Do Catholics pray to and worship Idols, of Mary or Saints

chevyontheriver

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The question is... why don't you do it?
Do what? What is it that you know I do or don't do? This is a Seventh Day Adventist forum so far be it for me to even hint that any Seventh Day Adventist would ever be any less than fully informed about the goings on in the Catholic Church. Far be it for me to even hint that any Seventh Day Adventist would have even an inkling of what others might call bigotry. Not my place to do so where I am a guest or maybe considered an intruder. But I'll be moving on now so no need to ban me.
 
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WindHund

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Not true brother.... we are told to call sin by it's right name and those that are truly seeking after Christ will accept the reproof as any of us should if we were called on a sinful practice. Do you consider it "extra-marital bashing" when someone is reproofed for adultery?

Jesus must have missed that point about reproof when they brought the woman caught in adultery to him. And he spent all his time on the accusers. He should have been calling her on her sin, but seems he just said, "Don't do it anymore!"
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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Jesus must have missed that point about reproof when they brought the woman caught in adultery to him. And he spent all his time on the accusers. He should have been calling her on her sin, but seems he just said, "Don't do it anymore!"

How can a sinner realize they are violating God's Law if they are not made aware of it. The woman that Jesus admonished was already aware of her sin.

Remember, Christ asked the woman who was left there to condemn her... condemnation is very much different than reproofing.
 
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BobRyan

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Ever debate a Muslim imam on whether Christianity is really polytheism?

Ever ask a Hindu if they pray "to the wood" or if they pray "to the being represented by the wood"??

They always say "to the one represented by the wood".

They bow down to -- and serve them. No matter what Ex 20 says not to do.

Can we all agree on that one point regarding the Hindu religion at least?
 
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BobRyan

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I wonder why SDAs care why we pray to saints? You think that we're part of a massive universal conspiracy to enthrone the Anti-Christ and persecute and murder people who go to undecorated houses on Saturday instead of Sunday...

Your church CCC calls it "958 Communion with the dead" -

958
Communion with the dead. "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and 'because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins' she offers her suffrages for them."500 Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

I take them at their word for that.
 
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Aelred of Rievaulx

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Your church CCC calls it "958 Communion with the dead" -

958
Communion with the dead. "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and 'because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins' she offers her suffrages for them."500 Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

I take them at their word for that.
Yes, it's part of the early Christian belief in theosis: God became human so that humans can become God.
 
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Aelred of Rievaulx

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Do you have a source for "so that humans can become God"??
Ireneaus Against Heresies Book 5, Clement of Alexandria Exhortation to the Greeks 1, Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho 124, St Athanasius De Inc 54. This has been the standard Christian Eschatological belief and it's not without biblical justification. St Paul says that in Christ God was in the world bringing the world into himself, he further says that "all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18).
 
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BobRyan

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"God made humans so that humans can become God. A human being is a mini-God"
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times

https://books.google.com/books?id=kJeKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq="so+that+humans+can+become+God"&source=bl&ots=sHmopP8vAa&sig=yeZufzYjqD8KYRLwR5dsW0DXFUA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi14cKp6ZHKAhWKHD4KHUVRBJYQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q="so that humans can become God"&f=false



"It is close to the Asian tradition that states that the body of a human being is a minicosmos. God made humans so that humans can become God"
Living Buddha, Living Christ
https://books.google.com/books?id=1...ved=0ahUKEwi14cKp6ZHKAhWKHD4KHUVRBJYQ6AEINDAI
 
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JackRT

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Ever ask a Hindu if they pray "to the wood" or if they pray "to the being represented by the wood"??

They always say "to the one represented by the wood".

They bow down to -- and serve them. No matter what Ex 20 says not to do.

Can we all agree on that one point regarding the Hindu religion at least?

For most people who take their faith seriously, an icon or image is not an idol. It is a symbol for a concept that lies in the spiritual realm beyond the artistry that created the representation. These people are not fools, do you seriously think they worship a statue or a painting as a deity? Having said this, there are people who in their ignorance and/or extreme piety might indeed raise an icon to the level of an idol. Some protestant Christians do this with the bible itself and become bibliolators and some catholic Christians do this with Mary and become mariolators. In many Christian denominations the use of icons as a focal point for meditation, for prayer or for worship is widespread and very traditional but once again, the icon is an aid to faith not the aim of faith. The accusation that Christians who use icons are idol worshippers to me is both a failure to understand what an icon is and a convenient way to mock and deride an unfamiliar faith tradition.

I have met a number of practicing Hindus and have yet to detect any "idol worship".
 
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BobRyan

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BobRyan said:
Ever ask a Hindu if they pray "to the wood" or if they pray "to the being represented by the wood"??

They always say "to the one represented by the wood".

They bow down to -- and serve them. No matter what Ex 20 says not to do.

Can we all agree on that one point regarding the Hindu religion at least?

For most people who take their faith seriously, an icon or image is not an idol. It is a symbol for a concept that lies in the spiritual realm beyond the artistry that created the representation. These people are not fools, do you seriously think they worship a statue or a painting as a deity?

agreed.

Having said this, there are people who in their ignorance and/or extreme piety might indeed raise an icon to the level of an idol. Some protestant Christians do this with the bible itself and become bibliolators

Please give an example of bibliolatry - so we can know what in the world you are talking about.


I have met a number of practicing Hindus and have yet to detect any "idol worship".

1. That speaks volumes about your view.
2. You appear to equate faithful hindus praying to their idols with Christians doing the same - so long as they are all praying to the beings represented by the idol.
 
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