Nazareno sa Manila Sto. Niño dito sa Cebu. Issue about images and statue are being brought up again, for the sake of others, I shall repost this article of mine.Here are some quick answers to common objections of Iglesia ni Manalo against the Catholic Church regarding images. Here are some quick answers to common objections of Iglesia ni Manalo against the Catholic Church regarding images. 1. ” Why do Catholics make images, the Bible is clear that it is forbidden in the Bible”. The images we see in the Catholic Church are the images of Jesus, Mary, Saints and the angels. These persons truly exist as what the Bible says just as our love ones truly exist and we keep images of them for remembrance. We should also keep images of important people in our lives like Jesus, our Savior, Mary, the woman who gave birth to our savior and the saints who gave their lives for Jesus and they are worth to be imitated. It is not true that all kinds of images are forbidden according to the Bible and the very proof of that is God himself commanded to make images like bronze serpent (Numbers 21:8) and cherubs (Exodus 25:18) and we keep images of our love ones and heroes like Jose Rizal. Even Iglesia ni Cristo make a statue of Manalo in the central temple of Iglesia ni Cristo. 2. “So what kind of images did God forbids?” In Exodus. 20:4-5, we clearly read that you shall not make graven images.What God forbid is making an idol, idols or gods is any false representation of God. Jews in the Old Testament made an idol like the Golden Calf and they worship it. The reason why God does not allow making representation of him is because he is invincible, Deuteronomy explains: “Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure....”God became visible through his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the image of invincible God, he is the true representation of God. Jesus said “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. Since God is no longer visible, we can now make an image of visible God, his Son. That’s why Catholics keep images of Christ not only to have a remembrance of him, but to use it for worship, not to worship the image itself, but to worship whom the image represents who is Jesus Christ.Images of Mary and saints are not different from the images of the heroes of our country, their images are not idols. Since heroes of our country were remembered through making images of them, Mary and the saints too should have images to remember them, they deserve our honor and respect because of their faith. 3. “We both agree that not all images are forbidden in the Bible, but you Catholics worship images.” I used to believe that Catholics worship images too until I found out what the Catholic Church truly teaches concerning images. It’s a normal thing that we misunderstood something if we make conclusions in our mind without consulting or even asking to the higher authorities about it. The best thing to do is to consult and ask or read the Catholic doctrines about images and worship. It is very important thing to do because you might end up believing a thing which the Catholic Church does not teach. It is also the reason why INC ministers what you to invite people to learn and talk with an INC minister to learn about INC doctrines because they don’t want that people will believe what the INC does not teach. Ask yourself, did you already ask and consult the Catholic doctrine already? Or talk with a Catholic Priest? Here’s what you should know about concerning worship and images in the Catholic Church: Catholic Church teaches God alone should be worshiped images are venerated.Catechism of the Catholic Church 2132 states“The honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,” not the adoration due to God alone”Adoration or worship is only for God alone what Catholics do to images is respectful veneration. Veneration means respect, but that veneration is not for the images itself, but for whom the image represents. 4. “You say you do not worship images but your action speaks otherwise, you Catholics kneel and kiss and pray to graven images”“ Action speaks otherwise” does not really work in all circumstances. For example, when a guy prefers to stay with his female friends, it is not a good thing to say and insist that he is gay when he already denied he is gay because his actions speaks otherwise regardless if he wanted to keep it secret. The Catholic Doctrine about worship and images is not a secret. The Catechism of the Catholic Church which is the collection of all Catholic teachings is always available for readers to read and know about Catholic Doctrines.Kneeling, kissing and praying may be forms of worship but not all kneeling, kissing and praying are forms of worship, they are used in different situations and purposes.A knight kneels in front of his queen, he is not worshiping the queen.A man kneels in from of his lover to proposing a marriage; he is not worshiping his lover.An Iglesia ni Cristo minister kneels before the Executive Minister during ordination, INC deny that they worship ManaloPraying is actually a form of communication in spiritual sense. Catholics don’t pray to images but to the person whom the image represents who are Jesus, Mary and saints. 5. “ Not all kneeling is worshiping, but when you kneel in front of graven image, that is already an image worship and idolatry.” In the Bible, there was a man who kneels in front of images and God did not condemn him for doing idolatry. It was Joshua, he kneel in front of the Ark of the Covenant which has the images of two cherubs in each side (see Joshua 7:6). So remember that it’s wrong to believe that it is idolatry when a man kneels in front of images. 6. “God did not commanded to make images of Jesus Mary and Saints” Why? Did God commanded to make images of Manalo? If making images without commandment of God is a sin or wrong, then INC would be the first guilty of it since they created a statue of Manalo without any commandment of God.In the Bible, Solomon created an image without a commandment, and God did not rebuke him for doing so (1 Kings 6:23) 7. “Our minister tells us that the image of Jesus that Catholics have today is not the real image of Christ, because it was created from the person who modeled for the image of Judas”. It is true that Leonardo Da Vinci used the same model for the image of Judas and Jesus in his painting “Last Supper” but what the INC minister did not tell you is that there were already painting of Jesus Christ before Leonardo Da Vinci was born it was painted on 6th century while Leonardo Da Vinci created the Last Supper on 15th century. The image of Christ we have today was not solely based from the version of Leonardo da Vinci where he used the same model of Judas. 8. “ So the image of Jesus is not the real image of Jesus but from imagination of an artist.” Nobody claims that it is the accurate image of Christ that what we have today. It is a normal thing that an artist cannot have the accurate image of a person especially that during the time of Christ, painting materials were limited and photograph was not invented yet. Even the statue of Manalo in central temple, the way I see it, it is not accurate face of Manalo. So it is not necessary to have an accurate image of a person to remember him. The image of Christ we see today is only a depiction which means it is from the mind of the artist, but this depiction was supported by the shroud of Turin, the cloth that was wrapped in dead body of Jesus. The cloth was imprinted by structure of the face of Jesus and the shroud is still available today. 9. “ Why is it that there are some Catholic books that was shown by the ministers says that Catholic worship images” Books made by Catholics should be explained by a Catholic. Magazines made by Iglesia ni Cristo should be explain by Iglesia ni Cristo. I do not think that INC ministers will allow anyone who is not an INC member to explain the Pasugo different from what it truly means. 10. “So what the INC ministers told me about Catholics is wrong?” It is common for some people to give wrong information to someone to just to gain the trust of the people. People like INC ministers are giving you lies about Catholicism for you to hate it, despise it and avoid it because INC ministers cannot teach their doctrines without telling your wrong information about Catholic Teachings such as “image worship”. Catholics don’t do that, Catholics only preach the gospel, and won’t give wrong impressions and lies about Protestantism, Mormons and JW and other religions.If you have more questions about images, just ask me. I hope you understand it very well.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 05:39:15 +0000
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