A non-Catholic once asked me if it was true that Catholics worship idols. The Bible tells us not to worship graven images yet Catholics have statues all over the place. He reminded me about the reference in the book of Exodus where the command was given to worship no graven images. My response was that he was essentially right with what he said, but that it was incomplete.
The other half of that command is “you shall not bow down before them or serve them”. Catholics do not worship statues, if you go into a church and you see someone kneeling in front of any statue, that is not worship of whomever the statue represents, Rather it is perhaps a veneration of the person depicted and a reminder to us all of what it is they went through, their trials, sufferings, burdens, etc.
The main reason people will pray before a statue, not at it, is to ask for them to intercede for us with the Father for a particular solution to a personal issue, or whatever it may be. Intercessory prayer is used by a tremendous number of people. He came back with “I have never prayed that way.” Have you ever gone to church and had the pastor say something like, “I have been told, that this week, as our brother Fred Jones was carrying some groceries into the house, he twisted and fractured his ankle. Let us pray for a speedy recovery for brother Fred?” Well, that is intercessory prayer. In this case, the entire congregation is praying to the Father that Fred be granted a speedy and full recovery. In the case of a statue, the person praying in front of the statue may be simply asking to have that saint, intercede to the Father for a particular need, or concern.
God Has a Brain Cramp
We each agree that we have been told by the Supreme Authority not to make a “graven image” or idol and pray to it, or serve it. But, is it possible that God had a brain cramp and forgot what he told us to do in chapter 20 in Exodus when a mere five chapters later he told Moses to make a pair of angels out of gold to adorn the Ark of the Covenant?
Later, in the book of Numbers, He told Moses to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole, so that anyone who looked at it would recover from a snake bite in the camp. In both of these cases, the Father told Moses to fashion what could be misdefined as a “grave image” for a specific purpose, but He told him to make them.
By the time they got to the Promised Land and had built a temple for the Ark and all it held, they got very busy covering it with all sorts of images. Check the sixth and seventh chapters of 1 King, the temple had bronze oxen. engraved cherubim, and all sorts of other stuff, such as flowers and trees, lions, and even pomegranates all over the walls. Were these “graven images?”
Statues as photographs
Many people carry 4 or 7 or 12,539 pictures of their parents, spouse, children, and siblings in their purses or wallets. Are these idols? If a person takes out a photograph of a child and stares at it to the point of appearing to be transfixed on the image, is that image an idol?
What may well be happening is that the parent is staring at a picture while in prayer to the Father, asking Him to protect Bev or Brad as they prepare for, undergo, or recover from an operation that will be performed in a couple of hours. They are not praying to the picture, it is nothing more than a reminder of the person for whom they are making an intercessory prayer to the Father.
Intercessory prayer cannot be biblical
We can start with the fellow who did the most to evangelize in the earliest of times, Paul. Along about the 15th chapter of Romans, he asks the people to join him by their prayer to the Father on his behalf. In 2Th 3:1, the author writes, finally brothers, pray for us. Which is also the repayment, if you will, from 2 Th 1:11 where the author writes, we always pray for you.
Intercessory prayer may be simply one person asking another to pray for him/her as he/she prepares to leave on a long drive to a new job, new house, etc. Intercessory prayer can be a gathering of some 824 people at a prayer vigil for an eight-year-old child who has gone missing in the woods. The people are praying to the Father that the child is found, protected and returned to his/her parents safely.
Let us consider a simple example which has produced a monumental impact. At one point in the career of a struggling comedian, he asked St. Jude ( often called the Patron of Impossible Causes ) to intercede for him with the Father, and if it was the Father’s will, help make his career more successful, and the kindness would be repaid. Sometime later ( years, or decades ) after some success on stage, in comedy clubs, on TV as a stand-up, and after a couple of his own TV programs, Danny Thomas helped start the St Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN.
So, Catholics Pray to Saints?
Not at all, when Danny Thomas asked St Jude to intercede for him with the Father, that request for an intercession resulted in an Internationally recognized health care facility.
When the person who was leaving on a long road trip returns and sees the person that was asked to intercede on their behalf to the Father, the traveler may thank the person who prayed, if he remembers. “Thanks for the prayers, I know they helped. We were a very few miles outside of a major city when the “rush hour” traffic started to build up. It turned to heavy traffic and the speed dropped from 70 to 55 or so when one of the tires on the car failed. We made it to the side of the road without incident, and the tire was changed as hundreds and hundreds of cars passed by. If you had not joined me in my prayer to the Father asking for His protection during the trip, I do not know how many people may have been killed or injured in the major accident which was averted by prayer.”
13 thoughts on “Are Catholic Statues Graven Images?”
