Question: I used to be a Roman Catholic, but started reading the Bible and it was the 10 Commandments that grabbed my attention the most. Don't get me wrong, as a child in Catholic school, I was taught the 10 Commandments, but it wasn't until I was a young adult I came across them again and it struck me profoundly. The fact that God says He is a jealous God and no to have any other before Him, and to make no graven images, really got my attention. It is this topic that really got me thinking and evaluating the Catholic Church and eventually I could no longer remain and raise my children in the Roman Catholic Church. So I was wondering if you had anything on this topic.

Answer: At the catechism lessons, I was also taught the 10 commandments:

"I am the Lord your God:
1. You shall not have strange Gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain...."

You can imagine my surprise when I read the commandments directly from the Bible and found there was another commandment I had never heard before:

"I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
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: 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 shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain..." (Exodus 20:2-7).

Why was I never told about this commandment against graven images? Was it perhaps because it is the Catholic practice to make, and bow down and serve statues as I was used to see and practice myself?

The meaning of this commandment is simple enough for anyone to understand. God forbids the making of religious images to be used in worship. I asked my religion teacher about this and in essence he told me that the commandment forbids pagan idolatry, the making of images of false gods, and not the representation of our Lord, Mary and the saints.

That God forbids us to bow before an idol of Zeus or Baal is quite obvious. However, it does not follow that we can burn incense and light up candles and bow down before a statue of the true and living God. There is a beautiful church dedicated to the Trinity down the street where I live in Malta. And sure enough in this church there is a statue of the Trinity, which is worshipped by the people.

Does God allow such practice? He Himself asks: "To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" (Isaiah 40:18).

The people of Israel had no intention of making an image representing any pagan deity when they came out of Egypt. Their intention was to make an image representing Jehovah, their God. "And he (Aaron) took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and make it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD" (Exodus 32:4,5).

In spite of their intentions to honour their God with the golden image, the Israelites kindled the wrath of God against them. I do not question the intentions of my Catholic friends, but they should stop and ask themselves whether they are repeating the same mistake that the Israelites had made.

The Israelites were ever so prone to idolatry, and during the Old Testament, the Lord repeatedly warned them against this practice. They learned their lesson and by the time of Christ, the Jews had completely abolished idolatry. Similarly in the apostolic and early church, the Christians neither made graven images nor honoured or prayed before them. As late as 753 AD a church council which met near Chalcedon condemned the use of images in worship as being 'idolatrous and heretical, a temptation to the faith that originated with the devil." Similarly Pope Gregory III condemned the use of images in worship and Pope Constantine V (elected 740) condemned the use of images of Christ as heretical because only Christ's human nature could be depicted.

God calls us to repentance and to return to the original form of worship that He instituted. Images appeal to our flesh, but as Christians, we are called to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our Lord summarized the elements of genuine worship: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him" (John 4:23). Our worship must be spiritual rather than material. Truth is found in the teaching of the Bible rather than in the imagination of sculptors.

For more information about images please read the following: "The Second Commandment" by Thomas Watson http://members.aol.com/twarren19/second.html