Christians: If God didn't want you worshipping anyone but him?

You are correct, it is idolatry. But the answer is not so simple and you should understand what led to this situation. It should also be said that Catholicism works very well for a vast number of people. Do not discount this out of hand and be too quick to judge them, To understand the answer you have to go back to the creation of the Bible as we know it. A more pertinent question is, can you trust what is in the Bible? Do we know who selected what was to be put into the Bible and under what circumstances?

The bible as we know it was ordered by the Roman Emperor Constantine who was a Pagan (worshiped the Greek Gods) until he converted to Christianity while on his death bed. His objectives were to create one religion for his country. Peace and stability through control were his main objectives. He tasked the council to decide what the religion would look like and which books should be in the Bible. A power struggle occurred primarily between the Manichaeism Gnostics (knowledge of God), the Christians from Egypt and the Roman (Italian) Catholics. The Roman (Italian) Catholics won out and incorporated multiple religions, pagan religions included into their doctrine. The following taken from a Wikipedia article should make the situation a little clearer:

After the Constantinian shift, when other Christians accepted the emperor as a leader in the Church, the Donatists continued to see the emperor as the devil. After several attempts to bring reconciliation, in 317 Constantine issued a severe edict that threatened the death penalty to anyone who disturbed the peace of the empire,

You might want to look at the Bible Thomas Jefferson wrote. It is enlightening. You are not alone in your questioning. Wars in Ireland between the Protestants and the Catholics have been fought over the question you just asked. People have been burned at the stake for making the statement I have just made. Thank God we live in America.

You might want to look into the form of Christianity that was literally put to death by the Catholic Church and that is Gnosticism. Some of the beliefs of the Gnostics (you will hear all kinds of derogatory things) is that:

1. We are all Devinne and God dwells within us. It is though us that God experiences the world. Literally what we do to ourselves or others we do unto others and ourselves because we are all part of one soul. That soul is God. He is the God, the father, the son and us. We are his children just as Christ was his son.

2. Christ was necessary to tell the world that we had it wrong once again. We was present here on earth to teach us how to live and how to know God.

3. Prayer is the method that one communicates with God. One does not need an intermediary to talk with God nor do we need to sprinkle water on statutes or cut the heads off of chickens to receive forgiveness or his blessing.

Final thought, people strap bombs on their chests and blow others up solely because of how they think. Empires have used religion and the fear of excommunication to control the masses. The situation has not changed much and I urge you to be cautious in your dealings with others. Respect their religion and do not be too quick to take what may be their anchor to sanity in this crazy world. Also give credit where credit is due; organized religion has done a tremendous service for mankind.

Yes and we keep on saying g that there idols are just that. Worship of god and only God should and soon will become the norm for all humanity, in or out of the church realms.

Worship God and totally alone as is the requirement today and try to couple the heart with the mind and focus at the Ajna centre between the eyebrows for best effect. Then perhaps the magic will occur, and then perhaps the Holy Spirit will attend to your needs. as in the atonement. Ref...a course in miracles dated 1977 AD. as from Jesus.

Catholics do NOT worship Mary. We venerate her as mother of God. Its really no different in principle to showing respect and devotion to say, the national flag. By saluting the flag are you worshipping it? Of course not. Well, in the same way by showing respect and devotion to Mary we are not worshipping her. Mary is not considered divine in Catholic theology and therefore is not worthy of worship.

Christians don't worship Mary, but rather Catholics do.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5

John 14:6

"No one comes to the Father except through me."

Catholics worship mother Mary but they are not supposed to do so.

No it's not. If you keep a photo of someone does that mean you idol worship them? Keeping a photo or statue just reminds you of them, and if you love them you will ask them to pray for you.

Hi

1. God gives us free will. That means people can choose to worship other things.

2. Catholics don't worship Mary - they get excommunicated for that. (I'm not Catholic BTW)

:-)

we don't worship the virgin Mary or the Saints.

We ask them to intercede for us in Heaven to Christ.

@god is my salvation: protestants and orthodox also have statues and/or crosses and/or altars.

do you worship them? well neither do the others that have them, unlike Hindus (nothing against Hindu people) that really do venerate idols. Catholics are Christians my brother, do you see my trying to say you aren't christian? Come on, let's not fight, let's focus on our common Love of God and salvation through Christ. I feel for you man, bear with me.

Catholic have statues of Mary and other historical figures in their churches and they have special prayers to each of them and praying is worshiping. An example is their prayer beads which have 10 prayers to Mary to every 1 prayer to God and usually have additional prayers to Mary like the Hail Holy Queen. The Catholic religion is founded on Peter not Jesus and that is the initial problem with all of Catholic doctrine.

@Tau "We ask them to intercede for us in Heaven to our Father."

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5

The only one who can intercede on behalf of man is Christ Jesus

only catholics have statues of mary not christians