This article was first published in Christianity Magazine
Getting It Straight
By Dwight Longenecker
There's still alot of misunderstanding between Christians
of different traditions. In this series Dwight Longenecker wrestles
with some notorious clash points between Catholicism and Evangelicalism.
I was brought
up in an independent Bible church in the USA, so my first visit
to a Catholic church
was a big culture
shock, and it confirmed everything I was told about Catholics.
There were racks of candles guttering away in front of statues.
There were images of Jesus on the cross, Jesus with his heart
on the outside, Mary with baby Jesus, and lots of statues of
nuns and monks and priests in various holy poses. Not only that--
I saw people praying in front of the statues, then lighting candles
and putting money into little boxes. "So it
was true! Catholics
do worship idols!",
I thought.
It was an easy mistake to make. I'd been told that Catholics
worship idols by my Christian teachers, and what I saw in the
church seemed to click. The same thing might happen if a Catholic
kid were told that Protestants worshipped the Bible. Then when
he went into an Evangelical church he saw the big pulpit as the
central feature and heard a forty-five minute Bible sermon. He'd
conclude that his teachers were right and Evangelicals really
DID worship the Bible. Prejudices are powerful because they seem
like the truth, but both prejudices
are equally off the mark. Just like an Evangelical would
be partly amused and partly offended to think anyone might suspect
him of worshipping the Bible, so a Catholic is partly amused
and partly offended if anyone thinks he worships statues instead
of God.
Just like there are some pretty wild examples of Evangelicalism
out there, there are also some pretty extreme forms of Catholic
devotion, and maybe the Evangelical's gut reaction is understandable.
When he sees Catholics carrying an image of Mary in a procession
it seems like they are breaking the second commandment: 'Thou
shalt not make any graven image.' But the second commandment
is linked with the first commandment--'You shall have no other
God.' So the prohibition against making an image just means we're
not supposed to make
images of God. It couldn't have been a ban on all images
because God later told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent
on a staff for the people to look to for salvation. (Num.21.8)
Then when he gave instructions for the tabernacle God told Moses
to weave images of angels into the curtains,(Ex.26.1) and to
fashion two golden cherubim to be placed on the lid of the Ark
of the Covenant. (Ex.25.18)
The fuss over whether Christians should use images in worship
goes back a long way. From the beginning Christians had used
religious paintings and statues in their worship. You can find
mosaics and paintings of Jesus and the saints in catacombs and
churches dating from Roman times.
But around the middle of the eighth century things really
started to get hot. The Greek word 'icon' means 'image' and a
group of Christians started to object to the use of icons in
worship. About fifty years before this, some groups of Christians
were influenced by two heresies--Monophysitism, which lessened
the physical side of
Jesus' nature and Manicheanism, which taught that the physical
world was evil. Both errors treated physical things as inferior,
so its easy to see how this thinking made people suspicious of
physical things like icons and statues.
Soon the controversy erupted into violence. The Empress
sent her stormtroops to invade churches and destroy all religious
artwork in God's name. The defenders of icons were outraged.
There were riots among the people while the theologians exchanged
tracts and lobbied the Pope. For over one hundred years the quarrel
raged back and forth.
A theologian called John of Damascus was one of the most
influential writers on the subject. He argued that material images
of holy things were acceptable because God clothed himself in
matter when he took human form in Jesus. Indeed in Col. 1.15
Paul calls Jesus, the 'image of the unseen God'. Before the incarnation
no images of God were allowed because we were waiting for the
ultimate 'icon'
of God--the man Christ Jesus. Now that God has given us his true
image in Christ, the
images we make
simply reflect back to him. So our images of Christ remind us
of Jesus and our images of the saints remind us that they were
living images of Jesus Christ in the world. So, in other words,we
use physical images to remind us that God took a physical image
in Christ and that we are meant to be his icons in the world.
This highlights the difference between pagan idols and
Catholic images.
A pagan idol is always an image of a demon. The pagan image functions
like a channel
or physical host for
the demonic spirit. In contrast, a Catholic image is simply a
representation of a real Christian person like Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
or one of the saints. Its like a family photo. We treasure pictures
of all the family members who have gone before us. If we keep
a photo of Granny and Gramps on the mantelpiece it doesn't mean
we worship them--it's just the best way to remember them now
they've passed away.
Sometimes Catholics
and Orthodox venerate images which have been the focus of many
people's prayers for
a long time. This
veneration of a specially holy image is not the same thing as
the worship we give God. When a Catholic venerates a special
icon or statue he is simply recognising that this material thing--given
by God and made by human hands--has become a channel for God's
goodness and grace in the world. When he venerates the image
it is a way for him to express love and devotion for the person
the image represents. The carving or painting becomes like a
window which focuses his gaze on God.
Maybe some simple
Catholic people do pay too much attention to images. But abuses
should never
undo right uses. From the
eighth century Catholics have been aware of the problems, but
we haven't seen fit to reject the physical side of life. Because
God took on this material world in Jesus, we continue to use
material things in our worship. Because he is the creator God,
and we are made in his image, we fashion material things into
images which reflect his glory. So images, when used properly,
become physical pointers to Christ--the image of the unseen God,
the one by whom God created the physical world, and by whom all
physical things consist.
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God commanded Moses to make
images to be used in worship
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The early church from Roman
times used images of Christ and the saints
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The 'iconoclastic'--or 'image
breaking' controversy broke out in the eighth century
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Imperial troops smashed images
and riots broke out throughout the empire
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In 730 John of Damascus wrote
that physical aids to worship were valid because God
took on matter in the man Christ Jesus
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In 787 The church ruled exactly
to what extent images couldbe used in worship in order
to avoid idoltary.
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In the sixteenth and seventeenth
century Protestant Reformers stripped Catholic
Churches of images, broke statues and stained glass.
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In the nineteenth century
Anglo-Catholicism encouraged the building of new churches
with religious imagery of all kinds.
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Most Christians now accept
some Christian imagery--even if it's only posters and
banners.
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Create a special physical
environment for prayer
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use a table or mantelpiece
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set up a cross or crucifix
to focus on Christ
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light a candle
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make it beautiful with
flowers or a plant
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Use images around the
home to create a 'sense of the sacred'
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put up gospel posters
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put up an icon
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get a print of a favourite
religious painting
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put up a picture of one
of your Christian 'heroes'
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Use images to spark your
Christian calling
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If your church has stained
glass or carvings, find out who the saints are.
Their stories are all inspiring.
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Take time to visit old
churches and cathedrals and learn about the saints
pictured there
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Thank God for the images
of holiness in people who have gone before
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Ask God for the
grace to be an image of Christ in the world
toda
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