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Sep 30, 2024 · The Church does NOT compel her members to kneel or pray before images. No one is allowed by the Church to pray to images since they have no ears to hear or power to help us.
Mar 24, 2023 · Is This Verse and Commandment Still Relevant Today? Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). The command against graven images, or idols, still holds true, though it may be applicable a little differently today.
- Alyssa Roat
Mar 8, 2023 · It is possible that a portrait of Jesus or a crucifix can become an object of worship, in which case the worshiper is at fault. But there is nothing in the New Testament that would specifically forbid a Christian from having a picture of Jesus.
- Looking at The Context: Exodus 20
- Looking at The Context: The Rest of Scripture
- Catholic Use of Statues and Images
- Proper Veneration
Exodus 20:4 is what Protestants list as the Second Commandment. Catholics number this differently, as part of the First Commandment. The reason for this is that Catholics look at the context of this verse in light of what precedes and follows it. Whenever we look at the Bible, it is important to look at the context surrounding it. Immediately prece...
Just as it is important to look at the immediate context of the command not to make images, it is important to look at the broader context of the Bible. What did the great heroes of the Old Testament do with images? Did they ever make images of anything on earth or in heaven? Or did they completely ban the use of such images?
But does this prove that Catholics are not violating the commandments? When you go into a Catholic Church you might see someone kissing an icon or a crucifix, kneeling before a statue of Mary, leaving flowers by a statue of her favorite saint, or otherwise honoring statues. Doesn’t this violate what the commandment means? When people worshipped the...
Catholics use statues, paintings, and mosaics to remind us of those who have gone before us. As saints, they point in the direction of Christ by the virtues of their lives. Reminding ourselves of them reminds us of the virtues we should try to pursue. Before the invention of photographs, man-made images were the only things we could use as physical...
Divinizing any creature (including wealth, power, celebrity) remains a fundamental religious prohibition. Images have been a part of worship since the era of cave paintings. But they have a bad reputation in the Bible, starting with the First Commandment.
Veneration of Images — What signs of reverence, if any, did the first Christians give to the images in their catacombs and churches?
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2 days ago · We pray for the souls of all the faithful departed in purgatory. It makes sense for us to reflect on the doctrine of purgatory and its roots — and of our need to pray for the departed. What Is Purgatory?
