Should the idols of Catholicism (Crucifixes, Mary Idols, etc.) be treated with respect?

Question

Or should they be destroyed like the Golden Calf and other idols, etc?

Answer 1

Idolatry with Mary or statues is really unbiblical.

Catholics are not saved and are not Christians. Catholics believe a false gospel of works that leads to eternal hell (Galatians 1).

Bible teachers that said the Vatican and the catholic cult are an antichrist: John Bunyan, John Huss, John Wycliffe, John Calvin, William Tyndale, John Knox, Thomas Bacon, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Samuel Cooper, John Cotton, and Jonathan Edwards

Answer 2

2Ki 18:4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

Much like Catholicism with it's idols. Moses may have made it, but the godly would destroy those things.

Answer 3

54987132654th verse, same as the first: Catholics. Do. NOT. Worship. Idols!

The statues in our Churches are like the pictures in your wallet - there to remind us of people we love, admire, and cherish. I will remind everyone once again that, for more than 1500 years, Christians were mainly illiterate. How do you communicate a Faith based on the written Word of God to people who can't read? You give them pictures and objects to look at, to make it as real for them as if they were able to read the words themselves. The wide variety of visual and tactile elements of Catholic Christian worship are the legacy of this long history of illiteracy.

The key thing to try and understand is that we do not worship these objects. Absolutely, positively DO NOT. I have a statue of Mary on my dresser, and a crucifix hung on the wall over my bed. When I read Scripture or spend time in prayer, I do not direct my prayers to either of these objects. My prayers are directed to God, who needs no object to encourage me to pray to him.

The statues are there to remind me of my faith whenever I see them. When I look at my crucifix, I am reminded of Christ's sacrifice, that opened the way to Heaven for all of us. When I see my little statue of Mary, I am reminded that here is a woman whose example of faith I should strive to emulate.

You asked if Catholicism's "idols" should be destroyed. There aren't any idols to destroy! Since crucifixes, statues, rosaries, etc, are not worshipped in the Catholic faith, I can only assume that you object to all images. You'll be burning all the photographs you have, I imagine.

Should we reject the Ark of the Covenant, the building of which was demanded by God, because He instructed that figures of angels were to adorn the lid? Should we condemn Moses for following God's command to make a staff with the figure of a serpent on it? God's prohibition in the Bible is against objects that are worshipped in and of themselves. No Christian that I know, Catholic or otherwise, worships an object in this manner.

I'm going to propose a radical idea. Instead of accepting at face value the information given to you about the Catholic Church (no doubt coming from non-Catholic and anti-Catholic sources), why don't you see what the Catholic Church *really is.* http://www.newadvent.org is a great website where you can read the Bible, the Catechism, and the works of the early Church fathers for free. You can also read about the *real* Catholic theology related to the things you think we do that you find objectionable.

Peace and blessings to you.

Answer 4

*groan* All religious objects are not idols. Idols are objects venerated because of the belief that the associated deity actually inhabits the object. It was a common pagan belief in the Middle East at the time the Old Testament was written. Catholics do not worship objects and they cetainly do not believe that God resides within them.

Even if Catholic religious objects _were_ idols, they should not be destroyed. It's their belief system. You don't have to agree with it, but you do have to live with it. At absolute worst, they are damning their own souls, not yours. It's none of your business.

Answer 5

They aren't idols, they are art.

The difference is that people think an idol IS a god. We don't think that our crucifixes or statues or any of that is a god. You can come in and smash them, and we'd be sad that you destroyed our religious art, but we wouldn't think that you destroyed our God because we believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten son...etc...

Answer 6

Catholicism doesn't have any idols. The Golden Calf was an idol because it was WORSHIPPED. That is the definition of "idol". Catholics worship nothing and no-one but the one true God. The Catholic Church condemns idolatry in every form, as any genuinely interested person can easily discover by looking it up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

There is a Baptist Church near my home that displays a collection of graven images every Christmas - right out on their front lawn! It's called a manger scene. Idolatry??

Answer 7

From where I stand, they are idols and should not be a part of worship, HOWEVER, there is a sort of a side you have to understand about the Catholic's. That is they not only worship with their voices and hearts, they also worship with all of their senses, which is why all the art, the sounds, the incense. It takes control of them and allows them a different method then most Christians honor. Don't take me wrong, the idols, they gotta go. Mary, she isn't any more a god then I am and can't do anything by praying to her, which is why Jesus told Peter to take her away, even from the cross. That is my opinion. Thanks.

Answer 8

I'll answer your question with a question. Do you consider a crucifix an idol?

Answer 9

An idol is something that is worshiped... and it is taught that Catholics don't worship the statues located in churches and such, therefore they technically aren't idols.

Answer 10

Pastor Billy says: after reading several of the answers I must ask my own question. If you saw someone desecrating a bible would you attempt to stop them? After all it's only a book. Think on it!