Exodus 25:18: And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.
Numbers 21:8-9: And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
John 3:14: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
1 Kings 6:29: He carved all the walls in the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. (Also verses 32 and 35).
Above is the earliest known image of the Virgin and Child, dating back to the third century. It is found upon the wall to the Catacomb of Priscilla. Notice that the figure on the left (a prophet?) points to the star over head while Mary looks down upon her Son who is looking at us.
The prohibition against images was never absolute. Further, there is a new economy of images due to the incarnation. Jesus is the revelation of the Father. Our very humanity becomes reflective of God. The Scriptures show that God often used images to deepen religious commitment and understanding. The prohibition against “graven images” applies to idolatry, the sin of giving the adoration reserved to God alone to some mere thing. It is peculiar that some critics will oppose the Church’s use of sacred art and yet they often have trophies, statuary, toy dolls, photographs, and paintings in their homes. Images that inspire faith and remind us of particularly holy and courageous members of our faith are no more wrong than such pictures of family and friends in our homes.
I think, the Protestant position on art (pictures and statues) has impoverished the settings in which worship takes place.
Catholics and Orthodox Christians, in the main, know how to design a sacred space – how to use art, candles, incense, etc. – so that they allow the whole body to enter into the worship of the Lord. All the senses should be involved in true worship, so you won’t get any argument from me on this post.
It is true, we must be able to worship God wherever we are. It is also true that the physical setting can make worship harder or easier.
I’m surprised about the number of my non-Catholic friends who think that we acutally worship the statues in church. Not surprised that so many people don’t like the Catholic Church not because of it’s teachings, but because of their misunderstanding about the teachings.
[...] a.k.a. Father Joseph Jenkins, pastor of Holy Family Church in Mitchellville, Maryland, has a great post on religious art and idolatry. He correctly points out that the “prohibition against images [...]
FATHER JOE:
The temptation to worship man-made objects still remains, but is less likely within the Christian context. Idolatry is more likely in terms of science or in the hero worship of sports figures and entertainment celebrities. I have seen countless shrines to Elvis! It is also present in the occult, which makes sense because the devil is a creature who craves divine worship.
Certain fundamentalist protestants claim that Catholics are idolaters, not simply because of our iconography and statues, but because of the Eucharist. If one does not believe that the Blessed Sacrament is truly Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then this charge is quite understandable. We bend the knee, use incense, and offer adoration to the host. We believe that it has been transformed by God. Non-believers would just say that we are peculiar or touched in the head because we worship stale bread.
I am reminded of a soldier in Iraq who cradles a picture of his sweetheart every night. He talks to the photo and he kisses it. He holds it to his chest and says a prayer for her safety and happiness. The picture is a wonderful relic and he guards it; however, after all is said and done, he would much rather have the flesh-and-blood girl in his arms. People know the difference between a picture or representation of a loved one and the real thing.
I have cared for elderly people with houses cluttered with holy cards, religious paintings and cheap plaster statues. However, at the end of their lives, they could not care less for the trappings; they longed to see the Lord Jesus face to face. Again, modern people of faith know the difference.
Excellent post!
Father Joe said: “We bend the knee, use incense, and offer adoration to the host. We believe that it has been transformed by God. Non-believers would just say that we are peculiar or touched in the head because we worship stale bread.”
Nah. I’d just say that you were human, and that humans often do things like that. They seem to have a desire to give form to the ineffable or the abstract, so that they can possess it in some way.
Which reminds me. Recently on Wall Street, a group of Evangelical Christians gathered to lay hands on the big bronze bull statue. They wanted the economy — an abstraction made manifest in the graven image of the bull — to receive divine healing and transformation.
http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/10/forget-the-bailout-let-s-just-pray
Did those people commit idolatry, in your view?
Lady Godless…
When one lays hands on someone, and anoints them with oil… are they committing idolatry? No, they are simple praying for that person. When a priest walks through a house, flinging holy water throughout the rooms, and anointing the doors, is he worshiping the house? No. So therefore, I think the roles, from this, to what happened, i.e. in Deuteronomy are reversed. Instead of worshiping the mammon, they were asking God to bless it and “heal” it. Is this right… whose to say, but is it idolatry, I doubt it. Personally, I believe no one person should be rich, for it distracts us from God, and causes us to look within ourselves and to the world – to me, this is why the Apostles had the community of believers in Acts to sell their possessions and use the money to help each other and those in need… if God intended us to be rich, in my view, Peter and John would have had money when entering into Jerusalem, instead, he used these two to heal a lame man, which is far more precious then the silver or gold the man wanted. The problem is not the economy, the problem is we desire silver and gold over being healed – and not just physical or “spiritual” healing… and that desire has corrupted mankind. Silver and gold… mammon, bring only death and waste, healing brings life.
Jzholloway said: “Silver and gold… mammon, bring only death and waste, healing brings life.”
Of course, silver and gold — however they were obtained — can also make research and advanced medicine possible, which you could say brings healing and life.
In fact, evil acts can bring good results, and righteous acts can bring disaster. It’s all very complex.
I just thought that it was kind of sad, all those people trying to save the economy by getting God to heal the bronze bull.