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This comes up for me when talking to others who believe it is idolotry. I'm at a loss as to what to say. Any help?

Tell them to read their Bible.

Not only the obvious passages where God not only allows, but actually commands the use of religious images (such as the Cherubim on top of the Ark of the Covenant), but also the deeper ones, like when St. Paul teaches that Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

It Jesus is visible, then God is making a point about seeing.

Shalom,
Memo

Thanks Rodriguez. That helps. I need to find the specific scriptures and remember where they are as this comes up often to me.
My thought was along the lines that Earth worshipers often own crystals and semi precious stones in thier homes. They often have a house full of plants too. I don't see them worshiping the pretty stones or the plants.
Christ worshipers have bibles, statues and icons. All these things remind one of Christ, but Christians should know the differance.

Richard,

God is wonderful in His Saints!

There is an article in the New Sophia magazine (publicaiton of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton) about Icons. Article discusses this matter and gives a Biblical exposition.

Since it is finals week, I am swamped. However, Wednesday or Thursday I will attempt mto re-print the article for you here. This will not be a problem because Sophia waves any copyright priveledges.

I am not sure if you are asking one or 2 questions:
1) How can Christians prove from the Bible that icons are not idols and are therefore permitted?
2) I am not sure if you are also asking a secind question justifying the veneration of icons as icons and not idols. Please clarify this second point.

As the the first question:
Let me see if what you are asking is if the Second Commandment forbids the making of images of religious people or of events from the Bible or Church history? Does it forbid the veneration of images as practised in the Eastern Orthodox Church? I think the Bible itself shows that the Second Commandment does not prohibit the making of images, only of idols.

How can we prove this by the Buble? For example, in Exodus 25: 17-22 we read that God himself commanded that images of the cherubim should cover the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. In Exodus 26:1 God commands that other images be used for decorating the Tabernacle. In the description of Solomon�s Temple in 1 Kings 7: 28-29, and verse 36 we find other examples of images used.

So what does the Second Commandment forbid exactly? It prohibits the making of �graven images� for the purpose of idol worship. The Hebrew word used refers to something carved or chiseled. As we know from history, the peoples of Canaan at the time of Moses worshipped their own gods carved out of wood or stone. The Bible refers to these carvings as idols, and it was idolatry that the Second Commandment warned against, that is the worship of false gods.

In the 20th century, archeological evidence has brought to light that the ancient Jews pictorial art in their synagogues. It was previously assumed that the Jews did not have pictorial art. In 1921 the site of the ancient city Dura Europos (now Salahiyeh in South-Eastern Syria)was discovered and the following year excavations began to uncover houses of worship with extensive pictorial religious art dating back to the mid 3rd century AD. However, most surprising was the discovery of a Jewish synagogue with 30 wall paintings in three bands or rows of Old Testament scenes.
For these pictures see this web site: http://www.philthompson.net/pages/icons/duraeuropos.html
Thus, this unique discovery supports the thesis that early Christian art was influenced by contemporary Jewish art in addition to Hellenic secular art. Christian art was not a complete break with the past but a continuation and development of art found inthe synogogues.

The follwing is an article from Sophia: The Journal of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton. Disclaimer: The publisher waives all copyright to this issue. Contents may be distributed free and without special permission in publications that are distributed free. Whenever possible, please include a credit line, indicating the name of Sophia magazine.

"You shall not make for yourself a Graven Image"
by Sebastian Carnazzo


On September 14th we celebrate the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross. On October 15th, we commemorate the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumencial Council. I point out these dates because of their relationship to the topic at hand. In our liturgical celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross, it is customary to show some reverence or honor to an image of the Cross. In our commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, we remember their great efforts and declarations which preserved the making and use of holy images in the Church. In the words of the Council:

"We therefore...define with all certitude and accuracy that just as the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, so also the venerable and holy images, as well in painting and mosaic as of other fit materials, should be set forth in the holy churched of God, and on sacred vessels and on vestments and on hangings and in pictures both in houses and by the wayside, to wit, the figure of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, of our spotless Lady, the Mother of God, of the honorable Angels, of all Saints and of all pious people. For by somuch more readily are men lifted up to the memory of thier prototypes, and to a longing after them; and to these should be given due salutation and honorable reverence not indeed that true worship of faith which pertains alone to the divine nature...but...according to the ancient and pious custom."[1]

