Do you worship carved images?

Written by Zhey Chua |Posted on March 19, 2008 | Comments

The other night, I was doing my usual Bible reading when verses 4 to 6 of Exodus 20 hit me like an avalanche. It said:
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Memories of my Catholic days came back to me in a flash. I remembered those days I’d kneel and bow my head in fervent prayer in front of the statue of the Santo Nino, the Virgin Mary and the crucifix – these are all CARVED IMAGES! Thoughts of those Sundays I’d fall in line at the Our Lady of Manaoag church in Pangasinan, notwithstanding the heat, the long lines, the hours of waiting, thinking all along that it will be all worth it once I get to touch at least the hem of the statue’s dress. Pictures of me kissing the Santo Nino placed atop the dresser in my mother’s room, making the sign of the cross each time I’d pass by the hall where the Cristo Rey is located, placing flowers at the foot of the image of the Virgin Mary — the list is endless! The memories came to me like still photos of days gone by, one image after another, one memory after another, some in black and white, some in colors, but all too vivid and too stark, too real, too IDOLATROUS!

Looking at just verse 4 of Exodus Chapter 20 made me see the folly that I had been. And the folly that so many people around us still are to this day. I remember how I used to defend myself whenever I was being asked why I kiss those images, I was always quick to say that those are “images” – mere representatives of the saints and Christ and the virgin mother.
I don’t know if other Catholics defend their actions the way I did, but the Scripture is clear, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above…” There are no if’s and no but’s…

———
Exodus 20:1-18 is also known as The Ten Commandments. If we fail to abide by the simple commandment that is “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above…”, then it is easy to surmise that we also fail to abide by the first commandment which is “You shall have no other gods before me”. Isn’t it scary how we twist and misinterpret God’s words according to what is convenient to us? If there is one thing I learned in Christianity, it is that God’s standards will never change, it will always remain the same stiff standard that He has set from Day One. And we, as human beings, have no right whatsoever to change the rules set forth.