Berean Beacon's article:
http://www.bereanbeacon.org/articles/sorted/04_Idolatry_and_the_Gospel/Idolatry_in_the_Church.pdf
Graven images... statues... paintings... drawings... to represent God or Jesus amount to
idolatry. That is Mr Bennett's belief. Mr Bennett and his co-author interpret Deut 4:14-16 to strictly proscribe any man-made image of God. I suppose this is the first link in their chain of logic used to condemn that Catholic practice of using images and statues, etc. in the worship of God and in the prayer life of individual Catholics. But if you read Deuteronomy 4:14-16 in context (read the whole chapter 4 and Chapter 5 also) you will see that it is referring to creating idols in order to worship them as God or a god, as opposed to worshipping God. It does not prohibit representations of God in an absolute sense.
Catholics use objects, sometimes objects which represent God the Father or God the Son or God the Holy Spirit, to enhance their worship of God Almighty. The object is not the target of prayer and adoration, but a tool to aid the person's focus of heart and mind and
spirit upon God. For us children of God, images do not "confuse the distinction between
God and His created world" because the Spirit within us recognizes Him and gives Him all
glory and honor.
Berean Beacon article states "Our knowledge of Jesus Christ must be formed from the truths in Scripture...". I agree so far. But I suggest that Berean Beacon's first error in their position on this is in their misinterpretation of Scripture. Refer to the links below.
It continues "...and not by subjective impressions of artistic interpretation." I suggest that the eye of the beholder is what determines what is represented by any artistic human creation. Obviously, a portrait of Jesus by Norman Rockwell would be interpreted to be Jesus but an impressionist's image of Jesus would not be interpreted as such by most people. So, is it then an "image of God"? To me, two perpendicular intersecting line segments represents Christ. It would then be considered an "image of God". Likewise with the fish symbol. (I do give credit to the Berean Beacon, however, for consistency in that they do not have any such or other "symbols of God" on their web site.)
By this statement the article means images shouldn't be used to convey the Gospel message whereas only Scripture should be. However, most, if not all, religious images depict an
event or message or person from Scripture. Like Scripture, an image is open to be
interpreted rightly or wrongly by the viewer. The Spirit can guide our interpretation of
images as well as Scripture. Knowledge of Jesus can be enhanced by implementing images to aid one's memory.
Something to remember is that the use of images or statues or relics is not a required
practice (Excepting, of course, when it comes to the adoration of the eucharistic bread
and wine which appear to be mere bread and wine but are really the body and blood of God incarnate, Jesus Christ). Any Catholic is at liberty to use them or not. If you already have good mental and spiritual focus and can raise your heart and soul up to the Lord without such tools, that's great, more power to ya! If a person thinks that they might be worshipping an object in using an image then he should simply not use it. As for
myself, I like to have a crucifix or two in my home. For my morning prayer the one in the
living room serves to help focus my sleepy brain on Him, and what He did for me, as I
start the day.
More information to consider:
Here's a summary of Scripture passages...
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/sacramentals.html
Catholic Encyclopedia on "Veneration of Images"...
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07664a.htm
"Statues in Church" by David MacDonald, a Catholic Convert...
http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/statues_in_church.htm
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