There are simple, misguided, misinformed, or willfully ignorant people who consider statues the be-all and end-all of Christian devotion, adorning and admiring them to a fault and for all the wrong reasons.
SUSANNA VAS
If you’ve visited a Catholic church, you’ve doubtless seen someone thumbing a rosary before a Marian statue, garlanding St. Sebastian, lighting candles for St. Anthony, or kissing the feet of a crucifix. Idol worship is an evergreen charge against the Catholic Church. Non-contextual and one-sided readings of certain biblical verses can impeach the use of statues, sacramentals, and relics. Do Catholics need a refresher on scripture or do they have solid grounds for using and endorsing graven images for worship?
What Are Idols?
Idols are material representations of gods or deities that people use for worship. Idols are also people who receive excessive love and adoration from admirers.
What Does the Bible Say About Idol Worship?
Let’s deconstruct a clutch of verses that pop up in the idolatry debate.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous god. — Exodus 20:4–6
Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. — Leviticus 26:1
In Leviticus 20, heaven, earth, and water refer to the physical realms of the world. Hebrew uses the same word (shamayim) for ‘heaven’ and ‘sky’. Here, heaven is the sky, not the dwelling place of God.
When God liberated the Israelites from slavery under the Egyptians, He commanded rigid distinctions in terms of food, clothing, and worship to preempt syncretism. Yahweh did not want the Israelites worshipping humans, animals, human-animal hybrids, celestial bodies, and forces of nature; eroticising worship; or performing abominable acts like ritual infanticide.
The dramatis personae of the Old Testament knew the Word, not the Word Incarnate. Therefore, figuring a likeness of God would have been inconceivable, impossible, and presumptuous because no one knew what God looked like and there was nothing else worthy of being fashioned into an image. Any graven image people appropriated as a god before the arrival of Christ would have been false and fanciful.
To understand God’s jealousy, let’s consider a spousal relationship. A wife wouldn’t get offended if her husband keeps and admires a picture of her. However, she would be devastated and furious if he ogles at images of another woman whose affections he is not entitled to. Similarly, if she points out her spouse in a picture to someone saying, “This is my husband,” she is not dishonouring or reducing him to something he is not.
Moreover, you do not have a relationship with the image but with the person depicted. Feeling something when you gaze at the image of your spouse is not inappropriate because you share a personal, intimate relationship. This is unlike blushing or drooling over a celebrity poster where there is no real relationship—only fantasy and speculation—between the admirer and the admired.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. — Psalm 115:4–8
Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, “You are our gods,” will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed. — Isaiah 42:17
One may cry to it, yet it cannot answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble. — Isaiah 46:7
Without an intimate, personal relationship with God, we compromise true prayer and worship. There are simple, misguided, misinformed, or willfully ignorant people who consider statues the be-all and end-all of Christian devotion, adorning and admiring them to a fault and for all the wrong reasons. This is equal to neglecting your spouse because you are obsessing over a picture of them. Such practices are unhealthy and, as Psalm 115:4–8 says, senseless (pun intended). Proper education and instruction from clergy regarding the nature and purpose of statues and sacramentals can nip or avert idolatry.
There is a saying: “What is beautiful leads to what is good, and what is good leads to what is true.” Therefore, the beauty of an object of worship rests not only in its aesthetics but also in its spiritual effects. For instance, a massive crucifix behind the altar reminds us that although we pay attention to the priest (like we ought), he is a humble servant while Jesus is the master; he is a man while Jesus is God. In Tridentine and Byzantine masses, except during blessings, the priest faces the crucifix/tabernacle or iconostasis, not the congregation. When we gaze upon a crucifix, are we absorbed by the skill of the craftsman—“the work of human hands”—or the passion of Christ? If you are concerned with the beauty of the crucifix rather than its immanence, “[you] will be utterly disappointed”.
Jesus said to the woman at the well, “...God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” — John 4:23–24
How do we justify the use of visual aids after these words from the mouth of the Word Incarnate Himself?
In the New Testament, Jesus assumes flesh. This kenosis was a choice of supreme humility, not a descent into baseness. Fr Casey Cole OFM points out that “even after the resurrection, Jesus maintained His physical form and human nature. They remained a part of who He was… At no point in any of the gospels does it ever say that Jesus discarded His body.” He did not go on to become “some disembodied spirit, a hologram, a ghost.” While Jesus said that God is Spirit, He also instructed us to honour His body and blood during the Last Supper.
Statues are parables in art. Jesus spoke parabolically so that people would meditate on His words and probe them deeply enough. He could have handed his listeners categorical answers and explanations on a silver platter, but He didn’t. If we look, think, work, and seek hard enough, crutches from the material world can become springboards that transport us into a spiritual experience.
What About the Makers of Statues?
David, Solomon, and Asaph could have sung about anything under the sun, but they chose to sing about and for God. Similarly, there are artisans who can depict anything in the world, but choose to depict God and His saints, offering the best of their talent to Him.
To answer the titular question, yes, some of us do—consciously or unconsciously. However, the Catholic church’s position on statues and sacramentals does not violate or defy biblical proscriptions. Instead of sweeping generalisations, we must consider the particular idols (Baal, Molech, Ashtoreth) and the practices (lewd rituals, macabre appeasement sacrifices, superstitious and cultish behaviour) that elicited criticisms from rulers and prophets and commandments from God.
Susanna Vas is a 23-year-old Literature postgraduate with a restless curiosity about all things Christian.
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