Many Good hearted non-Catholic(protestant) Christians often accuse Catholic Christians of violating the Commandments of God by having statues in their churches and even kneeling before them or kissing them. They view the Catholic faith as teaching Idolatry and false hood because of the images. Often times they will cite a few verses of scripture to shows this. For example:

"You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down to them or serve them" (Ex. 20:4–5); "

At first glance this verse may appear to condemn all statues and images of any kind, especially in a religious context. However when one takes a closer look at this verse in particular, the actual Catholic teaching on statues, and the bible as a whole, one can begin to see that the bible does not condemn the Catholic practice at all. To begin with we can look on a exegetical level and practical level at this verse in Exodus to see the bigger picture. Does this verse condemn the making, having, and kneeling before all statues?. The immediate context of this verse seems to show us very well that it does not. God and his Holy Word does not contradict himself. If this passage was meant to condemn the making of all Images that represent anything in heaven above or on the earth below then we would run into a problem, namely because God commanded that making of images in a religious context just a few chapters later.

“And you shall make two cherubim of gold ,( two gold images or statues of angels, Something that is in heaven above); of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Ex. 25:18–20).

We also see God commanding the making of images from heaven above and earth below in a religious context in other passages like Ezekiel 41:17–18, 1 Chr. 28:18–19, and Num. 21:8–9.

As a matter of fact in Numbers 21:8-9 The bronze Serpent was a image of something that was representative of a creature found on “earth below” that God commanded Moses to use to heal those who would look upon it(Assumedly in faith to God and his promise). The Images of the Serpent itself was a type of Christ (Jn 3:14) Who all would look upon and be saved.

So if this passage in exodus does not condemn the entire use of images then what does it condemn? The key is in the next verse. “You shall not bow down to THEM or serve THEM.” What the commandments are condemning is Idolatry or the worshipping the Images itself as a God, Not the mere making or having a images for use in religious context or bowing down before them, but bowing down to them and making them Gods. This what people did with the Golden Calf (Ex. 32:31). And this is what they did eventually with the bronze serpent (2 Kgs. 18:4). So making gods into the images was the condemnation not having them to beautify a Church like the Catholic does.

So why do you Catholics kneel before statues and kiss them if your not worshiping them many wonder? Simple. When we kneel or kiss a statue we Catholics do not worship that statue or even the person that statue represents. We Worship God alone! We are simple giving honor to the person whom that statue represents. Did you ever look at the picture of your mother and kiss it out of affection? You kiss that picture not because your worshipping that image but because it reminds you of a special person who has done great things for you, your Momma. That is exactly what the Catholic is doing with he images of Our Lady or the Saints. We honor the people who have gone before us in the faith. These people(like St Paul and Mary) who have fought the good fight and made it to heaven. These people our our models in faith that teach us to follow Jesus. These Saints are our examples to follow and imitate(1 Cor 11:1-12, 1 Thess 1: 6)

Kneeling or bowing down before a person is not always worshipping as some Protestants may wrongly think. Kneeling or bowing can be worshipping. But it may also just be giving honor or veneration to a person. Biblically bowing down is acceptable a as form of veneration. For example, King Solomon Bowed down to Bathsheba out of veneration of respect(1 Kings 2:19-20). Jesus himself said that he will make the synagogue of Satan bow down before the glorified Christians Feet(Rev 3:9). Will they be worshipping Christians? I don’t think so.

We can also give other human being Honor in a religious context. In Hebrews chapters 11-12 the Author to Hebrews honors the Old Testament saints who had gone before us. Paul says that we are to give double honor to the Elders in the Church (1 Timothy 5:17). And Garments were made for Aaron the Priest for glory and Honor(Ex 28:2-3).

So we can give people honor and glory and we can bow down to people without any of this being worship at all. This is what the Catholics call veneration. We venerate or honor a saint for what that saint has done for God and try to follow in his footsteps as Paul would encourage us to do. We never worship statues or people. We worship God alone as the bible commands.

We simply use images of saints, either Icons or statues to remind us of our history and our connection to those brothers and sisters in heaven (the Body of Christ) that have gone before us and cheer us on in keeping the faith of Christ. The Church is the household of God, And what household does not have pictures/images of its family?

Also important to note is that many Protestant churches do use pictures/images of Jesus and Mary in their Churches too. you can find these in Sunday school materials. You can also find almost all protestant churches uses Crib sets at Christmas time. The Baptist Church I went to sure did. These sets have statues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. And many times you may see a Protestant kneeling before the crib set in prayer. Are they worshipping the Images? Certainly not!


I hope that helps explain our position a little better. Thanks and God bless!

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Roma locuta est causa finita est

Do you think the humble modest saints that these icons and statues represent are comfortable with this veneration? I think they would be quite uncomfortable about it.
I have a copy of the catechists hand book and in it's list of the decalogue the commandment about making graven images is missing and the commandment about coveting is split into two commandments, why?

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Hi Paul great question. I personally do not think that these saints like Mary would be offended at statues of them or veneration given to them. Because I as I listed above I feel the practice of venerating saints is and having images a biblical concept. I do feel they would be offended at someone worshiping them and not God like the bible condemns. But that is not what Catholics do.

