Idolatry Grade 12

The First Commandment Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them (Exodus 20:3-5).

The Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566) taught that idolatry is committed "by worshipping idols and images as God, or believing that they possess any divinity or virtue entitling them to our worship, by praying to, or reposing confidence in them" (374).

Does the Catholic Church practice Idolatry? Do you think that religious movies, videos, photographs, and paintings are forms of Idolatry?

God forbids the worship of images as gods, but he doesn’t ban the making of images. (Ex. 25:18–20) (1 Chr. 28:18–19) (Ezekiel 41:17–18) 2130 Nevertheless, already in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word: so it was with the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim. 69

2131 …By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new "economy" of images The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." 70 The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone.

Veneration: a feeling of profound respect for someone or something. Idolatry: From the Greek: worship of a false god. The worship of idols or images that are not God.

The Catholic Encyclopedia explains the difference between veneration of saints and idolatry: The worship of latria or strict adoration, is given to God alone; the worship of dulia, or honour and humble reverence, is paid the saints; the worship of hyperdulia a higher form of dulia, belongs, on account of her greater excellence, to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24) Riches encourage a false independence. Jesus referred to this in Revelations 3:17 Riches can take your attention away from God. (Matthew 6:21) Riches can make you selfish. (Luke 12:16-19)

Does this mean that you have to be poor in order to go to heaven? In Jesus’ time people thought that riches were a sign of righteousness, so they were surprised by this saying. They asked “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25) Jesus replied “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

Richard Gula proposes this question… What is it about being poor, hungry, weeping and rejected that these should be a blessing, whereas those who are rich, filled, happy and praised a curse? He answers, “sin attempts to establish worth on the basis of surrogate loves which we create for ourselves to give us the security of being loveable and acceptable. But when we rest our worth on something besides divine love, we create and idol. Creating surrogate loves is the sin of idolatry.” (Reason Informed by Faith. page 93)

Conclusion Worshipping false idols is prohibited in the first of the 10 commandments, as well as it is condemned by the Catholic Church.