I don't believe that there are new denominations that start every week. People disobey God by being sectarian.
These are things we can know. When one is seeking and asking, God will answer.
Christians have many different denominations, but that is because man has become highly sectarian. Jesus is anti-sectarian. However, the one thing that denominations that matter hold to is the truth about Jesus Christ, that he has come as God in the flesh and borne our sins on His body, died and was raised again. It is His shed blood that cleanses us from all sin, and it by faith in Him that we receive the grace gift of His righteousness. If we agree on who Jesus is, then we agree. Doctrinal differences can be set aside because we are united in Christ.
However, certain practices that are rooted in idolatry are not acceptable, as we see in Catholicism.
I have to stop you right there. Catholiosm does not not has it ever practiced idolatry. I'm going to address it in two different posts so that it's not overwhelmingly text-heavy. But I think I need to really get into it...
1) "What's with all the statues? Don't Catholics practice idolatry with them?"
Statues are very heavily used within the Catholic Church, and there is a big reason for it which will be explained. But one thing is for sure – it rubs a lot of non-Catholic Christians the wrong way, and I think without explanation, it’s reasonable. But WITH explanation, it gives reason as to why it isn’t bad at all…and in fact, why how statues have been an excellent part of the Church.
The reason why people hold concern with Statues is because of Exodus 20:4
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”
Exodus 20:4 is one of the Commandments, and the Commandments are Divine Law. It still holds valid today. So does that mean the Catholic Church is taking and leaving what it likes and doesn’t like in the Bible?
No. The passage continues on verse 5:
“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me”
The Commandment is addressing putting God 2nd, making gods, worshiping other things, etc, especially while there was a lot of superstition taking place, and God had no image (He had not come into the world as flesh yet). Catholics agree with Protestants that statues and anything else used for worship is totally wrong.
One of the problems may be that Protestants don’t know what Catholics use the statues for. Some think they are used for worship, but of course that’s not true. For the most part, we use them the same way Protestant churches use them…and yes, many Protestant churches use religious images too. I remember a few of my old churches had nativity scenes set up around Christmas time. Some churches include stained glass windows. But if the problem is that the images are statues, not flat paintings or window art, then there should be concern with God’s commanding of the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25:18:
“You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.”
Or in Numbers 21:8
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.”
Let’s remember the difference between statues and idols; statues are images often used for memory and honor. This is why we have pictures of our loved ones or statues of individuals who have inspired us to be great people.
Catholics use statues of the saints or Mary to recognize their holiness and inspire us to be like them – obedient to God. And statues of Jesus can often be used to remind us of His suffering for us and a focus for when we worship Him. An idol, however, is a replacement of God. If we begin to worship the statue itself, then we’ve made an idol out of it.
Catholic history is full of imagery and art. In fact, the Catholic Church has been a patronage of the arts, and its beauty has been a form of evangelism in itself. But one of the most interesting aspects of Catholicism and statues, in my opinion, is its use for teaching the scriptures to the poor and the illiterate.
Back when a Bible used to cost three year’s wage and only the very wealthy could afford it, statues and art that depicted scenes from the Bible were used to illustrate the gospels. In fact, they used to call these statues “The Gospel of the Poor.”
The relationship of statues and Christianity isn’t a dirty one. It’s a rather healthy one. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2132, says this:
“The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype,” and “whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.” The honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,” not the adoration due to God alone: Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is”
Idolatry is always bad. Statues though—they’ve served as inspiration and understanding to grow closer to God.
Since you read the Catechism, can you show me where it teaches to worship statues?
