Yes but its also treated as an image of GOD. Like I said he had a physical form, but also he was divine, we misrepresent Christ I think when we draw him or attempt to carve him. I also have said nothing about Catholics worshiping the images.
Let's look at the First Commandment. Exodus 20: 3-5:
"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:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;"
So look at that. We are told not to make a graven image and worship the image. We are
not forbidden to make an image of God! Of course, at the time there was no "likeness" because God does not have a material form. We are told not to
worship an image or likeness. You have taken the Commandment and changed it to a prohibition of an "image of God". But that prohibition is never stated in the First Commandment!
So, we are not serving the "graven image" or even "likeness". No one is "serving" a drawing or carving of Jesus. Some denominations bow in front of it, but we are not bowing
to the image, but to God. We are just happening to do the bowing
in front of the image. We can bow to God anywhere.
Now let's look at
Deuteronomy 4. But let's do the entire relevant quote, which is 15-19
15 “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that [is] in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. "
Again, the emphasis is on worshipping and serving. It's another way of saying what was said in Exodus (and there is another version in Leviticus). The passage doesn't want you worshipping an image. The emphasis is still on animals, planets, stars, etc., and images of humans is not mentioned. Hmmmm.
As the passage says, at the time God had revealed "no form". Again, remember, this was long before Jesus was born and you cannot retrodict Jesus into this. The passage cannot refer to Trinity because no one knew about Trinity. So the passage cannot refer to likenesses of Jesus because you say, based on knowledge the people did not have, that Jesus is God via Trinity. That is taking the passage out of its historical context to make it mean something it does not.
You didn't specifically mention Catholics, but it wasn't difficult to see where you are going with this. Catholics and the OCC are the major denominations where there are paintings/carvings of Jesus in church. Protestant churches have a cross, but not a carving of Jesus on the cross. Altho many Protestant churches (especially the older ones) have stained glass windows with pictures of Jesus in them.
Also remember that this was written long before Jesus was born. When God is speaking of "likeness" He is speaking of "anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth". This means images of animals, stars, planets, fish, etc. As I noted above, we are not forbidden to make an "image of God". In fact, according to Genesis 1, there are lots of "images of God" around: us! Would you ban pictures of every human being because we are created "in the image" of God?
