Statue Worship? People who do not know better sometimes say that Catholics worship statues. Not only is this untrue, it is even untrue that Catholics honor statues. After all, a statue is nothing but a carved block of marble or a chunk of plaster, and no one gives honor to marble yet unquarried or to plaster still in the mixing bowl. The fact that someone kneels before a statue to pray does not mean that he is praying to the statue, just as the fact that someone kneels with a Bible in his hands to pray does not mean that he is worshiping the Bible. Statues or paintings or other artistic devices are used to recall to the mind the person or thing depicted. Just as it is easier to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it is easier to recall the lives of the saints by looking at representations of them. In fact some images were even commanded by God to be made: the brazen serpent (Num. 21:9); carved and molded garlands of fruit, flowers, and trees (1 Kings 7:18, 36); lions, finely carved, to support the kings throne (1 Kings 10:19); lions and bulls to support the basins in the Temple (1 Kings 7:25, 29); especially the great, carved figures of the cherubim that stood over the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25:18-22; 1 Kings 6:23-28). Catholics do not pray to the images or statues but to the saints, whose intercession with God we beg. Hateful anti-Catholics often preached lies about this issue that Catholics worship the statues. It is false and it is logically straw mans argument. Therefore, the use of material images, statues, etc., does not fall under the prohibition of idolatry, since such objects are in no way regarded as gods, nor is any adoration, sacrifice, or divine service rendered them.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 17:54:17 +0000
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