Study of biblical texts in context.

“Catholics worship statues!” Although this claim is ridiculous, people continue to make this accusation. They say that because Catholics have statues in their churches and pray before them, they are violating God’s commandment: “You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow down before them or worship them” (Ex 20:4-5). “This people has indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold for themselves” (Ex 32:31).

This work will examine the fundamentalist arguments made against the ancient Christian practice of using images and will provide a biblical answer to these arguments, showing the evidence in Scripture for this practice.

First we should point out that it is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry. But the accusation that Catholics are idolaters because they have images of Christ and the Saints is completely incorrect, being based on a misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and use (both good and bad) of statues.

The anti-Catholic writer Loraine Boettner, in his book Roman Catholicism, states that it is a sin to have statues because “God has forbidden the use of images in worship” (p. 281). Many Protestants embrace this assertion, and yet if they would “search the Scriptures” (Jn 5:39) they would find that the truth is exactly the opposite.

Even though there is no doubt that God condemned the worship of statues, it must be said that He never condemned the use of statues in worship. Even more, He actually recommended their use!

God said that we should make them

While Protestants and others quote Exodus 20:4-5 to reinforce their accusation against Catholics as “statue worshipers,” they forget numerous other passages where the Lord commands the carving of statues: “Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the cover; make one cherub at one end and the second at the other. The cherubim shall be of one piece with the cover, at its two ends. The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, sheltering the cover with them; they shall face each other, with their faces looking toward the cover” (Ex 25:18-20).

David gave Solomon a plan “for the altar of incense, refined gold according to its weight; likewise the model of the chariot, that is, the cherubim spreading their wings and covering the ark of the covenant of the LORD. All this, he said, was in writing from the hand of the LORD, to make him understand all the details of the design” (1 Chr 28:18-19). It should be noted that all this was directed according to the divinely inspired Scriptures. Ezekiel 41:18 describes images carved in the temple: “they were carved with cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between each cherub.”

The religious use of images

During a plague of serpents that He sent to punish the wicked Israelites, God told Moses: “Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover” (Num 21:8-9).

The fact that one had to look at a bronze statue of a serpent in order to be healed shows that statues could be used ritually and not merely as religious decorations.

Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic objects to remember the person or thing represented. In the same way that we use a photograph to remember our mother, Catholics use images to remember the example of the saints.

Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants themselves have pictures of Jesus and other biblical pictures in their Sunday schools for the purpose of teaching children, especially those who have not yet learned to read. Catholics also use them to commemorate certain persons and events, much like the three-dimensional Nativity scenes used by Protestant churches. If one measured Protestants by the same rule, then by using these “graven” images they would be practicing the “idolatry” they accuse Catholics of practicing. But the fact is that there are no acts of idolatry in these cases. God forbids the worship of images, but He does not forbid the making of images in general. If He did, all movies, videos, photographs, Nativity scenes, paintings, drawings, and all sorts of things would be forbidden, since these too are images.

What about genuflection?

Sometimes anti-Catholics cite Deut 5:9, where God said concerning statues: “you shall not bow down before them.” Since many Catholics bow or kneel before statues of Jesus and the Saints, anti-Catholics confuse legitimate veneration of a sacred image with the sin of idolatry. The reality is that Deut 5:9 does not help the anti-Catholic argument.

First, remember that although genuflection can be used as a posture in worship, not every genuflection is worship. For example, in Japan it is customary for people to show respect and good manners by bowing when they greet one another (the equivalent of shaking hands in the West). Obviously no kind of worship is being performed in this. The Catholic who kneels before a statue when he prays is not worshiping and is not even praying to the statue any more than the Protestant who is kneeling with a Bible in his hands when he prays is worshiping or praying to the Bible.

When people had to look at the bronze serpent in order to be healed, they were not worshiping it, as is shown by the fact that years later, when they began to worship it (and even gave it a name, “Nehushtan”) as a snake-god, the righteous king Hezekiah had it destroyed (2 Kings 18:4).

“Hiding” the second commandment?

Another charge made by Protestants is that the Catholic Church “hides” the second commandment. This is because in the Catholic Catechism the first commandment is: “You shall not have other gods besides Me” (Ex 20:3), and the second is: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God” (Ex 20:7). They argue that Catholics have eliminated the prohibition of idolatry in order to justify their use of religious statues.

But this is false. The fact is that Catholics simply group the commandments differently from the way Protestants have traditionally done and have abbreviated them to make memorization easier.