As to your second question here is a answer i found that might be helpful to you: It is from Catholic answers at www.catholic.com

Hiding the Second Commandment?


"Another charge sometimes made by Protestants is that the Catholic Church "hides" the second commandment. This is because in Catholic catechisms, the first commandment is often listed as "You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3), and the second is listed as "You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain." (Ex. 20:7). From this, it is argued that Catholics have deleted the prohibition of idolatry to justify their use of religious statues. But this is false. Catholics simply group the commandments differently from most Protestants.

In Exodus 20:2–17, which gives the Ten Commandments, there are actually fourteen imperative statements. To arrive at Ten Commandments, some statements have to be grouped together, and there is more than one way of doing this. Since, in the ancient world, polytheism and idolatry were always united—idolatry being the outward expression of polytheism—the historic Jewish numbering of the Ten Commandments has always grouped together the imperatives "You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3) and "You shall not make for yourself a graven image" (Ex. 20:4). The historic Catholic numbering follows the Jewish numbering on this point, as does the historic Lutheran numbering. Martin Luther recognized that the imperatives against polytheism and idolatry are two parts of a single command.

Jews and Christians abbreviate the commandments so that they can be remembered using a summary, ten-point formula. For example, Jews, Catholics, and Protestants typically summarize the Sabbath commandment as, "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy," though the commandment’s actual text takes four verses (Ex. 20:8–11).

When the prohibition of polytheism/idolatry is summarized, Jews, Catholics, and Lutherans abbreviate it as "You shall have no other gods before me." This is no attempt to "hide" the idolatry prohibition (Jews and Lutherans don’t even use statues of saints and angels). It is to make learning the Ten Commandments easier.

The Catholic Church is not dogmatic about how the Ten Commandments are to be numbered, however. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "The division and numbering of the Commandments have varied in the course of history. The present catechism follows the division of the Commandments established by Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confession. The Greek Fathers worked out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and Reformed communities" (CCC 2066). "


I hope that helps. Good questions my friend!

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Roma locuta est causa finita est

I just knew you had an answer waiting for me Athanasius. I could feel it in my bones as I was typing.

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"Many Good hearted non-Catholic(protestant) Christians often accuse Catholic Christians of violating the Commandments of God by having statues in their churches and even kneeling before them or kissing them. They view the Catholic faith as teaching Idolatry and false hood because of the images"

I find it strange to hear that Christians accuse catholic of this, is the cross not a symbole?

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May your awareness be perfection

Yes you are correct!

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Roma locuta est causa finita est

In the Old testament God did as you pointed out command the the making of the cherubim and the brazen serpent but you seem to brush over the fact that the cherubim were not to be used in worship, whereas the catholic images are intended to be used as an aid. The cherubim were placed in the most holy place where they were not seen by the people but only by the high priest and even then he only entered once each year, whereas the catholic images are displayed in public.
Importantly God commanded the making of the cherubim, but He strictly forbade the making of images. Alse the serpent was not for worship or as an aid for worshipping God and when it later became a relic and was worshipped by teh people (who offered incense to it), Hezekiah destroyed it.

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Hi Paul! Great points as always! You are correct in much of what you say. The Isrealites had a big problem with falling into worshipping Idols. The Golden Calf incident is a great example. And yes I did mention in my original post that even the serpent was eventually idolized and had to be destroyed.
Today in the modern Church we also to always have a danger towards idols too. Except in our modern society we tend to idolize Money, power, Sex, Computers, and almost any thing else.

The point I was biblically making is that God doesn't condemn the making or even having religious or even non religious images in Churches. He condemns the Idolatry or Worshiping the Image or making anyhting else a God. Catholic are taught that making anything else God is a mortal sin. Catholics simply do not worship the image. We are never taught to do so and even the most liberal Catholic can attest to that. No priest ever said to us "Here are your gods Catholics worship them". We were taught to worship God alone and as a kid I remember hearing that. We simply use them as reminders. Just like the Baptist church I used to go to used a Crib set at Christmass time with statues of Jesus and Mary and Joseph and Angles and animals as prayerful reminders of what God has Done for us and through the world.

Good questions and I hope my study from my original post and these and these answers were helpful to you. May the Lord bless you always brother Paul.

In Jesus through Mary,
Athanasius

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Roma locuta est causa finita est

I've read the discussion above and I'm very pleased with the outcomming. I think (of course being a Catholic) that it is indeed as Athanasius explains. I have to come to the conclusion that is is not only a reasonable rhetorical explanation that justifies the statues and pictures. It really has to do with the experience of a believer, because sadly there are Catholics that do worship a certain saint and give Him or Her powers that are actually not correct in the Biblical sense of the word. For example in latin cultures they tend to praise saints and certain 'Virgins' before God or Jesus. Another example is that woman in those countries put Saint Anthony upside down and won't return him to his original position until they get a boyfriend....that is ridiculous and indeed that would make him feel somewhat acquard.

So as a critical note for my fellow-Catholics, do be careful with that kind of things.