Why do people worship God through Christian symbols when the bible says not to?

Question

Deuteronomy 5:8-9

8 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

A few of the symbols of Christianity is the cross, praying hands, and images of Jesus and Mary. God says not to even make idols nor worship them but people do. If faith is the evidence of things not seen then why have those images and idols?

Answer 1

They haven't read that part yet. But then again, maybe they're not allowed to.

It's the classic case of the blind leading the blind...

Peace be with you.

Answer 2

An Idol is something that is worshiped as God. No Catholic looks at their statue of Mary and thinks "Gee, this statue is a GOD". That would be ridiculous.

Ancient peoples, on the other hand, would look at a statue and think that an actual god lived in that statue! That is what worshiping an Idol means.

In the Book of Numbers God told Moses to raise up a bronze serpent and have people look upon it to be healed. Does that mean that God was telling the Israelites to worship an Idol? Of course not!

Answer 3

There's a difference between an idol and a symbol. A symbol is a part of language. Jesus was a man and his image is not really made up which an idol is a made up from fanasty. What you quote is the reason why Protestants stand up in church to show our respect, not bow down. Some Protestant churches don't allow the cross or other religious items.

Answer 4

Once Jesus actually became the flesh image of a heavenly thing, nothing would ever be the same.

Only a fool would consider actually worshipping a statue or a crucifix.

Quit living in the old days, trying to keep outdated and obsolete commandments, and get with the real program, based on Jesus, his grace, and the church he personally founded.

Answer 5

These are inclusions Christianity has to suffer for absorbing many pagan beliefs and their symbols. The cross is the most ancient symbol of the Old Religion signifying the life force and the polarity of spirit and matter. Some of the primeval cross symbols is the Egyptian ankh symbol of Osiris and eternal life and the Mexican cross symbol of Venus. The praying hands are also a symbol of united polarity of the opposites (spirit and matter) as for the icons, that’s in direct violation of biblical laws. But all these symbols and especially crosses and icons are profit-making objects and Christian religion is all in for profit making and power gaining, they don’t care much about acceptable worship for as long as church property and power is preserved and increased.

Answer 6

Most people who are 'religious' are ignorant of what it means to be religious. I believe that religion is a guideline and not the commenplace 'religion' (I must follow everything I am fed in order to move on to Heaven). I was baptized a catholic, and I call myself Catholic although I do not always adhere to Catholic 'rules'. Religion is and will always be one's interpretation of what it (religion) should be. I find it ironic that man can call God his god, but support any physical war. To my understanding, that is a severe contradiction of faith since 'Thou shalt NOT kill.' Is this not a breaking of the rules? Support for those who are risking their life? Yes, but not support for their job.

Personally, I support questioning faith. Yes, I know that there is one God and no other gods beside him. But man is inquisitive. Does man make mistakes? Yes. Am I making a mistake questioning my religion? Maybe, but I won't know if I am wrong. I don't like to be spoon fed a few men's ideas on what is religion (the Bible was written by man, it did not just appear because of God). So, personally, questioning and discovering on my own is what I feel I must do (since those writers 2000 some years ago did the same thing).

Answer 7

Others have made the point that Christians don't actually worship those images, they are simply aids to help focus the mind.

But I'll add this: the Israelites were prohibited from making images or representations of God. Why? Because man was made in the image of God. Any image they made would inevitably lead to idolatry. They were meant to look to their fellow man to learn what God's nature was really like.

Then, say we Christians, God himself came and showed us what he really looks like. He took on flesh and walked among us. The prohibition against images is pointless because God himself gave us an image, the image of Christ.

Peace to you.

Answer 8

Ha ha....how many Hail Mary's will this one earn? (Hail Mary...wait....why hail Mary, she's not god, right?) The REASON is because christianity is 100% about status, society, and peer pressure. If they didn't have the symbols, nobody would know that they were "holier than thou." People surround themselves with symbols and trinkets to show off "Hey, I'm a christian, everyone accept me because I'm too weak to stand on my own two feet!" Besides that, if there were no symbols, and people were judged based on the lives they lead, nobody would know who the christians were! Symbols are there to make christians feel important in front of everyone else.

Answer 9

Who's worshiping the symbols? I don't quite understand. The cross, the fish, they praying hands, among many others are symbols to identify, or in some cases remind us, who we are. The images of Jesus and Mary are art. I have never been to a church yet where the people worship the symbol.

Answer 10

Selfishness. Romans 10:1-4

Answer 11

Because people want those symbols that they can relate to infront of them.


Look at the Catholics:
Praying to saints when they are told to only pray to god.
Idolitry in the form of holy relics.
Ritualistic canabalism.
Forgiveness by the preist, rather than god.
Historically the buying of forgiveness and the ability to do penance first so that you can commit a sin later! These are totally against any concept of repenting for your sins.

But all those objects, all that pomp and ceremony - the punters want value for money.