That such abbreviation also seems reasonable to Protestants is shown by the way they themselves render the Sabbath commandment as: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” although the actual text of the commandment is quite long: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God; you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex 20:8-11). Martin Luther recognized that the statements: “You shall not have other gods before Me” (Ex 20:3) and “You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth” (Ex 20:4) are in reality two parts of the same commandment and abbreviated them as “You shall not have other gods before Me.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that “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 St. Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confessions. The Greek Fathers worked out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and Reformed communities” (CCC 2066).

Some anti-Catholics use Deut 4:15-18, which says, “Take great care… not to become corrupt by making an image in the form of any figure: whether of male or female…” and try to use this text to “prove” the prohibition of statues or images.

We have already shown that God does not forbid the making of statues or images of various creatures (for example: angels, serpents, oxen, flowers, lions, etc.) for religious purposes (cf. 1 Kgs 6:29-32; 8:6-67; 2 Chr 3:7-14). But what about statues or images that represent God Himself? Many Protestants will say that this is wrong because Deut 4 says that God has no form; therefore, we should not try to make images of Him. But does Deut really forbid this kind of image of the Lord?

The answer is NO

At the beginning of Israel’s history it was forbidden to make representations of God because He had not (yet) revealed Himself in a visible form. If the Israelites had made representations of God, they might have been tempted to worship Him in the form of an animal or some natural object (for example, a bull or the sun), in the same way that the pagans around them worshiped such images.

But later God did reveal Himself under visible forms, as in Daniel 7:9: “As I watched, thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.” Protestants depict the Father in this form when they make illustrations of Old Testament prophecies.

The Holy Spirit revealed Himself under at least two visible forms—the form of a dove at the baptism of Jesus (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:32)—and as tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Protestants make use of these images (especially the dove) when they draw or paint these biblical episodes and when they use Holy Spirit pins or place dove emblems on their cars.

But even more important is to note that in the Incarnation of Christ, His Son, God showed humanity an icon of Himself. Paul said, “He is the image (in Greek: ikon) of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Christ Himself is the divine and intangible “icon” of the invisible and infinite God of the universe. We read of the Magi that when “they entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Mt 2:11).

The heart of the matter is that Protestants also use all kinds of religious images: portraits of Jesus and other biblical figures appear in a myriad of Bibles, books of biblical illustrations, jewelry, T-shirts, stickers, postcards, CDs, and Nativity scenes. Christ is symbolically represented by the ichthys symbol—the “fish” emblem—popular among American evangelicals.

Common sense tells us that, since God has revealed Himself in various images, and especially in Jesus Christ Incarnate, we realize that it is not wrong for us to use images of these forms to strengthen and deepen our knowledge and love of God. That is exactly the purpose of statues of Jesus and of the Catholic saints: they are images that represent persons whom we cannot see with our material eyes.

Idolatry condemned by the Church

Since the time of the Apostles, the Catholic Church has clearly and consistently condemned the sin of idolatry. The early Church of the first Fathers warns us against this sin, and the councils of the Church also dealt with this subject. Here are some examples:

The Second Council of Nicaea (787), which dealt especially with the question of the veneration of sacred images and icons, said: “He who redeemed us from the darkness of idolatrous madness, Christ our God, when He took as His bride the holy Catholic Church, without spot or wrinkle, promised that He would preserve her and assured His holy disciples: `I am with you always, until the end of the age`. This promise, however, He made not only to them, but also to us, who through them have come to believe in His name. Some people disregarded this gracious offer and, drawn away by deceitful evil, abandoned the true way of reasoning… and fell into the inability to distinguish the holy from the profane, asserting that the icons of Our Lord and of His saints were no different from the wooden images of satanic idols… Certainly that way of thinking (the worship of images) is not in accord with our faith, which properly gives worship to the divine nature, even though there are gestures that have the appearance of worship, such as those by which the figure of the life-giving cross or the holy books of the Gospels, as well as other sacred objects, are honored.”

The Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566) taught that idolatry is committed by “worshiping idols and images as if they were God, or believing that they possess some divinity or virtue that gives them the right to receive our worship, to have our prayers addressed to them, or to have our trust placed in them” (p. 374).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993) explains that “Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of idols, `silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.`” These empty idols make empty their worshipers: “Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them” (Ps 115:4-5, 8). God, however, is the “living God” (cf. Josh 3:10; Ps 42:3) who gives life and intervenes in history.

“Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. …. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.

“Human life finds its unity in the worship of the one God. The commandment to worship the Lord alone integrates man and saves him from endless disintegration.

“Idolatry is a perversion of man’s innate religious sense. An idolater is someone who transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God” (CCC 2112-2114, citing Origen, Contra Celsum 2:40).

Translator: Fr. José Marcone / Arequipa-Peru

Source: Apologetica.org