Deuteronomy 5
6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
8 Thou shalt not make 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 waters beneath the earth:
Exodus 20
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
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.
Exodus 34:17
Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
Isaiah 42
17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
graven image from the Hebrew
6459 pecel peh'-sel from 6458; an idol:--carved (graven) image.
1) idol, image
6458 pacal paw-sal' a primitive root; to carve, whether wood or stone:--grave, hew.
1) to cut, hew, hew into shape
a) (Qal) to hew, hew out, quarry
molten image from the Hebrew
4541 maccekah mas-say-kaw' from 5258; properly, a pouring over, i.e. fusion of metal (especially a cast image); by implication, a libation, i.e. league; concretely a coverlet (as if poured out):--covering, molten (image), vail.
1) a pouring, libation, molten metal, cast image, drink offering
a) libation (with covenant sacrifice)
b) molten metal, molten image, molten gods
2) web, covering, veil, woven stuff
I have a Fundamentalist Baptist friend who thinks Christ on the Crucifix is awful and an abomination. He cannot understand that Catholics do not worship images, but that they are a reminder, especially the Crucifix, of what Jesus Christ endured for our salvation. An empty cross is just that, empty. And a cross with a statue of the risen Christ is just not biblical (but very popular in a lot of churches, I notice).
I found it kind of ironic that this same man has a picure in his office of his little daughter kissing a cross with her eyes closed. The picture is beautiful but I'm reminded that for him, everything Catholics do is for the wrong reasons.
Patty Bonds has a deeper understanding of salvation than my parish priest. Like Patty's history teacher, my RC pastor often says that Christ was only on the cross for 3 hours but is risen forever. Unlike Patty, he does not want to be reminded of the price paid for his salvation.
I responded that like Paul, "We preach only Christ, and Christ crucified."
He didn't say anything more.
Man in his infinite wisdom is always thinking he can improve on what God finds acceptable or desirable.