What is the difference between worshiping an idol and praying to a statue of a Saint?

Question

Just curious...

Answer 1

The same difference there is between Baal worship and Molech worship. (none)

I was horrified one time when I went to an Episcipol Church for Christmas Eve. (my wifes old church) I was shocked when I saw the clergy bow to statue of Jesus during the service and just wondered if any of them had actually read the OT. Here we have new churches repeating very old mistakes.

Answer 2

Well, I think the difference is a statue of a saint represents the actual person who is living or who once lived. People don't pray to the cement or marble piece of work. They are praying to the person--or the person's spirit--and just use the statue to represent him or her.

An idol represents something entirely different. It could be a made-up thing (like a statue of a half-man, half-bird, etc.) An idol can be anything from someone's imagination like from mythology.

I don't worship either, but I think this is the difference to people who do.

Answer 3

An idol is an replacement of God
Anything that pushes God aside as the ultimate and most important center of our lives is an idol
Worshipping an idol(money,power,etc) puts our expectation of the divine into a creature(one's country,spouse,lover,political party or anything)

No Catholic "prays to " a statue which is just a symbolic help to prayer,we ask saints and other members of the body of Christ to pray for and with us to the Mediator Jesus,true God and true Man, who alone can present our prayers to the Father. We pray with the saints in the unity of the Holy Spirit to our one Priest Jesus Who alone is the Way,the truth and the Life. Saints and all who have left this life in grace and other believers on earth are our prayer partners.

We Catholics do not think the saint is somehow "trapped" inside the image or that images are replacements of what they stand for. We are visual and people need the tangible in worship.God knows this and commanded in Exodus 25 the making and honoring(like saluting a flag which is not the nation but stands for the nation)of religious statues.

Check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs2112-2114;2129-2141

Answer 4

Praying to a statue of a saint WOULD be worshipping an idol. That is why Catholics do not pray to statues of saints. We pray to saints to ask them to pray for us. this is very similar to thinking of your wife when you look at a picture of her and asking her in your heart to help you.

Answer 5

You actually give the idol the praise and worship due to only God. When you pray to a saint you NEVER do that. You ask them favors because they are favorites of God. Everyone who answered nothing probably isn't Catholic and probably don't really know what Catholics do and don't do.

The Difference in the Ten Commandments is not different. God does not forbid the making of graven images. In Exodus he actually commands the Hebrews to make two statues for the Ark of the Covenant. The Catholic Bible was written before the King James version was. The King James Version was written in a time where hatred for Catholicism was at it's high points. So it the translators purposely translated certain things differently to make the Church appear bad in the average person's eyes. King James even omitted the two books of Maccabees (rather important books) because they supported the concept of Purgatory. I personally prefer the Catholic version, not because I'm Catholic but because it's much more poetic.

Thank you pixie K!!!! There are many anti Catholics posting on here just so you know.

Answer 6

Not a thing. The Bible forbids both. Our prayers are to be given to God only, not a dead, sinful mortal. Prayer to saints dates back to Constantine and his attempt to satisfy polytheist pagans and convert them to Christianity (also where prayer to 'Mother Mary' comes from). None of these things are Biblical and are only an attempt of Satan to decieve Gods children. God covets your prayers and to give them up to a statue of wood, gold or plaster (no matter if you name it after a famous Christian or not) is still idol-worship and is the reason God cast out Israel amongst the nations. As a Christian, we are only to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who was able to atone for our many sins.

Answer 7

The difference is thus: For those who worship an idol they join a fan club. For those who prefer to pray instead, they join a church.

They are all idiots. But without them, there will be no smart people. In other words, without fools there will be no sages.

Answer 8

Worshiping and idol means that you are offering yourself to live for that idol. Praying to a statue of a saint is asking help from the saint.

One offers help and the other asks for it.

To me, both seems meaningless.

Answer 9

Good question. There isn't any difference. If you want to see how closely this hits home for some, do a search on the ten commandments. They are different in Christian churches than they are in Catholic churches. The Christian ten commandments includes "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." The Catholic church omits this commandment and adds an extra commandment about coveting. (Whereas #10 is 'thou shalt not covet', they break it down. Number 9 is 'thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife' and 10 is 'thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.' Pretty sneaky.)

I say all of this to say that praying to a statue would strike a lot of people as worshipping an idol, so it makes sense that the commandment was removed from churches where Saint prayer is important.

Answer 10

That's a myth. People don't pray to statues of saints. Not even Catholics. They don't pray to statues any more than you might have a loving relationship with a photo of your spouse or parents.

Answer 11

They are basically the same thing. They are both 'dead objects'. Except, other than a statue of something, an idol can also be expressed in other ways, like TV, motor cars, homes.

Anything we put before our love and dependence on God can also be an idol.