God did not and does not forbid the making of religious statues. In fact, He commanded the making of statues for His temple. That in itself shows that your interpretation of the First Commandment is incorrect, since it is disproved in the same books of the Bible which contain the Decalogue:
Exodus 25:18
"You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.
See also:
Exodus 25:19
Exodus 25:20
Exodus 25:22
Exodus 26:1
Exodus 26:31
Exodus 36:8
Exodus 36:35
Exodus 37:7
Exodus 37:8
Exodus 37:9
Numbers 7:89
1 Kings 6:23
1 Kings 6:25
1 Kings 6:27
1 Kings 6:28
1 Kings 6:29
1 Kings 6:32
1 Kings 6:35
1 Kings 7:29
1 Kings 7:36
That's a whole lot of God-approved carving of graven images, my dear.
There's no doubt that what God forbids is for people to adore any creature rather than the Creator; and that includes statues and carvings, and much else besides.
Your second misunderstanding is in interpreting all expressions of honor and veneration as worship, even when the difference, well-understood in Exodus and defined with great precision by the Seventh Ecumenical Council, has been plainly and repeatedly explained to you.
Go back and look at post #203.
And please retract your mistaken statement that we worship statues. I am your neighbor. You are bearing false witness. There is a commandment about that.
You are bearing false witness. Down the road from me is a hay field where sometime in the past someone said they saw a vision of Mary. Now, there is a statue of Mary in that field. I watch people come there, kneel down before that statue and pray. Afterward, they put money in a box protected by wire hardware cloth.
I say it as I see it. That is not false witness. If I were to say it, having not seen it, that would be false witness.
Did any of the Israelites kneel and worship these cherubims, pray to them, sacrifice material possessions to them?
Worship - a feeling of profound love and admiration - show devotion to (a deity) - love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol.
