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Just to reiterate another poster:

An icon of Jesus Christ is just that, a depiction of the revealed God. It does not contain God or is God, it's just a depiction of Our Lord and Savior. Ditto for the pictures of saints. The Church does not transfer our notion of God to anything other than God -- those paintings, statues are not God, do not possess divinity or virtue of their own right

It doesn't matter what you call it, what motive you assign to it, or whether you build it out of wood, stone or precious metal, God says, DON'T DO IT...

Exo 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:

How much more clear can you get than that...The only thing missing is God reaching down from heaven and slapping you up side the head to get His point across...

And then if you see one of these idols someone else built, God's got that covered as well...

Exo 20:5 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;

AND THEN, God indicates that whoever does these things does not love HIM...

Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Tradition does not contradict Scripture

Your tradition violates scripture by contradicting scripture...How can you keep repeating that nonsense???

Exo 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:

Explain that in context to 1 Chr 28:18-19, Ezekial 41:17-18, Num 21:8-9, 1 Kings 6:29-31; 8:6-66, 2Chr 3:7-14

Exo 20:5 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;

Bow down and serve them implies worship of the divine, which is what is not done for these objects of clay or marble or wood.

God revealed himself in physical form in the form of the Man Jesus and in the form of a dove (Matt 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22, John 1:32) and as tongues of fire (Acts 2:1-4) for the Holy Spirit. These images are used when drawing or painting these biblical episodes and on Holy Spirit labels etc.

While God the Fathe did reveal himself too in visible forms like in Daniel 7:9 "As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his seat; his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire"

And of course, God did reveal a form for himself in Bethlehem which is why the magi "fell down and worshipped him" Matt 2:11.

An icon of Jesus Christ is just that, a depiction of the revealed God. It does not contain God or is God, it's just a depiction of Our Lord and Savior. Ditto for the pictures of saints. The Church does not transfer our notion of God to anything other than God -- those paintings, statues are not God, do not possess divinity or virtue of their own right