From reading this, and from my upbringing, I’m honestly confused with what has been posted. I grew up Catholic, and have a great understanding of its teachings, but I have been introduced into a protestant directive which has created a great deal of confusion. I will continue to say my Hail Mary, but I know I’m not praying to Mary, I’m praying for her intersecion. Same as I do when reaching out to friends to pray for loved ones. I have never thought of any statues/images as idols, and honestly, seeing them at the front of the Church was always comforting. I’ve been going to a non-denominational church, and it really bothers me that there isn’t a single cross, or crucifix. If you can, please help me understand what is missing.
If you have a great understanding of Catholic teaching you should know what is missing. A non-denominational church is only better than no church at all, but it is not the Catholic Church. You are depriving yourself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist by attending a non-denominational church. You may also be depriving yourself of the fullness of God’s truths and Christ’s teachings if the minister at your non-denominational church teaches that which is contrary to the Gospels.
I’m not surprised that catholics are confused about the graven image commandment, since the catholic church has removed the second commandment from the ten commandments given in Exodus, and split the tenth commandment into two separate pieces to “fix” the count. In Exodus, the second commandment is given as …
“Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6: And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
An Idolater is a devoted admirer of idols but what does the Bible say about images and idols?
1. Exodus 20:4-6 quoted above.
2. Leviticus 26:1
“You shall make you NO IDOLS nor GRAVEN IMAGE. Neither rear you up a STANDING IMAGE. Neither shall ye set up any IMAGE OF STONE in your land to bow down unto it.”
3. Deuteronomy 4:16
“Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and MAKE you a GRAVEN IMAGE, the similitude of ANY FIGURE, the likeness of MALE or FEMALE.”
4. Deuteronomy 16:22
“Neither shalt thou SET thee UP ANY IMAGE: which the Lord thy God HATES.”
5. 1 Thessalonians 1:9
“How ye turned to God FROM IDOLS to serve the living and true God.”
6. Deuteronomy 27:15
“CURSED be the man that MAKES ANY GRAVEN or MOLTEN IMAGE, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.”
Acts 5:29 – “We ought to obey God, rather than men.”
wow! very well said. Thank you so much for sharing your insights and stands on what exactly the Bible says. God bless you!
All the verses that you mentioned are about people worshipping idols as deities but on the other hand we catholics are not worshipping them as gods for example we do not worship mary a god. we simply venerate them and we give respects to them for what they went through during their times the trials , sufferings and burdens etc. Worship is reserved for God alone. May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.
So when i pray to God with a picture of my mom in my hand have committed idolatry.wow! I never knew
U talk like this because you don’t understand now.firstly the catholic didn’t remove the second commandment but simply shortened it.secondly the truth is bow isn’t a way of worshipping it’s actually a way of showing respect i feel like God was talking about the intention of the person when bowing to an image because am not bowing before a king would mean u are worshipping the king . Thirdly I’d like to say when you read the Bible understand it don’t just read everything you see and post it online and also do some research. God bless you have a good day
Jack, read the “Boston Heresy Case” involving Fr Leonard Feeney. (Search online). What you think “Extra ecclesia…” means Is not what the Catholic Church teaches about those outside the visible Church. Rome condemn Fr Feeney and his follows for teaching heresy. Especially when one is invisibly ignorant. Actually, what you think it means is a condemned as heresy. By the way I offer the Tridentine Mass so I’m not some liberal modernist
Were statues which are graven imzges, ( “carved ” or “formed from earthly material”) venerated with a kiss, or boss when the West code them over ikons? Is there a real theology behind the use of statues and the creation of them? I think they were simply made to remind the faithful of the person depicted. I would not generate a statue.
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Mark: People have a lot of ideas of what Catholics believe but never take to time to find out what the church actually teaches and why. If you really want to know about the Catholic faith buy the Catechism Of The Catholic Church and you find all your questions answered. You may even discover that the Bible is actually a catholic book. Of course you know that Martin Luther said that if it was not for the catholic church we would not have the bible. And as in any Christian faith there are those who are not properly informed.
Nice article, Dan. I agree with what you said, but I will say that I’ve seen instances of almost superstitious behavior from people in the Catholic Church: people reciting poems to saints like incantations to get them to find their lost car keys, burying statues of St. Joseph upside down in their gardens so that their houses will sell, and the like. I find it’s those types of instances, along with a general prejudice from lack of knowledge that makes non-Catholics think everyone in the Church is worshiping statues. I wish more writers would clarify actual Church teaching on this subject. Thank you for your writing.
Your comment is simply playing into protestant hands. Catholics have been “explaining” most of what the article says to numerous heretics for five hundred years. They continue this anti-Catholic polemic and will never stop. Let’s cease worrying about what protestants think, shall we! I for one am a traditional catholic who grew up in the 1950’s and remember the real Church, not the post Vatican II monstrosity that bows to every false religion that the devil has instigated, including the 33,000 splinter sects of Protestantism (small “p” deliberate!) These are not true religions. Extra Ecclesia Nulla Sulus still applies!