Catholics and Images: Response to Jeff Williams, MBBC

In his Bible Answers column in the Blenheim Sun newspaper, May 11, 2011, Marlborough Bible Baptist Church pastor, Jeff Williams, writes:

“When Catholicism says it is okay to erect images in the church building and to venerate and adore these images which includes bowing before them while the Bible specifically condemns all of this (Exod 20:4-5), guess who is wrong.”

The answer is: Jeff Williams is wrong.  Jeff’s columns are often filled with simplistic, idiosyncratic interpretations of the Bible: too many to bother responding every time.  But when he writes such arrant nonsense about fellow Christians, a response must be made.

Firstly, the Bible nowhere says that it is wrong to erect images in a church building.  On the contrary, the Bible records God requesting just that.  Since Jeff uses an Old Testament reference as his text, we shall do the same.  God asks Moses to fashion images of two cherubim and put them at each end of the mercy seat, upon the ark of the covenant (Ex 25:18-19).  This was then placed in the tabernacle of the Israelites’ tent of meeting, the equivalent of a church for them (Ex 40:2-3).  Images of cherubim were also worked into the cloth that formed the walls of the tent of meeting (Ex 26:1).

Later, God commanded Moses to make an image of a serpent out of bronze so that when the Israelites were bitten by poisonous snakes they could look upon the image and be healed (Num 21:8-9).

Later still, Solomon built a temple for God’s dwelling.  He constructed cherubim to spread their wings over the sanctuary (1 Kings 6:23-28).  The walls and doors were also decorated with cherubim (1 Kings 6:29-32).  Images of lions and oxen featured in the sanctuary (1 Kings 7:29).  God indicated his pleasure with all of this by consecrating the temple (1 Kings 9:3).

So God is quite happy with images, especially in places of worship.

Secondly, Catholics do not adore images.  Catholics adore only God, in the persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Our adoration acknowledges him as God, as Creator and Saviour, as Lord and Master of everything that exists.  It is only fitting that we bow in respect and submission, since we would not even exist were it not for him.  We adore God for his own sake, whether we happen to be in front of a symbol of him (e.g., a cross, a crucifix, or a candle - representative of Jesus being the light of the world – John 8:12), an awe-inspiring element of his creation (e.g., a sunrise, a mountain top, or a thunderstorm), or simply in the darkness of our bedroom at night.

Thirdly, the honour Catholics pay to sacred images is “respectful veneration”, not the adoration due to God alone.  By venerating an image, we are venerating the person portrayed in it.  Unlike Jeff, it seems, we can see beyond the paint or the plaster to the reality it represents.  Our thoughts, prayers and actions toward the image do not terminate there as if it were an idol, but soar beyond to that whose image it is.  We venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary, and other heroes of our faith, including the saints and angels.  In venerating them, we cherish the memory of them, we thank God for them, and we ask them to pray for us (as we ask our friends on earth as well).

Images and statues assist us in ordering our minds towards God and heavenly things.  We love having them around; they are reminders and focuses for our thoughts, much in the same way as we keep photos of our family in our homes and wallets, and have statues of Queen Victoria, Robbie Burns, Edmund Hillary, etc., in our parks and gardens.  Our churches, homes and towns would be drab places without images.

Finally, there is one sense in which all Christians (including Jeff, I hope) adore an image:  St Paul calls Christ “the image (= icon, Greek ikonos) of the invisible God” (1 Cor 1:15).  I hope Jeff has the humility and respect to bow, as we Catholics do.