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The Seventh Ecumencial Council made this declaration in AD 787, against the heresy of Iconoclasm, a heresy which had labeled the making and use of religious imagery in the Church as idolatry. Anyone who continued to hold to this heresy in opposition to the Council was declared anathema (Greek word meaning 'accursed', cf. Gal 1:8-9).[2] The council condemned the heresy of iconoclasm on the grounds that it contradicted the Orthodox and Apostolic Faith. For th Church had used sacred images in both its liturgical life and catechesis from the earliest days. And although the declaration of the venerable Council officially ended the problem for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the heresy lives on even today, primarily in the West.
It is found implicitly in the architecture and decor and explicitly in the doctrine of the vast majority of Protestant denomination. These groups teach that the making and use of religious imagery, such as statues and icons, is forbiddden by the Bible. The passage they most commonly cite is from the Ten Commandments given through Moses at Sinai:
"You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them..."(Exod 20:4-5)[3]
When this passage is read out of context, it can appear that the Protestant position has some support and that the Bible really does condemn the making and use of religious imagery. However, if one reads the passage in it original context, the meaning appears to be very different.
"And God spoke all these words, saying 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven 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 and serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God..."(Exod 20:1-6)

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In context, one can see that the commandment does not condemn the making of a graven image as such ("graven" simply means 'fashioned by hand'), but the making of an image to be worshiped as a god.
This is made clear by a careful reading of the statements in the immediate context of the passage in question: "I am the Lord your God...You shall have no other gods before me...for I the Lord your God am a Jealous God... Later on in same chapter, God repeated his commandment in one succinct statement, "You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold." (Exod 20:23) Therefore the passage, usually quoted by Protestants and often out of context, does not condemn the making and use of religious imagery, but rather idolatry, that is the making and use of an image of a created thing to bow down and worship it as a god.
An examination of the broader context within the book of Exodus further supports this conclusion, since there are a number of passasges where God actually commands that religious imagery be made. For example, just a few chapters later, God began to describe to Moses how to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Sanctuary which would be God's dwelling place among Israel:
"They shall make and ark or acacia wood; two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold...Then you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on two ends of the mercy seat. Make one a cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end...The cherubim shall spread out thier wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat...And you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel." (Exod 25:10-22)

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In this passage God told Moses to make an ark (a box about the dimensions of a bath tub) out of wood and to cover it with gold. Then he was to put two cherubim (a type of winged angel) on the lid at either end, facing each other, wings out-spread, and touching in the middle. In this box, Moses was to place the Ten Commandments, and above this box God would sit enthroned on the outstreched wings of the graven images of golden angels (cf. 1 Sam 4:4; Ps 99:1, etc.), and from there speak to Moses about all of his commandments to Israel. Continuing on in the book of Exodus, one finds that from chapter 25 to the end of the book, the majority of the text is spent describing how God wants Moses to build the Sanctuary, and how he is to cover it with images of cherubim, palm trees, flowers, and fruits (cf. Exod 25: 31-40; 26:1,30-31; 28:31-34), all according to God's command (cf. Exod 25:40; 26:30; 27:8; 39:43; 40:33-38).
As one can see, God did not condemn the making or use of religious imagery; on the contrary, he actually commanded it for his most holy Sanctuary where he would dwell among Israel. Similar imagery appears later in the Old Testament, when Solomon built the Temple:
"So Solomon built the house, and finished it. He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar...The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers...The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD...In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high...He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house; and the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures if cherubim and palm trees and open flowers...He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees." (1 Kings 6:14-32)

