About Catholics and Statues

Paraclete,
Yes I am familiar with that passage, but it DOES NOT apply to what The Church believes of does.
My eyes were open many years ago when I started studying The Church and later left Protestantism to become a member of The Church for I DID find there the truth and not hate and bigotry as I formerly had been exposed to.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

You see Fred, I don't know of any instance where Scriputure doesn't apply to what the Church believes, but apparently you do.
So I have to ask;
What Gospel do they preach where you live?
Did Jesus die to redeem us?
Perhaps someoneelse is capable of saving us?

Paraclete,
To answer your questions....
The Catholic Church teaches the gospels found in the Holy Bible that The Church originally put together as inspired by the Holy Spirit and provided same for the world.
Jesus was born, lived, taught by word and deed, died and rose from the dead to save us.
We are saved by the grace of the triune God.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

[quote=paraclete;1947511 I would have thought praying to a saint in front of a statue wold constitute worship[/QUOTE]

Then you would be wrong. This is the problem with coming off half-cocked without having educated oneself about the matter: One tends to fall prey to all sorts of shallow mistakes because one hasn't taken the time to inform oneself.

Christians have always distinguished between worship and veneration. Worship (proskunesis, in Greek) is reserved for God alone. Catholics don't worship saints; Catholics venerate saints. Veneration is, in fact, a very good thing. Catholics worship only the Holy Trinity.

The corpus on a crucifix is there as a bulwark against docetism--that heretical view which holds that Christ wasn't really fully human. It is there to remind us that Christ really did become human and really did suffer and die for us. An empty cross--a cross without a corpus or figure of Christ--doesn't signify anything uniquely Christian since many thousands of people were crucified by the Romans. It isn't the cross that we worship, nor is it the cross that saves; it is the man-God upon the cross we wish to call to mind. Yes?

Statues and icons are placed in churches as a reminder that we are part of the communion of saints, participants in the divine liturgy alongside all those who have worshiped God and served him throughout the ages. These matters have been the subject of theological discussion since the very beginning of Christianity. Interestingly, the sort of iconoclasm you appear to advocate isn't itself Christian in origin: It has it's origins in Islam and was imported into certain strands of Christianity after the rise of Islam in the Middle East.

If you are unable to tell the difference between veneration and worship, then I suggest that the problem is yours, not Catholics'. Millions of Catholic and Orthodox Christians have had no trouble with it at all for two thousand years.

Akoue,
For about 30 years I did have trouble with worship vs veneration of statues. But when I started studying Catholicism it was one of the first things I learned to know the difference.
Then veneration of saints such as Mary, Peter, James and John rather than worship came next.
My road to Rome was rough and rocky at times, particularly from the fact that I was raised Luther in a very Lutheran family.
But I did find that the more I learned about the truth of Catholicism vs what I had been formerly taught was very must a marvelous spiritual journey.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

All roads to spiritual truth are rough and rocky at times. I'm glad you found the road that works for you. We're all seekers and, as the good book says, "...there are many mansions in my Father's house".

Fred:

I was raised Catholic and reintegrated, so to speak, in a fighting hole after a short falling-out; then I settled in the land of the Southern Baptist. To survive, I learned to rely on our 2,000 years of Catholic history for answers for the ‘once saved always saved’ crowd. This may be the reason for my ‘in-your-face’ manner.

I’ve been told by Protestant converts that the single most difficult hurdle is the adoration of Mary – I never understood why. Since you’re a convert, can you shed any light? These same converts also tell me that statues and the Crucifixes seem ‘different’ but easily understood. Consequently, the objection over the veneration of statues by non-Catholics seems to be simple demagoguery. More to the point, the argument seems to be used to validate pigeonholing Catholics as pagans or some ‘sub-Christian’ group, not sophisticated. Do you get the same impressions? Your insight would be valued and appreciated.

JoeT

JoeT,
Yes I do get the same impressions from some.
I did not have much trouble with the veneration of Mary once I understood the communion of saints and veneration of our saintly brothers and sisters who have gone before us.
One of my digest hurdles to get over was brothers and sisters of Jesus and that Mary was NOT ever virgin.
For a long time. Even after I became a Catholic I had the attitude that if He did have them as blood siblings it made no difference to me; Jesus was still my Lord and savior.
I grew from that to accepting that maybe Joseph did have children by a former wife.
And I needed to grow in understanding from that.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

Hmm, you gave some point there Akoue. Would you mind explaining further about veneration and worship? I mean, like showing how they really differ in the way they are carried out.

Thanks, the discussion is very interesting!

And to fall back, one also looks at the Orthodox Church, which I often do in questions like this. We know there was one basic church till the East and West separated @ 1000 AD. So by looking at the things the two churches share in common we see tradition and teachings that are not as much "church" but practice from this eariler time. The use of symbols and other icons are very common and one only has to enter a Orthodox Church to find that a Catholic church has very few compared to the Eastern practice.