THOSE WHO WORSHIP THEM WILL BECOME LIKE THEM...THEY BECOME BLIND JUST AS THE IDOL.
They are conformed into their image since WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE...... People involved in Idolatry cannot hear the word of God they become like the idol that can’t see or hear......AND THIS IS WHY ROME ENCOURAGES IDOLATRY.....IT KEEPS IT’S MEMBERS BLIND TO WHO THEY REALLY ARE...AND WHAT GOD REQUIRES.
Pslms.135:15-18 “ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear; nor is there any breath in their mouths. THOSE WHO MAKE THEM ARE LIKE THEM; SO IS EVERYONE WHO TRUSTS IN THEM.”
1 Cor. 12:2,..... “You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.” ...........He does not give any precedence to the biblical way to use idols for the simple reason there is none.
Deut. 12:3-4:.... “And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place......(Pay attention).....”YOU SHALL NOT WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH SUCH THINGS”.
The biblical prohibition against having images for religious purposes and bowing down before them (and God’s abhorrence of this pagan practice) is clearly set forth in the second of the Ten Commandments and in numerous other passages of Scripture.....”Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image.. to bow down unto it.... Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord”.
(Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 27:15). I Cor. 10:19-20 says:....... “What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice,.... they sacrifice to devils,.... and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.”
Paul states that the idol is nothing, just as Psalms 115 said. The true spirit behind every idol is a devil. So the Catholic unknowingly is praying to devils as he prays before an image made by men’s hands!
We don’t worship them, so they are not idols. They are statues to help us honour and remember the great Saints of ages past.
Same as with Christ. We honour him through pictures and paintings. The word in the greek is Ikon, and the practice, the depiction of God and holy scenes, iconography.
To you they are idolatry. Fine. I hear what you are saying, however, you must exercise charity towards your brothers and sisters and understand that we do not worship the statues. They are not the centre or focus of the worship.
Christ is, through the mass, and the sacrifice.