The 10 commandments is very clear. Don’t bow to graven images. It doesn’t state don’t bow to people. Now, I don’t know why it’s so upsetting to God, but He says it is. I’m not going to try to wrap my logic around it. I’m just going to accept that it upsets Him because He states very simply and clearly that bowing to graven images (not people) is bad.
The fact that He puts this in the 10 commandments, but nothing about homosexuality, shows that to Him it’s more heinous than homosexuality.
Let's look at the commandments -- firstly 10 is a convenience number, if you read Exodus 20:2-17 you'd see things clearly. here it is for you
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2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13Thou shalt not kill. 14Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15Thou shalt not steal. 16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. |
The present catechism follows the division of the Commandments established by Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confession. The Greek Fathers worked out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and Reformed communities
The second commandment
Isn't it odd that there were all sorts of "heavenly symbols" in the Temple and on the vestments of the OT priests that were commanded by God to be there and yet these establishments follow the giving of the Second Commandment. Do Christians follow the Temple or the 'Synagogue' model of worship and is this even the right question to be asking? It's interesting that the Second Commandment states "that ANYTHING in heaven or earth" should not be made and yet all sorts of "heavenly beings" are within the Temple. Then we have the Temple and the "icons" in the Holy of Holies. Is this really something to condemn fellow Christians for? Is it really a violation of the Second Commandment?
for the veneration of images to violate the second commandment, it would have to:
1. Be an image of some type,
2. We would have to bow to it,
3. We would bow to it in order to serve it,
4. And to serve it as a god, to supersede God.
Thus, it would turn into worship and break the second commandment
you are wrong to say that just "don't bow to graven images" -- do read your Bible. Are you afraid that if you bow to an Icon and kiss it, you might find yourself someday falling into worship rather than just veneration and honor?
The truth of the matter is that you simply cannot accidently worship an Icon. Worship is intentionally giving veneration to a god. As long as that god is the God, then you have nothing to worry about. No one can accidently worship a statue -- bowing to them does not in any way signify that these are god or gods and no one who does in any of the pictures you post, no one believes that