“Catholics worship statues!” People still make this ridiculous claim. Because Catholics have statues in their churches, goes the accusation, they are violating God’s commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4–5).
It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues.
Anti-Catholic writer Loraine Boettner, in his book Roman Catholicism, makes the blanket statement, “God has forbidden the use of images in worship” (281). Yet if people were to “search the scriptures” (John 5:39), they would find the opposite is true. God forbade the worship of statues, but he did not forbid the religious use of statues. Instead, he actually commanded their use in religious contexts!
A popular African celebrity from Ghana by name John Dumelo had this excellent response to some anti-Catholic fans of his on his Instagram page when he posted a photo of himself praying before the statue of Jesus in a Catholic Church in Montreal.
I usually don’t respond to ‘negative ‘ comments on Instagram but these set of comments need clarification. I posted a picture of myself touching the feet of a statue Christ in a church in Montreal. Some people said it’s idol worshipping. Some said it’s blasphemy and others too said it’s occultism. If we all turn our bibles to Matthew 9:20–22, it’s talks about a woman touching the robe of Jesus to be healed. She said “ If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed”. That was her faith. And her faith healed her. When we go to certain churches these days, anointing oil, water etc are sold. Some are asked to pray over these and apply them to be healed. What about those that touch Tv’s to be healed? Is that idol worshipping? Is that occultism? No, it’s all in your faith. Faith is such a big influence if used correctly. I’m a proud catholic and I will never be ashamed of that. My catholic beliefs and principles have brought me this far and it’s taking me further. We all believe in one God. No need to judge. God bless us all.
