Why do catholic peopleget so offended when it comes to statues?

Question

I javey own testimony that statues of stains and Mary are from the kingdom of darkness. I preach to family members my whooe generation are all catholic accept for my older sister she is a former catholic now a jehovas witness convert. Im a born again devoted christian serving christ. We are the only two non catholic. I've notice that catholics get so offended when we as christian teach them the scripture about Idolatry and Mary is a demon tricking catholics that she can save people. Why? I mean its all written 8n the bible.

Exterminatore · Accepted Answer

I firmly disagree in saying statutes of Mary and Saints are demonic.

No denomination of Catholicism teaches anyone to worship a statute. In my opinion though, Roman Catholics do venerate Mary to such an extent I personally consider it to be worship despite their official stance or claims.

Statutes, Crucifixes, paintings…. these things are iconography. They are simply visual images of what is written in scripture. There is nothing sinful about them.

One major criticism of Protestant churches, particularly non denominational ones I have is they tend to look more like a theatre or convention center, complete with stadium style seating. You’d be hard pressed to even find a Christian symbol in many of them. They will also often play worship music via a rock band. That is so close to blasphemy I can’t even state. Scripture states the music of the Jews in worship was hymns. In like fashion scripture states the music of the early church was hymns. Now we have rock bands and flashing lights. I’ll start my stop watch until a laser light show and smoke machine are added to these things. Completely absurd in my opinion.

People should be in church because they’re sinners in need of a savior and to hear God’s word and corporately worship with other believes. They should not be there because we’ve tried to make it “cool” and “hip.”

Likewise many Protestant churches use oyster crackers and grape juice for communion. Scripture says bread and wine for communion. Nonalcoholic wine would also be acceptable.

I could point out many issues with Protestant churches. They point fingers at Catholics but often unbiblical in some of their practices. Don’t even get me started on speaking in tongues and doing a “holy dance” in the middle of a service. These are things for people looking for a mystical experience and an emotional experience and are bored with church. Then there’s the charismatic christians. They are Protestants. I could easily use 4 hours explaining why all they do and teach is pretty much modern day blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and in fact so unbiblical and heretical I’d sooner worship in a Buddhist Temple than one of their churches.

My biggest criticism though of people who are against Catholicism is they are just repeating what they have heard. They have never once studied church history, never read the Roman Catholic Caeticism, or even remotely understand the differences. They simply repeat what they have been told and have never once studied things like the Council of Niecia, or the Councel of Trent to see why reform was made and on what grounds their church has issues with Roman Catholicism. They don’t even know their Protestant Bibles contained the Apocrypha or the Deuterocanon, as Catholics call it until the mid 1600’s. They don’t even know why Protestants reject it. They simply parrot what they were told.

If one wants to criticize doctrinal issues of a church or claim beliefs are unbiblical they would do well to thoroughly research these things for themselves and be well acquainted with the issues surrounding them. By thoroughly research the issue I do not mean doing a 10 min Google search and cursory reading either but I mean real research that will take many hours to conduct.

So, there is nothing wrong with statues of biblical figures and Saints. So far as saints go you can consider them to be all stars of the faith. Men and women who lived Holy lives and left a good example in themselves for us. They deserve to be remembered and honored. In regards to praying to Mary, the saints or any dead person, at this point I reject it. Those things come from the Apocrapha and if one believes the Apocrapah is Devine and inspired scripture or not. It should be understood many of the first Christians did believe it was legit scripture. It has been hotly debated since Christ ascended into heaven. Yet, pretty much no Protestants even know the issues surrounding it or why they believe it is unbiblical. I’m actually researching it now. As it stands I do not believe the dead can hear prayers.

Oliverlogan263 · Accepted Answer

I get you're coming from a good place with your faith and all, but there's probably better ways to approach this than getting into fights with your fam about Catholic stuff.

Religion can be super personal to people, you know? So even if you don't totally agree with everything in Catholicism, doesn't mean they're bad people. They're just following what they believe in too.

Calling their saints and statues demonic is probably really disrespectful feeling to them. Like, those things might have lots of meaning from their childhood or whatever. Who are we to say it's 100% wrong?

Instead of accusing, maybe just have loving discussions where you listen to each other too. Share what's important in your faith gently, without putting others down. They probably won't wanna hear it if they feel attacked, y'know?

And at the end of the day, Jesus was all about loving each other no matter what. As long as they believe in him too, does it really matter the little details? Not worth tearing your family apart over.

Just my two cents - stay positive! God's bigger than our differences.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Probably because you are being obnoxious & arrogant with their views.

It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues.

Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas.

If one measured Protestants by the same rule, then by using these “graven” images, they would be practicing the “idolatry” of which they accuse Catholics. But there’s no idolatry going on in these situations. God forbids the worship of images as gods, but he doesn’t ban the making of images.

It is when people begin to adore a statue as a god that the Lord becomes angry. Thus, when people did start to worship the bronze serpent as a snake-god (whom they named “Nehushtan”), the righteous king Hezekiah had it destroyed (2 Kgs. 18:4).

Paige90 · Accepted Answer

I believe their churches are full of idols but I don't think Mary is/was a demon. I think they are wrong in worshipping her as they put her on a God-like level and they also think she was sinless which is in contradiction with the Bible.

docster · Answer

As a Bible believing Christian myself, I agree with everything in your post except for calling your JW sister a Christian, if that's what you meant when you said "when we as christian teach them the scripture..". The Jehovah's Witness organization is a false religion according to the Bible because of their denial of the divinity of Jesus, denying His physical resurrection, denying salvation is by grace alone, and altering the Bible to fit their narrative.

I pray that you witness to her also and point out the false doctrine of the JW organization.

love_conquers_lust · Answer

Hahahaha. That’s funny. So you guys don’t believe in saint hood either. Well, I’d say it’s a pretty benign idolatry. It gives women an opportunity to be involved in positions of authority within the church. It allows men and women to demonstrate their commitment to the faith by how they followed in Jesus’s footsteps. Is praying to our ancestors a sin if they’re with God? If he made us in his image, is there really a difference? Do you really want to criticize a religion that tries to involve women more? It still allows women the freedom to choose submission, they’re is nothing wrong with that, nothing, wrong with that.

Lliam · Answer

Where in the New Testament does it say that Mary was a demon?
You are a believer in some interpretation of the Hebrew Bible written by Talmudic rabbis from Judea before the birth of Christ. They got their ideas and developed their bible while in Babylon. You don't even follow the Gospels of Jesus. Therefore, maybe it's you and your pastor who are are demonic.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

I am a Lutheran and we separated from the Catholic Church in 1517. Ironically, today is Reformation Sunday, when we celebrate the October 31, 1517 posting of the Ninety-five Theses at Wittenberg, Germany. That document announced the 95 reasons for which we were leaving the Catholic church and forming our own church. This idol worship was one of the many reasons announced.

slatyb · Answer

Because you are an ass forcing your beliefs on others at inappropriate times.

Staximus · Answer

Your religious beliefs are not any more valid or more true than anybody else's religious beliefs. Jesus was just another man, not the son of a god. Mary was just another woman who had a baby, not a virgin.

Dargil · Answer

Wut?

Anonymous · Answer

Eh. Try printing a few Mohammed cartoons out and then tell me how offended Catholics get about statues.

Why do catholic peopleget so offended when it comes to statues?

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