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Like Moses before him, Solomon was appointed to build a place for God to dwell among His people. And like the Sanctuary Moses was commanded to build, Solomon built the Temple on accordance with the pattern he had been shown by God ( 1 Chron 28:18-19; Wis. 9:8; cf. Exod 25:40). In the inner sacntuary of the Temple, Solomon put the Ark which Moses had built, and at the entrance he put two 15-foot statues of cherubim to guard the way (1 cubit=1 1/2 feet). The Temple's inner sanctuary was covered in gold and the rest of the Temple walls were lined in cedar and carved with images of cherubim, open flowers, gourds, palm trees, lilies, and lions (cf. 1 Kings 6:33-35; 7:28, 36). Twelve life-sized statues of oxen supported a 10,000 gallon bath for liturgical washing (cf. 1 Kings 7:25-26). Hundreds and hundreds of golden pomegranates (a type of fruit) hanging from lengths upon lengths of golden chains draped from every pillar (cf. 1 Kg 7:15-22, 42). What Moses had made for ease of travel through the wilderness, Solomon had made for permenance in Jerusalem. As with the sanctuary built by Moses, Solomon's Temple contained numerous examples of God's command to make and use religious imagery for both catechetical decoration and liturgical function.
As a final example, the reader is reminded of an episode of Israel's wandering in the wilderness after having left Sinai. When after having murmured against God and Moses, they were stricken by deadly serpents:
"And the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live." (Num 21:8-9; cf. 2 Kings 18:4) [4]
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In addition to commanding graven images to be made and used for catechetical decoration and liturgical function, here one can see how God commanded a graven image to be made as a medium through which he would save his people.
Therefore, the common Protestant claim that the Ten Commandments condemn the making and use of graven religious imagery is clearly refuted, not only in the immediate context as already addressed, but by numerous other passages in the Bible, as the above examples demonstrate. God did not condemn the making and use of religious imagery in the Ten Commandments, but rather the sin of idolatry. Idolatry is the act of making or using an image to be worshiped as a god. One can see the difference by an examination of the following well known biblical accounts of idolatry:
"When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, 'Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him'...And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and make a molten calf; and they said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" (Exod 32:1-4)
Notice what is at issue here. It is not the fact that Israel decided to make an image of a calf, Solomon had made twevle life-sized statues of oxen to be used in the Temple he built (cf. 1 Kings 7:25-26), rather the issue here is the making of an image of a calf to be worshiped as a god.
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Another example of idolatry appears in book of Daniel, when King Nebuchadnezzar built a 90-foot tall golden image. He then commanded all in his kingdom to come and worship it as a god. When Nebuchadnezzar heard that certain Jews living in his kingdom refused, he called them before him and said:
"Is it time, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you are ready...to fall down and worship the image which I have made, well and good; but if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace; and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?' Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods ro worship the golden image which you have set up." (Dan 3:1-18)
Here again, notice that the problem is not that Nebuchadnezzar built a large golden statue, indeed Solomon had built two 15-foot golden statues of cherubim in the Temple (cf. 1 Kings 6:23), rather the issue here is that Nebuchadnezzar had built his statue to be worshiped as a god.
So we see how Protestantism's erroneous interpretation of God's teaching regarding graven images in the Ten Commandments, is not only contradicted by a careful examination of the immediate context, but also in numerous examples throughout the rest of Sacred Scripture. Let us recall the golden cherubim on top of the Ark of the Covenant, whose wings formed the very throne of God upon the earth, the two 15-foot golden cherubim who guarded the way into the Temple's sanctuary, the twelve life-sized statues of oxen which supported the bath of purity in the Temple, the cherubim, lions, palm trees, gourds, pomegranates, and open flowers that decorated the Temple, and the bronze serpent, fashioned that the people of God might live.
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Thus it is obvious from even the 'Bible alone', that God did not condemn the making of religious imagery in the Ten Commandments, but rather the sin of idolatry. And so while we renounce the idolatrous making of a graven image to be worshiped as a god, we also uphold the ancient and honorable practice of making and use of religious imagery in the Church, since as the Council Fathers taught: "For by so much more frequently as they are seen in artistic representation, by so much more readily are men lifted up to the memory of thier prototypes, and to a longing after them..." Therefore, let us proclaim with the great and venerable Fathers of that most blessed and glorious Council concerning the Iconoclasts of the past and their modern adherents today among the Protestants: "they have failed to distinguish between holy and profane, styling the images of our Lord and of his Saints by the same name as the statues of diabolical idols...Anathema to them who presume to apply to the venerable images the things said in Holy Scripture about idols." Anathema, Anathema, Anathema! [5]

Sebastian Carnazzo is a member of Holy Transfiguration Melkite Catholic Church in McLean, VA. He teaches fulltime at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary of the Fraternity of St. Peter as Professor of Sacred Scritpture and Biblical Languages, as well as various other teaching engagements for other institutions, such as Norte Dame Graduate School of Christendom College, Catholic Distance University, and St. Gregory Melkite Catholic Seminary.