-——Alrighty, then what about making them, or bowing down to them?———
You mean like Protestant bed-worshippers? But Protestants aren’t worshipping beds, are they? They’re PRAYING, just like other Protestants who “bow down” before paintings of Jesus, or framed Scripture quotations. God’s not opposed to prayer, nor any prayer aid. Why would He be?
——As I said, the 2nd Commandment doesn’t leave any “wiggle room”-——
Then get your own house in order, and take up your pharisaical crusade against Christian bookstores.
The point of the Second Commandment, which is obvious to Catholics, is not to worship false idols. The golden calf would be a the prime OT example. But idols can take many forms. Today, worldly success and hedonism would be the most common. Aside from some New Agers and Wiccans, there aren’t too many people ascribing magical properties to physical objects.
If you want to engage in serious dialogue with Catholics, study the Catholic position. If you want to argue with straw men, you’ll only end up talking to yourself.
The Veneration of Images
Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07664a.htm
“You mean like Protestant bed-worshippers? But Protestants aren’t worshipping beds, are they?”
This is a weak argument only meant to confuse the issue. The 2nd Commandment doesn’t talk about beds, or stools, or tables, it talks about graven images. Utilitarian items or pieces of furniture built for a specific function were never considered to be the subject of the 2nd Commandment, but images and icons, like the ones used by the Catholic and Orthodox churches were always understood to be the subject.
“Then get your own house in order, and take up your pharisaical crusade against Christian bookstores.”
I’ll ignore the “pharisaical insult”, but if they are selling icons and idols, then I condemn them as well. Still, the sin is far graver if it is done under the roof of what is supposed to be the Lord’s House, rather than a bookstore.
“The point of the Second Commandment, which is obvious to Catholics, is not to worship false idols.”
This is where the Catholics part ways with Jews, the early Christians, and the Bible. The point of the 2nd Commandment is to forbid the making, bowing down to, and serving of graven images of anything in earth or in heaven. There is simply no such thing as a “true idol”, all idols are false.
“But idols can take many forms. Today, worldly success and hedonism would be the most common.”
No argument here. Again, I posit that idolatry promoted in the House of God is a graver matter. Certainly, it is a matter that is within the power of the church to directly address and correct, which is not necessarily true about all the myriad shades of idolatry in the world.
“Aside from some New Agers and Wiccans, there aren’t too many people ascribing magical properties to physical objects.”
That’s just wishful thinking. There are plenty of people who do exactly this, even if they would not admit to it in those terms because of conceit or other reasons. If your position was true, then it wouldn’t be common practice for Catholics to carry medals of saints for “good luck”, wear scapulars to somehow procure special graces, or bury statues of St. Joseph in the yard to help them sell their houses. All of that is still a tangential issue, since one doesn’t have to “acribe magical powers” to objects to be violating the 2nd Commandment. The wording is plain, simply performing the actions, even without some additional intent, is forbidden.
“If you want to engage in serious dialogue with Catholics, study the Catholic position.”
I know the Catholic position. I can read the Catechism just as well as I can read the Bible, but I simply do not accept that rationalizations from the church can override the obvious, simple truth of God’s word.