TST ‪Rendering Images of Christ, Mary and Idolatry

‪Rendering Images of Christ, Mary and Idolatry
The undisputed presence of graven images in the catholic church leaves a giant hole in the theological integrity of its claim to being the church of Jesus Christ. If you have ever entered a catholic church, and I suggest you do at some point (its quite an experience), you will notice an array of different statues, stain glass images, paintings and symbols that pervert and distort the true Word of God. Photo: teresia / Flickr

Lets start with the first instance in the Bible where such graven images are forbidden.

[Exd 20:4-6] 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;
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Catholics argue that this set of commandments is a single commandment split up into different sections. Meaning, that the parts of the commandment do not apply separately, but only as a continuous whole. They are of course, incorrect. The translators of the 1611 King James Bible really knew their stuff: they used a : to indicate the evolution of a thought. Look at the etymology behind the word:

colon (1)
punctuation mark, 1540s, from L. colon "part of a poem," from Gk. kolon (with a long initial -o-) "part of a verse," lit. "limb," from PIE base *(s)kel- "to bend, crooked" (see scalene). Meaning evolved from "independent clause" to punctuation mark that sets it off.

So, the use of a colon is not one thought separated into parts, but one thought created on the basis of the former. This means that both thoughts, although related, are independent of one another. It is such a simple lie that has lead billions into rejecting one of the most clear and insistent commandment of the LORD.

That being said, many questions come to mind for the catholic church to answer. If Jesus is in heaven, if Mary is in heaven right now, why does the church insist on making so many statues and paintings and carvings of 'christ'? And what about the painting of Adam and God, touching hands?

[Deu 4:15-24] Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Lest ye corrupt [yourselves], and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
The likeness of any beast that [is] on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth 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.
But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, [even] out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as [ye are] this day.
Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance:
But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, [or] the likeness of any [thing], which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
For the LORD thy God [is] a consuming fire, [even] a jealous God.

This passage makes it clear, as a warning to Israel, the dangers of rendering images. That eventually, man forgets their LORD God and worships something else, something physical and dead. Is the catholic church somehow above the temptations of statues and idols? Do Gods commandments and warning not apply to them for some reason?

The catholic church attempts to justify all of their blasphemies using this passage:

They argue that the making of the Ark of the Covenant is justification for carving other things in heaven. But the LORD God has the power to circumvent his own laws. The creation of the Ark was of God and for God. For example, one of the other commandments is:

So God can command as He wishes, but we are to obey the laws.
Thus, the creation of the statues themselves is a sin, regardless of whether or not catholics actually pray to them.

And what's worse, catholics do kneel in front of these renderings in the church and pray in front of the cross, or Mary and all the saints which are rendered. Kneeling, bowing, prostrating all show subservience to a statue which is extremely blasphemous and dangerous for one's soul.

The very act of bowing is iniquity unto the LORD because a statue or stain glass window is not God, it is not living. We bow only before Him, because he is the Living God:

Additionally, is the issue of the communion wafer. The communion is offered to the congregation in front of the idols, the statues of mary, the cross, etc:

If you'll notice, when eating a wafer, the proper manner is to kneel in front of the 'father' who transubstantiates the wafer (meaning that they believe it is literally the body of Christ). Thus, this is not idol worship only, but man worship, worshiping the priest as a god. And the statues around him, the idols, are the gods which he worships before transforming the wafer.

It is clear that the catholic church purposefully places these idols in the way of people who truly may be trying to walk the path of Christ, who truly want salvation. But the church is a temptress, claiming asylum for Biblical 'interpretations' and 'new versions' of the Bible, which distort the true Word and understanding of that Word. Heed Gods warning and stay away from statues and renderings, even the cross you wear around your neck! The cross is a pagan symbol for sacrifice to the sun god. The cross Jesus told us to take up was that of our burden as Christians, our persecution and the pain which comes along the path of Jesus Christ.

The catholic church is abomination, and all who worship the beast shall be marked as a beast. Repent of the church and become of the body of Jesus Christ; the Spirit of God fill you.