Two weeks ago, two nicely dressed gentlemen approached the shop door and asked me if I was willing to read their material. As one of them opened his folder to grab one of the multiple issues of AWAKE, I told him to hold a second and I grabbed one of the books we sell.
“If I give you my time to read your material, will you give me your time to read mine?” I said. “This doesn’t work this way,” he replied.
This back and forth led to his big question, “Why do you sell statues? God clearly says no statues should be worshipped,” and he cited:
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5).
We clearly need some context here. First of all, this is the opening to the Ten Commandments and how the Israelites thought Moses would not return and they made and worshipped the Golden Ox. Secondly, ever since Luther published The Ninety-five Theses or Disputation on the Power of Indulges in 1517, the Protestant Reformation changed positions and views on traditional Catholic devotion. The Reformation called out the abuse of the Church through ‘indulgences’ and instead began a new era of Christianity without the use of images and statues and traditional Catholic-Christian worship as it had been for over 1,000 years.
Now, we have to understand that Jehovah’s Witnesses start in 1870’s (over 300 years later) and begin one of the attacks aimed at faithful of the Catholic Church: the use of statues and images of God (who no one has seen), Christ, Mary and the saints as worshipping when in fact, this is not true. The Catholic Church allows the usage of images and statues not because we worship them, but because they help us in a visual journey that allows us to connect and experience the presence of God.
And God knows this. God knows we need the help to worship and serve him. In fact, God Himself asks for images and statues to be built for various purposes. After God condemns the Golden Ox worshipping, then he asks Moses:
- “You shall make a seat of atonement of pure gold. It shall be two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. You will make two cherubim out of gold. Make them as hammered works, placing them on the two sides of the seat of atonement. (Exodus 25:18-20)
- The Lord said to Moses, “Make a seraph serpent and put it upon a pole. Whoever has been bitten and looks upon it will live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it upon a pole. If someone had been bitten by a serpent and he looked up at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)
- He told him the weight of the refined gold for the altar of incense. He also gave him the pattern for the chariot, that is, the golden cherubim with outstretched wings that covered the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. David said, “This is all in writing for the hand of the Lord was upon me; he gave me understanding of all of the details of the plan.” (1 Chronicles 28:18-19)
We can continue giving more examples like of Noah’s Ark and the dimensions of it. We have to understand that everything is precise in God’s plan. So, the use of images and statues as channels of spiritual connection is what Catholics do. Because this brings the perfection of the overall spiritual connection with God himself. God is the only being who deserves worship. Mary and the Saints are venerated (from Latin Venerare = to seek help from, to honor, to admire).
The fabrication of images in the church started in the IV Century with Constantine and the institutionalization of the Early Christian Church. Hinduism, being the oldest religion in the world, also uses images and statues that for them is no different than for us. Hinduism’s holy Book narrates great tales of Gods and Goddesses and how they came to live among humans. The only way for them to continue tradition was to carve the sacred writings of the Mahabharata into actual images of storytelling.
Us Catholics, we believe in One God. We only worship One True Living God. We only honor Mother Mary and the Saints because of what they represented in life and throughout history. The way they lived their lives is the best example we can strive to follow and it is a narrow line to walk. But using an image or statue during prayer is not the same as worshipping what’s in front of us. Instead, it is a reminder of their unwavering faith and belief in Jesus Christ and His promise. Images and statues can awaken in us feelings since they evoke experiences, emotions, memories, and this helps us connect with that which we aim to express: a heartfelt prayer during spiritual need.
When my mother died, I kept a picture of her near me at all times, and I still do. Why? Because the picture daily reminds me of a strong-willed and devout Catholic woman who prayed day and night. I’m certain some of you may sympathize with this gesture and also have or carry a picture of that loved one in another life form. A picture of a deceased loved one is a reminder of their great faith while alive. In the same manner, we Catholics only make use of images and statues because we can physically connect to that spiritual need and admire the person they were.
In the end, all Christians associate themselves with the cross as a symbol of Christ’s triumph over death. Although that itself is an image -a representation and not Christ Himself, the power the image has is beyond words. Our brethren Jehovah’s Witnesses also give material that displays their view of the kingdom of God, but they are also images. So, why attack the Catholic Church when we all use a physical representation of something that gives us brain power to retain information in a visual way to understand what is in front of us. It is human. We all need a visual to connect to anything -if anything at all.
<3lessings,
TSJ*
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