Why do Catholics and Protestants have a Cross if its an idol?

A little girl kneels beside her bed saying her nightly prayers. Is the little girl kneeling to the bed? Is the bed an idol? Of course not, the little girl is kneeling and praying to God.

A family bows their heads and prays over their evening meal. Is the family bowing to their food? Is this food an idol? Of course not, the family is bowing and praying to God.

A mother kneels in prayer before a cross and prays that her son in Afganistan will be safe. Is the mother kneeling to the cross? Is the cross an idol? Of course not, the mother is kneeling and praying to God.

Do you have pictures of your loved ones? Have you ever looked at the picture of someone while talking on the phone to them? Is the picture an idol?

Statues, pictures, and symbols of people we love are not idols.

Statues, pictures, and symbols of Jesus and the saints are just like pictures of the people we love and respect.

The King James Version of the Bible states in Exodus 20:4: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth"

Why were the Jews commanded not to make graven images? Graven images were the standard method of pagan worship. They were representations of false gods.

This is a very clear command.

However God commanded the Jews in Exodus 25:18 and 1 Chronicles 28:18–19, "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them"

And in 1 Kings chapter 7 Solomon made bulls and other images out of precious metals.

It seems obvious that the Jews did not worship the cherubims and Solomon did not worship the bulls he had made. These images did not violate the command of God. Therefore, an image not made for worship is acceptable.

In Numbers 21:8-9, "And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered."

And in John 3:14-15, Jesus says in correlation, "And just as Moses lifted up the [image of a] serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

How can a statue of our Lord Jesus Christ dead on the cross be considered an idol to a false god? A crucifix is the message of the Gospel without words held up for all to see, a visual reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus, no different from a painting, a play, or a movie.

How can a nativity set set up in your house to constantly remind you and teach your children of God's love for us be idolotry?

Catholics do not worship statues but the almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

With love in Christ.

why do other people judge what they clearly do not comprehend?

why do people not follow the words to Love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one for one another.

No Rcc who knows anything about the Rcc has ever worshipped a statue (a in pagan idolatry). If we cherish the memory of political and war hero’s, what more noble a hero than one who died for God. Are they not worth honouring? Statues are simply a reminder a visual aid to the hero’s of God, the Christian faith. If they were not why in Rev 6:9-10 are they under the altar of God asking how long it will be before the will be avenged on earth? They are there, it tells us, watching and waiting. Scripture back up – 1 Per 2:17, Rom 12:10, Heb 12:22-23, Heb 11, 2 Cor 3:18

idols are NOT of God they are of gods. how dare you judge what a person needs to get close to God.

there are so many people within Christianity who use religious dogma and umpteen Bible quotes to ignore the increasingly less-popular maxim "do unto others as they would do unto you", or, more neatly, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1.) Similarly, Luke 6:37 says "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged, condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive and ye shall be forgiven." Or 1 Peter 3:9 says "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."

God bless and enlighten you.

An idol is any creature that is given divine honors. It need not be a figure or representation, and may be a person. In fact, it may be oneself, or some creation of one's own mind or will. An object becomes an idol when it is treated as an end in itself, with no reference to God.

Would you be willing to apply that principle in other biblical situations? Probably not. After all, the apostle John was (however mildly) guilty of idolatry when he fell prostrate and worshipped an angel (Rv 19:9-11). Should we then shun angels? Should we discount John's authority as an apostle? Should we disregard Revelation because it was written by a self-accused idolater?

Of course not.

The fact that some people abuse God's gifts is no reason to reject God's gifts. If an individual Catholic is guilty of worshiping a cross or Mary, that's his sin, not her fault.

Neither the cross nor the crucifix constitutes an "idol".

Deut. 4:15 - from this verse, Protestants say that since we saw "no form" of the Lord, we should not make graven images of Him.

Deut. 4:16 - of course, in early history Israel was forbidden to make images of God because God didn't yet reveal himself visibly "in the form of any figure."

Deut. 4:17-19 - hence, had the Israelites depicted God not yet revealed, they might be tempted to worship Him in the form of a beast, bird, reptile or fish, which was a common error of the times.

Exodus 3:2-3; Dan 7:9; Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32; Acts 2:3- later on, however, we see that God did reveal himself in visible form (as a dove, fire, etc).

Deut. 5:8 - God's commandment "thou shall not make a graven image" is entirely connected to the worship of false gods. God does not prohibit images to be used in worship, but He prohibits the images themselves to be worshiped.

Exodus 25:18-22; 26:1,31 - for example, God commands the making of the image of a golden cherubim. This heavenly image, of course, is not worshiped by the Israelites. Instead, the image disposes their minds to the supernatural and draws them to God.

Num. 21:8-9 - God also commands the making of the bronze serpent. The image of the bronze serpent is not an idol to be worshiped, but an article that lifts the mind to the supernatural.

I Kings 6:23-36; 7:27-39; 8:6-67 - Solomon's temple contains statues of cherubim and images of cherubim, oxen and lions. God did not condemn these images that were used in worship.

2 Kings 18:4 - it was only when the people began to worship the statue did they incur God's wrath, and the king destroyed it. The command prohibiting the use of graven images deals exclusively with the false worship of those images.

1 Chron. 28:18-19 - David gives Solomon the plan for the altar made of refined gold with a golden cherubim images. These images were used in the Jews' most solemn place of worship.

2 Chron. 3:7-14 - the house was lined with gold with elaborate cherubim carved in wood and overlaid with gold.

Ezek. 41:15 - Ezekiel describes graven images in the temple consisting of carved likenesses of cherubim. These are similar to the images of the angels and saints in many Catholic churches.

Col. 1:15 - the only image of God that Catholics worship is Jesus Christ, who is the "image" (Greek "eikon") of the invisible God.

Gee, I could come back at ya and ask you...........

Why do you make the Bible an idol?

A cross is just a symbol

And quit taking Scripture out of content

The Catholic Church does not defy any of God's commandments. Your question reveals an ignorance of the biblical facts.

An idol is an object of worship.

We can have symbolic pointers to God, but they are not worshipped so they are not idols.

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It symbolizes Christ's sacrifice for us and Christ's love for us. We don't worship it (like an idol) we worship the sacrifice it symbolizes and God.

it's not an idol... its a reminder of their christ and his crucifixion.

an idol represents a god.

try resading, it will help.

then why did God command us to make "idols"

why do you think it's an idol?

confusion and misunderstanding causes too many problems. fix your thinking.