The worship /bowing to images
Oftentimes, the use of images amongst Catholics have called for lot of debates. Non Catholics term this as worshipping a statue; quoting the famous passage of the Bible “Exodus 20:4 and 5’’.
Exodus 20:4–5
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,
Firstly , looking at bowing to images in Catholicism, this is a form of honour and respect to the personality or identity being represented.
The Bible says we should not bow down to worship any image or idol.
Note the word “bow to worship”, although different versions have it in different ways. The old testament was written in Hebrew. The word “worship” is commonly written as SHACHAH in the Bible,while the word SHACHAH means to bow in hebrew.
There are some words that have different meaning when placed in different context, but that word is best to define such feelings. For example love, love can mean different things depending on the way it’s put.
It’s just the same between worship and bowing. Different people interpreted the Bible and in different perspectives.
The main message should be “not to bow in worship,” according to the way it was originally written in Hebrews. The version I used above explains it well.
For example in Genesis 23:7, Abraham bowed before the Hitites. In the tone of a respectful greetings. In Genesis 33:3 , Jacob bowed to the ground on his knees to his elder brother Esau.
Does this means worship? NO
The way the Yorubas prostate before elder is not also a form of worship.
They do this in honor of the personality the person being greeted carries. That just the same with Catholics.
The images bowed to , shows respect or honor to the personality represented in form of image. The Bible is a book printed with same ink we use in printing our normal books, but what make people treat it with respect , use it to pray , some even put it beside there pillows while sleeping, not because it is more expensive,if you decide to put it in fire ,it would burn like a normal piece of paper but the identity or personality it represents is what we respect.
You might see people doing strange things infront of a statue , do not judge with a term that it’s a worship , it’s just that some people are so fanatic about it. It’s just like saying if you don’t fall during deliverance section you aren’t delivered.
The same way we honour great men in history or our pastors with the use of their portraits, or any of their representation ,we actually refer to their personalities or identity not the physical representation.
