Does the Bible say Not to Worship Images?

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Are you in a religion that uses various religious objects to assist you in worship, or as part of your worship offered to God? Objects like candles, crucifixes, rosaries, statues, relics and even paintings are often part of religious ceremonies and practices. Do you include them in yours? Anyone bowing to various statues and images is surely convinced that it glorifies God as it surely is intended. But is that true, or is it in fact, a sin? 

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The Bible: The basis of our faith in the Church Of Christ, which answers questions about proper worship, the right relationship with God, and most importantly, salvation. That’s in the Bible. 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: I’m Bob Pellien and welcome to the program, That’s in the Bible. Today we ask important questions about image worship, and idolatry.  

There are those who identify as Christians who question some of the common practices that are spearheaded by the Roman Catholic Church, including the involvement of statues, paintings, relics and even the rosary in their prayers and worship of God. 

In an online forum about Christianity, some are debating their faith’s use of such things, for example: 

Is veneration of relics idolatry?

Anonymous User

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, let’s do a deep dive into idolatry. Let’s break it down into these questions:

1. What is idolatry? 
2. What does the Bible teach about the worship of images, the saints, or bowing to relics? 
3. And, is praying the Rosary included as idolatry?
4. How is proper or true worship of God done from within the true Church Of Christ? 

[2:15] Definition of idolatry 

So let’s start with the first; what is idolatry? Dear friends, let’s understand what idolatry is. Then we will go to the Holy Bible for guidance about it. Idolatry is simply religious worship directed to an image or any other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed. Or even an image of any alleged deity.  

If that’s what idolatry means, let’s determine if it’s ok to apply idol worship into our worship of God. 

[2:58] The Bible’s stance on worship of images 

So let’s ask: What does the Bible teach about the worship of images, the saints, or relics? Does the Bible say not to worship images? The Bible speaks clearly of this here in Deuteronomy 4: 15-19: 

You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars all the heavenly array do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshipping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. 

Deuteronomy 4: 15-19  New International Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So clearly here dear friends, the Lord makes His command abundantly clear again.  He does not want anyone to make any image of anything He has made to then be enticed to bow down to it.  

So we ask: Why does God not want any image (whether it’s a statue, painting, or any other object) to be bowed down to? Who is the One that God intended people to bow down to? For that we turn to the Holy Bible once again, this time Psalm 95:6 reads: 

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Psalm 95:6 New King James 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So we can see here that worship includes the act of bowing down. So, if a person is bowing before a statue, before a painting, an image or relic, or anything that is not the true God then that is definitely idolatry. That is exactly what idolatry is! 

And a Reddit forum comment read this way, I quote: 

Is Catholic Churches having statues and paintings/images of Jesus, Mary and Saints plus using rosary beads and lighting candles (for religious purposes) considered idolatry or very close to some sort of rituals and so forth? I’ve seen some people in certain denominations kissing these statues or kneeling before them.

Various_Platypus_602

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Just based on the definition that we read earlier, and also from the Holy Bible, the answer is a definite yes, those actions being described would be considered idolatry. But let’s turn and see if there has ever been a direct prohibition from God against such actions. And for that, we turn again to the Holy Bible and let’s read that in Exodus 20:4-5: 

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Exodus 20:4-5 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, God has made His law very, very clear. According to His teachings written here in the Holy Bible, God’s prohibition of image worship is quite obvious. So how is it that there are those who claim to follow the Bible but also blatantly violate God’s command here? 

[7:25] Historical root of pagan practices 

You know, history adds an important additional clarification here. Because, why would members of the Catholic Church not know that they are doing precisely what violates the law of God regarding image worship? Dear friends, let’s take a look back into history, let’s look at the very beginnings of such practices. For example, here in a book written by historian Will Durant, he had this to say in this book entitled The Story of Civilization: The Age of Faith, let’s read here on page 425-426, I quote: 

The early church had frowned upon images as relics of paganism, and had looked with horror upon Pagan sculptures purporting to represent the gods. But the triumph of Christianity under Constantine, and the influence of Greek surroundings, traditions, and statuary in Constantinople and the Hellenistic East, had softened this opposition. As the number of worshipped Saints multiplied a need arose for identifying and remembering them; Pictures of them and of Mary were produced in great numbers; And in the case of Christ not only his imagined form but his cross became objects of reverence -even, for simple minds, magic talismans. A natural freedom of fancy among the people turned the holy relics, pictures, and statues into objects of adoration; People prostrated themselves before them, kissed them, burned candles and incense before them, crowned them with flowers, and sought miracles from their occult influence.

The Story of Civilization 4: The Age of Faith,  by Will Durant pg 425-426

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, here we can see how again, the Catholic Church adopted long standing pagan practices and incorporated them into early Catholic Church’s normal practices and beliefs. Is there any other evidence that they themselves present that shows what happened in history? Yes. Another Catholic writer recorded in his book, this time the book is entitled The Church in History and here on page 44 they write this: 

All heathen religions had their sacrifices, their priests, and their altars. Soon the Church had its sacrifice, its priests, and its altars. The heathen had gods innumerable, and their images were to be seen on every hand. Soon martyrs and saints took the place of the old heathen gods, and their images and those of Christ and of Mary appeared in the churches. Heathendom was full of superstition. Soon that superstition was transferred to pieces of the cross, and to the relics of saints and martyrs, such as bones and hair and fragments of clothing. Emperor Julian the Apostate called the Christians bone worshippers. In many lands among the heathen there were monks. Before long many Christians became monks and nuns.

