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To: Bayard
From the Vatican website:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c1a1.htm#2112

Idolatry

“2112 The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of “idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.” These empty idols make their worshippers empty: “Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.”42 God, however, is the “living God”43 who gives life and intervenes in history.

2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and mammon.”44 Many martyrs died for not adoring “the Beast”45 refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.46 “

Note carefully how the second commandment is not mentioned in the section labeled “Idolatry”.

The second commandment IS the actual commandment that forbids that very practice of Idolatry.

So why would the catechism on the Vatican website avoid mentioning the specific commandment prohibiting Idolatry in its own teaching on Idolatry ?

Just to refresh our memory, the second commandment:

Exodus 20

“4 Thou 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.
5 Thou 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;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

Of course this leads us to the Vatican’s position on “icons”, which we read about in the catechism here:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s1c2a1.htm#1159

Holy Images

“1159 The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ. It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new “economy” of images:

Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be represented by an image. But now that he has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make an image of what I have seen of God . . . and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face unveiled.27 “

Did you ever think about whether or not the Roman Catholic teaching that “Holy Images” are acceptable to God can be proven by citing passages of God’s Word, the Bible ?

There simply is no valid Scriptural proof for a Christian to consider any physical object as “sacred” or “holy”, because the second commandment specifically prohibits the practice.

16 posted on 07/30/2014 2:41:37 PM PDT by PieterCasparzen (We have to fix things ourselves)
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To: PieterCasparzen

We don’t pray to statues. We don’t worship Mary. Thus, your concerns are unwarranted. The Commandments demand that we only worship God (the Trinity). We do so. We also do not worship any statues, but we most certainly have religious art. The Jews also had religious art. They just didn’t worship it and neither do we.


17 posted on 07/30/2014 2:49:29 PM PDT by vladimir998
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