I saw a picture of the pope kissing the feet of a statue of Mary. Is that paganism?

Question

Check Yahoo Answers "Search for questions" and you will see that this is NOT a repetitive question!

Answer 1

More likely a fetish.

Answer 2

No.

Do you have pictures of your loved ones? Have you ever looked at the picture of someone while talking on the phone to them?

Have you ever kissed a picture of someone you loved? Or just wanted to?

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

No more than worshipping a human bloody sacrificed virgin for sin is pagan. Then covering oneself in its blood.

What's the difference? It's hilarious to point out something that Catholics supposedly do that's pagan (when they don't actually worship Mary anyway), when BOTH Catholics and Protestants follow the Christian pagan foundations like the one I just mentioned. Let alone a god coming down and impregnating a virgin, dividing God up into 3 like a pie, and making a man be God.

It's ALL pagan, baby!

Answer 4

No. Pagans worship more than one god. Catholics (who, by the way, ARE Christians) worship one "god". THEY DO NOT WORSHIP MARY!!! They honor, or "venerate" her, since she was Jesus' mother. Kissing the statue's feet is a symbolic gesture of that, just the same as priests, etc., kissing the Pope's ring....it's kind of like kissing Don Corleone's ring, or better yet, curtsying & bowing to, say, Queen Elizabeth! It shows respect. Nobody thinks the Pope or Queen is a god!

CRIPES! WHEN are people going to stop getting this SO mixed up???

Answer 5

No, it's a Catholic paying reverance to a statue of an important figure, and it's not idol worship either. A lot of religions do things like this before statues and such of religious value, it's not a Pagan thing.

Answer 6

Seems that way to me. But they don't see it that way.

Here is my take on images, icons, jewelry and the like. When a father/husband has gone to war, we carry and display reminders such as bracelets and photographs. We use these things aids to remember them. However, it produces a longing, because you cannot touch, hug, or lovingly converse with them, for they are away. When they are home, there is really no such need for such aids, because he is in the back playing and laughing with the kids. If you need a hug or a word, just call.

The NEED for images and icons only proves that the Father is not home. Alive? Yes. But absent in a personal way. Faith without the need for crosses, jewelry, beads, icons, pictures, or statues proves that the Father is home and interacting in a real and personal way with their beloved. Worship with the aid of physical objects just shows the Father is not at home in your heart or church.

Answer 7

Another repetitive question.

Why don't you use the search field and check out ALL answers pertaining to Mary.

Answer 8

I'd call it idolatry. Some nuns forced ME to do that to a crucifix when I was about 7 years old. Hated it. In fact, I still get pissed just thinking about it.

Answer 9

As salaamu 'alaikym, my friend.
It is not paganism. It is idolatry, the worship of stautes or idols and it has been a common practice of Roman Catholicism since its formalization, just like using the symbol of an instrument of torture as a sign of a religion of "peace", which is "venerated", by kissing it as a form of adoration.
Ma'a salaam.

Answer 10

No, it's a pope paying homage to a statue.

Answer 11

No. That is supplication. Paganism is non-belief in the Christian God.