The Church in History by B.K. Kuiper, pg 44 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, history records how the practice of image worship emerged, and as we can see, it was not from the teachings of Jesus. It was not from the teachings of His apostles but rather, from the practices of paganism.

There were also comments about relics and idolatry. What are relics and what more has the Catholic Church written about their beliefs concerning their worship of relics and other images of the saints? In another book, this one entitled the Catechism of Christian Doctrine, here on page 87 they write this: 

Is the worship of the saints confined to their persons? No, it extends also to their relics and images.

What do we call relics? We call relics: 1. The remains of the body of a saint who has been canonized or beatified by the Church; 2. The objects which have belonged to the saints, or which have touched their bodies: such as their linen, coffins, etc.

Catechism Of Christian Doctrine, Nihil Obstat: A.G. Casas, Censor Librorum; Imprimatur: Rufino J. Santos,  pp. 87:13, 14

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: We will never follow such practices, nor will we be silent about the Catholic Church’s errors here. Why is idolatry such a serious offense that, well,  it just can’t be ignored? Well, the Bible guides us this way, Romans 1:23 I quote: 

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 

Romans 1:23 New International Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, it’s serious. And it’s serious because they traded service to the true God for service to images. That cannot be ignored, that is very serious. What has been the result of trading the true God for images? We continue here in the writings of Apostle Paul, we’ll remain here in Romans chapter one, we read verse 25, and we’ll continue reading verse 28-32: 

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:25, 28-32 New International Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: They have chosen to worship what God had created instead of God Himself. And dear friends, as we read here, what has been the consequence of that? The world, it says, became filled with all kinds of evil as described here in the Holy Scriptures.   

So if anyone would ask themselves honestly, “am I sinning by praying to statues and images?” the answer is a definite yes! 

[15:28] The Rosary 

Is the Rosary idolatry too? Is praying the Rosary, which is their string of prayer beads, included as idolatry? This is what was also commented on Reddit: 

Is rosary etc considered idolatry?…

Various_Platypus_602

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Here is what history tells us about the origins of the use of the Rosary dear friends, I’ll cite an excerpt from the book The Two Babylons, here on page 187 I quote: 

The Rosary and the worship of the sacred heart. Every one knows how thoroughly Romanist is the use of the rosary; and how the devotees of Rome mechanically tell their prayers upon their beads. The rosary, however, is no invention of the Papacy. It is of the highest antiquity, and almost universally found among Pagan nations. The rosary was used as a sacred instrument among the ancient Mexicans. It is commonly employed among the Brahmins of Hindustan; and in The Hindo sacred books reference is made to it again and again.

The Two Babylons By Alexander Hislop, pg 187 (679)

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So dear friends, the Rosary is not originally a Catholic invention, nor does it have its origins in the Holy Bible, no, nor in the practices of Christ and His apostles.  It came from the pagans. Once again the Roman Catholic Church adopted the practice from pagan religious practices and religious rites of false religions. Whether or not using the Rosary is idolatry is debated by some. This is because Catholics do not often bow down to it but rather hold it in their hands. It is worthwhile however to know what the Bible teaches about the repetitious prayers said with Rosary beads as a guide. Does the Bible have any specific prohibition about that? Well we turn to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:7 He answers this way: 

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Matthew 6:7 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: What does the Bible teach us about repetitive prayer? It is a violation of the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. He clearly said, do not use vain repetitions. So not only do Catholics violate this law, they made an instrument to keep track of their repetitive prayers, which is a violation, and it’s called the Rosary. 

[18:18] What is true worship 

So dear friends, we pose this important question now: How is proper or true worship of God done from within the true Church Of Christ? Well our Lord Jesus Christ is the one responding and He does so recorded in John 4:23: 

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

John 4:23 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: God seeks for those that will worship Him in spirit and in truth, thus becoming true worshippers. So remember dear friends, worship God in spirit and therefore not with physical form such as is depicted in the Catholic images that they bow to. And also worship God in truth. And the truth is the word of God, according to Jesus in John 17:17. 

So dear friends, let’s review the questions that we began with and let’s see what the Bible has revealed to us. We began by asking, 

1. What is Idolatry? We learned that idolatry is replacing the true God, the invisible God for an image made to look like man or other objects, and then bowing to them in worship. 
2. What does the Bible teach about the worship of images, the saints, or relics? Well, we learned how God strictly prohibited bowing down to such statues and images in worship. We also learned how the punishment for doing that is seen all around us in the evils prevalent in the world today.
3. Is praying the Rosary included as idolatry, we asked? Well, what we learned about the Rosary is that it is an instrument being used to violate the law of God concerning prayer. Members of the Catholic Church they also do also kneel with it and kiss it in great veneration which also should not be done.
4. Dear friends, how is proper or true worship of God done from within the true Church Of Christ? We learned that God the Father is seeking for the true worshippers to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Leaving all these false teachings and practices behind, dear friends, leave them behind. 

We’d like you to continue learning about the teachings of the Bible taught inside the Iglesia Ni Cristo, Church Of Christ, and to do that please visit us also online and browse the different topics or set up an appointment to meet with a minister of the gospel. If you have any questions about the Bible or salvation, please do email them to us. I’m Bob Pellien. Thanks for watching. See you next time right here on That’s in the Bible!