Did you know you brake one of the ten commandments:
2. Do not make any idols:
That means not to pray to Mary or the dead saints, you should only pray to god!
2007-12-11 06:50:50 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No. An idol by definition is something you worship.
Catholics do not worship statues, saints or Mary. We worship only God through Jesus. We pray to saints and to Mary, but we're intelligent enough to know the difference between asking somebody to pray for us and worshiping that person.
Are you?
2007-12-11 06:53:06 · answer #1 · answered by Acorn 7 · 11⤊ 2⤋
An idol is something that is worshipped in place of God. This is usually a statue.
Some facts for you:
1. Catholics worship only God.
2. Catholics do not worship statues.
3. Catholics do not pray to statues.
4. Catholics pray to Mary and the saints, but the prayers are NOT prayers of worship.
5. In their prayers to Mary and the saints, Catholics are following the example of St. Paul who asked the church to pray for him.
6. The saints are not dead, they have everlasting life.
2007-12-11 15:20:07 · answer #2 · answered by Sldgman 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You are wrong, which is not surprising.
The commandment about “graven images” is one of the most misunderstood scriptures. Consider Exodus 25: 18-19: “And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends.” Here, God is commanding that images be made!
So is God contradicting himself? First he says don’t make a graven image, and then he orders graven images to be made?
No, he is not contradicting himself. The problem is that folks have misinterpreted the words “graven image.”
According to Strong’s Concordance, the original Hebrew words that were translated into “graven image” referred to idols (Here is the concordance link: http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=06459 ). Of course, we know that an idol is a false god, or something that you place above God. Since the Cheribum are not false Gods, there is no contradiction.
Therefore, statues in Catholic Churches are not a violation of the commandment either. They are not idols, because they are not false Gods. My Church has a statue of an angel, just like God commanded the Israelites to make. We have a statue of Jesus, who is CERTAINLY not a false God. We have statues of saints because they are heroes of the faith, not gods - just like America has statues of its heroes – Washington, Lincoln, etc. – and those are not idols either.
Bottom line: The commandments forbid images of false idols or false gods, but there is nothing wrong with beautiful artwork of Jesus, Mary, or angels, whether that artwork be paintings, statues, or whatever.
2007-12-11 14:55:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 3⤋
well sorry that your anti catholic friends have misinformed you again!! Jesus and Mary are not idols. do you know who they are? if so you would know they and there images are not idols. did you know we are immortal, and Jesus assended into heaven, he rose from the dead, did you know that? Did you know that all who live in heaven are alive in christ? the bible says so why dont you just re read, instead of showing your immaturity and ignorance? do you get up every single sunday and go to church? If you dont, be now informed , that you are breaking the commandement.
2007-12-11 20:05:16 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, that's not what it means. Where did you get that interpretation?
It means not to make idols of false gods for worship. That is what the Israelites were doing...and God told them to stop. This of course includes all of us, you should not make any graven images representing a false god and then worship it.
On the other hand images of holy people to remind us of them, is fine. We do not worship the images, nor do we worship the people they remind us of.
Praying to Mary and the Saints is not worship. All who died in Christ are alive because he conquered death on the cross. If you are a Christian, certainly you believe that you will not die but have eternal life. Then you must also believe that Mary and the Saints enjoy their eternal life with God even now.
Because we are one with them in spirit, there is nothing wrong with asking them to pray for us, and offer their assistance. No where does it say that praying is the same as worshiping. We use prayer to worship God, but we also use prayer to talk to God. So when we pray to Mary or the Saints...we are just talking to them, not worshiping them.
There are many scriptures to backup prayers to saints:
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/saints.html
2007-12-11 14:58:41 · answer #5 · answered by Misty 7 · 4⤊ 4⤋
I may have broken a commandment or two in my day, but making idols hasn't been one of them.
I pray to God, and I ask Mary and the saints to pray to God on my behalf.
2007-12-11 14:53:53 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 10⤊ 4⤋
Do you accuse Moses of the same when he had the Seraphim made on the ark, and the serpent in the desert?
The saints are not dead they are alive in Christ.
Jesus said that whoever believes in me will never die.
2007-12-11 14:56:58 · answer #7 · answered by HenryIX 4 · 5⤊ 3⤋
You can't possibly imagine that you're the first one to bring this up.
Do a search for questions on "worship Mary" (which we don't do, by the way). This has been answered ... and answered ... and answered.
2007-12-11 15:00:41 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
Its ok it does not really matter according to most protestants, the catholics will inherit all the rewards of Babylon itself!
2007-12-11 14:58:46 · answer #9 · answered by Heathen Atheist 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
We don't worship Mary or the saints, we honor them and ask them to INTERCEDE for us. We worship God alone.
2007-12-11 14:58:55 · answer #10 · answered by Bob N 3 · 4⤊ 3⤋