Expert: Sal - 9/28/2006

Question
Hi sal,

Yes, I have a lot of questions to ask you. What are the nuns roles in the catholic church? Why do they wear religious habit and dresses as it was in the time of Jesus? What do they represent? An why do other religions say that Jesus had siblings and was married to mary magdelene is that true or false. Are the other religions such as mormons Johvahs witness and Lutherns i.e. man made? Why do we have images of saints and Jesus in the catholic church is that a reminder?  

Answer
Dear Jacqueline:

Protestants sometimes accuse Catholics of being idolaters because they do not understand the Catholic use of statues. They mistakenly think that the statue is being worshipped because they see a Catholic praying before it. No Catholic praying before a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is worshipping her as a goddess. The statue merely helps the person focus in his prayer.


Some Protestants claim that even the act of bowing down before a statue is a sin. They claim that the intentions of the individual do not matter. They base this on Exodus 21:5. “…you shall not bow down before them.” The reason God said this to the Israelites was that the Israelites were prone to commit idolatry because of their years of captivity in Egypt (see Exodus 32:1-8). Therefore, God did not want them to even bow down before an image. Since Catholics are not in captivity and are extremely unlikely to worship the saint’s image, the prohibition against “bowing down” would not apply.

It may be informative for the Protestant to realize that his position against all bowing down does not conform to the Bible. When we search the Bible we find that Lot is not condemned for bowing down before two strangers (actually angels) in an act of courtesy (Genesis 19:1). We find that Jacob is not condemned for bowing down seven times before Esau in an act of respect for his elder brother (Genesis 33:3). We find that Bathsheba and Nathan are not condemned for bowing down before David in an act of respect for the office of king (1 Kings 1:16, 23, 31). And we find that Solomon is not condemned for bowing down before Bathsheba in an act of love for his mother (1 Kings 2:19).

If the Protestant view against images was the biblically correct view then we should expect God to condemn the Israelites for fashioning and believing that a bronze idol could heal them. However, not only do we not find God condemning the Israelites we find that He actually authorized the practice (Numbers 21:4-9)!

So we see that the Bible clearly does not consider “bowing down” to be a sin in all cases. The Bible shows that the intentions of the individual are of great importance in determining if an act is sin or not. The true intentions of the heart are known to God alone (Psalms 44:22; 139:1-2; Hebrews 4:13).

One final thing I would like to briefly consider is the Protestant view that images have no place in the right worship of God. Firstly, let us realize that the Bible shows us that images were never completely forbidden. In fact we read in Exodus 25:18 that God commanded their creation. “Make two cherubim of beaten gold” (see also Exodus 37:7). Secondly, the Bible contains many references to the proper use of statues and other images in worship. For example, in the center of God’s holy temple stood two 15-foot statues!  “In the sanctuary were two cherubim, each ten cubits high, made of olive wood” (1 Kings 6:23). This holy place of God was further decorated with images of angels, palm trees, flowers, and lions (1 Kings 6, 7). Unlike Protestants, the wise Solomon had no problem with the use of images in worship. “He (Solomon) made a veil of violet, purple, crimson and fine linen, and had cherubim embroidered upon it” (2 Chronicles 3:14). Thus the Bible is clear that the Catholic position is correct—Statues and images do have a proper place in the worship of God.

One final point: No early Christian ever condemned the proper use of statues, other images, and relics. Don’t forget that it was these same early Christians who collected the bones, ashes, and clothing of the departed saints. They did these things as an acceptable way to honor them.

St. Michael the Archangel, Defender of the Faith, pray for us,
Sal