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Do you think they are all breaking that commandment by having those "likenesses" (crosses/paintings) made, and keeping them hanging there in their churches?

The Hebrew word that is sometimes translated *image* is also the word for *idol*. An image is not by default an idol.

http://biblehub.com/exodus/20-4.htm

In the Hebrew....

http://biblehub.com/text/exodus/20-4.htm

http://biblesuite.com/hebrew/6459.htm

pesel: an idol, image

So the command is to not make oneself and idol nor to bow down before it.

Even if the argument is made that the statues of Mary are not idols because nobody is sacrificing to it or *worshiping* it, people are still breaking the second part of the commandment by BOWING DOWN before it.

Bowing is bowing.....

"The Hebrew word that is sometimes translated *image* is also the word for *idol*. An image is not by default an idol....bowing is bowing"

And that first link you provided says that what is translated "bow down" can also be translated "worship them or serve them", not just "bow down" -- see the top right of the page in your first link you provided, "http://biblehub.com/exodus/20-4.htm".

Also, please not that every single example from the Bible translations shown on your link adds words "or likeness" to "image" or to the word "idol" (or the equivalent), just like the King James Version says "image OR likeness", not just "image".

The word shown in your Hebrew reference link you provided there for "likeness" is "temunah" ( http://biblesuite.com/hebrew/temunah_8544.htm ), and is plainly shown in your reference there as meaning "likeness" -- NOT "idol" -- look again at your links.

(A "likeness" is a "likeness"...)

The true, official teaching of the Catholic Church is that we only worship God, no one or nothing else. Anyone who claims otherwise is simply not speaking the truth.

Just wanted to give you another quick note in reply to this post, metmom, before moving on to my other responsibilities for today.

Those "Bible Hub" links you provided in your post are great resources! Thanks for sharing them with me!

(I have a book version of "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance", and it is difficult to lift it, let alone find stuff in it!) :-)

I think you are on the right track in your reasoning about these matters, but just haven't taken them far enough yet. The meaning of that commandment is that we should not make idols of other gods, or worship those idols (if someone else made them). The "cross images" one sees in the front of most Protestant churches are NOT made or believed to be idols, and when the congregation kneels in prayer while facing those crosses in the front, they are NOT worshiping those cross images.

You just have to extend that idea further to the truth that the statues you see in Catholic churches are NOT made or seen as "idols" or "gods" either, and when people kneel in prayer in front of those statues, they are NOT worshiping them either, or seeing them as "idols" or "gods", but rather, just simple images like the Protestant cross images.

The Catholic Church teaches that we should only worship God, and we should not make or use idols of any kind. That is the simple truth, whether one chooses to believe it or not.

Have a great day, metmom!

"An image is not by default an idol..." as you rightly say, metmom: "An image is not by default an idol," and bowing in honor is not by default bowing in adoration.

In short:

Image yes, idol no.

Honor yes, adoration no.

Bowing¹ has a different sense than bowing² and bowing³. And there are certainly more senses than 3.

That is something I think we all know. Even as 21st century Americans we know there is the stage-bow by actors and performers (at the curtain call) and,in martial arts, bows used to begin and end practice, sparring bouts and competitions.

Hand-kissing of women by men, in formal settings, includes a bow --- I know that if it were done to me, it would not be adoration, although there's a courtly WWII vet at church who always opens the church door and bows when he sees me coming: don't tell my husband, but maybe he has a crush? :o)

There are more categories of bowing on Europe, and even more in the orient. In the England, lawyers and clerks bow to the judge when entering or leaving a law court. I think they also bow to the Speaker of the House of Commons

I'm not getting encyclopedic here. I'm just showing that everbody, actually knows that bowing¹ has a different sense than bowing², and cultures with a richer repertoire of honor and courtesy, both human and divine, may have many more bows, with a certain recognized gradation and a great deal depending on context.

Grant me that?