to face up to. Not only with prayer, but with the position they give the Pope. He is considered to have the ability to utter infallible statements on doctrine and even if the Bible shows that doctrine to be false to its own teaching, the Pope's teaching is upheld. That is undoubtedly idolatry. The moment any man or woman is revered to that degree, idolatry is committed.

But RCs are not alone. JWs consider God communicates directly with their Governing Body (12 men in New York). Anything the GB says is not questioned but accepted as if God said it himself. That is idolatry. Those two examples will have to suffice as this subject could take up volumes of books.

Answer 2

That's a pretty hot debate. Many Christians believe that Catholics are guilty of idolatry, and there are some who believe that the Catholic Church is actually The Beast referred to in Revelation. I think the idea is if you call yourself a follower of Christ but you worship anything other than God and His Son (like many people worship money) then you are an idolater, and God has made it very clear that His followers aren't supposed to bow down in front of any graven image -- heck, we don't even have to bow down before the symbol of the cross or a picture of Jesus Christ as He was during His time on Earth. I wouldn't be so quick to condemn Catholics but I do take issue with many of their religious practices, and I find many Catholics get offended when I ask questions about these things (like confession, the rosary, the prayer to the Virgin Mary, infant baptism, etc).

Answer 3

No - since Catholics don't worhsip images. They don't worship statues, they don't worship anything except God. No, not even the pope.

Getting tired of the nonsense against Catholics. Read the actual teachings of the church.

An idolater would be anyone who puts something before God. Doesn't matter what it is - just that it becomes more important then God to them. Then they are paying reverence to that thing - when such devotion and attention should be reserved to God alone.

Answer 4

The time in which Paul wrote this to the Corinthians was a couple centuries before there was a Catholic church, so no, he's not writing about Catholics. What he's writing about are the non Christians who do such things as is listed.

Answer 5

Catholics do not worship images, the images are used to assist in allowing believers to focus on worshiping God. If you will read the description of the temple that God instructed Solomon to build, you will find that it contained statues and images. Certainly God did not command that these statues be erected in His house so that they could be worshiped, but rather to assist our spiritual older brothers and sisters (the Jews) to focus on worshiping God.

A person that lusts after the mental image of a woman, a car, etc, could in fact be considered an idolater.

Answer 6

Paul was not making reference to The Catholic Church, as other people have already written, Catholicism was not even around yet. However, Idolatry is anything that is put on a higher level than God, take away from God's importance, takes away from the deity of Jesus Christ, puts something in the way of God, or it refers to the actual IMAGE created in worshiping the Lord. So, it does bear importance when looking at Catholicism in at least 2 aspects.

1. Forgiveness through priests: If Jesus came so we could have direct communion with the Lord, even saying "I am the way, the truth, and the light, no one comes with the Father except through Me.", why are there men whom it is required to go to in order to repent to God and receive forgiveness? This whole idea is completely unscriptural. This takes away from Jesus' authority. Jesus was God, He came to save us from sin and make it so we could receive forgiveness DIRECTLY from God, taking away the necessity for the Levite priests who were already required by the OT Law. If the Lord took away the necessity for priests by dying for us on the cross, why are we acting like He didn't by reinstating the priestly system of forgiveness?

2. Graven Images: We are not to have any graven images! The biggest problem I see here is the imagery of Mary and other vain traditions. We are told not to have any graven images, not just the vague idea of idolatry in general. Why are there so many statues and pictures of Mary in the Catholic church? She was not holy, she was a sinner just like anyone else in the world. To say she wasn't a sinner would be very ignorant of scripture. Not only that, but calling her the Virgin Mary is way off, she wasn't a virgin when she died. Putting a statue of a woman just as sinful as any other woman in a church takes away from the focus on Jesus Christ and shifts it onto a person, that is idolatry.

Answer 7

Anyone worshipping images or idos instead of the true God can be considered idolators. Whether they believe it or not.

God is the only one exacting pure worship. He is a jealous God, and only he deserves the honor and glory!

For example, the apostle John admonished Christians: “Guard yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21) Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “What agreement does God’s temple have with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:16) Many early Christians had formerly used religious images in worship. Paul reminded Christians in Thessalonica of this when he wrote: “You turned to God from your idols to slave for a living and true God.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9) Clearly, those Christians would have had the same view of icons as John and Paul did.

Answer 8

And idolater can be something other than worshipping an image--it could be being addicted to the tv or computer...they are "idolizing it" because they are putting it before God and that is what idolizing means...to put anything above or before God. The Lord speaks of idols throughout the bible, and many to worship idols, false gods...and many have idols in their lives, like tv and computers and even people.....so we who are saved can tend to fall short many times, in being caught up in an addiction to something, and that is placing God last. We must always be aware of this, and that is why the Holy Spirit convicts us when we are doing something that is leading us away from the Lord. Thank the Lord for His wonderful Holy Spirit!

Answer 9

An idol is a graven image that is worshipped. Which includes false religions and false gods. So if I worship Budah and pray to his statue, I am an idolater in the eyes of the Lord.

Answer 10

Paul is talking about someone who claims to be a Christian but is guilty of the above vices. This is in the context of church discipline. A Christian can be an idolator if he goes after idols or make an idol to be God.