In this clip, Cy Kellett welcomes Tim Staples to discuss why Catholics bow to statues, particularly in significant ceremonies like weddings and Mass. Tim clarifies the distinction between veneration and worship, addressing common misconceptions rooted in the First Commandment. Tune in to understand the deeper meaning behind this practice!
Transcript:
Caller: Why do Catholics sometimes bow to statues? I’ve seen, like at Catholic weddings, a bride will kneel in front of a statue of Mary and pray. I’ve seen the Pope take a little bow. The statue of Mary, you know, in the first commandment, it prohibits bowing or worshiping graven images. And I’m not so concerned about the images themselves, but the actual bowing part,
Tim Staples: how they get reconciled, That’s a great question, Charles. And here’s the key. I think you nailed it there. When you refer to Exodus 20, or you can go to Deuteronomy chapter 5. That’s the two places in the Old Testament where the Ten Commandments are given to us. The first commandment says, thou shalt not make any graven image of any likeness of anything, be it in heaven or on earth or under the sea. Now, a lot of folks, Charles, stop right there and say, see, there’s the problem. You can’t have statues. You’re not doing that. You’re not saying, I have the problem with the images itself, and rightly so. So we agree. There’s no problem with images, statues and such. It’s the last half of that commandment. And thou shalt not bow down and adore them. That is the key. What the first commandment is condemning, Charles, is idolatry. It’s the worship of anything or anyone other than God. Now, kneeling down in front of an image is not necess worship. In fact, we have examples all over the place in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, of bowing down before someone, and it’s not considered worship. Let me just toss out a few of them. In Genesis 33:3, for example, you’ll probably recall when Esau and Jacob had been separated for a long time and they are reunited. If you recall, Jacob bows his entire self, his forehead to the ground, in the presence of his brother. Now, is that worship? Is the bowing down to his brother worship? No, that is. In fact, in Oriental cultures, there was a great sense of reverence toward parents, for example, fathers, mothers, the elderly and older brother. You reverence them by bowing down. That’s not worship. Similarly, in First Kings, chapter two, you’ll remember King David when Bathsheba came in to make a request of him. King David, the king of Israel, right? Who bows to no one. Well, he had a throne. Once he discovered his mother was coming to see him, he had a throne brought up and placed at his right hand in the sanctuary, so to speak. And then he gets up off of his throne, goes down and bows himself to the ground in the presence of his mother. Now, of course, David, King David will worship no one or no thing other than God. But this isn’t worship. This isn’t adoration. This is simply honoring. In fact, in the book of Revelation, it’s interesting. I believe it’s, as I recall, chapter three, right around verse nine, Jesus talks about how in the end of time he will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not. He says, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, referring to believers, and know that I have loved you. So is Jesus committing idolatry here or commanding people to commit idolatry by bowing down? Now, we could multiply examples like this, but the key is this, bowing down is not worshiping. Now, it can be a part of. But you’d have to see a greater context in order to determine whether somebody really is worshiping. If someone is in fact worshiping by bowing, then that would be a mortal sin according to Catholic teaching. But I’ll just leave you with this one last one. When I asked my wife to marry me now, it’s hard to believe that’s almost 18 years. Well over 17 years ago, I knelt down with tears in my eyes, I should add, to ask her to marry me. Nobody would accuse me of worshiping. Although I do get pretty close when it comes to my wife. I’m not adoring.
Cy Kellett: Smart husband.
Tim Staples: That’s right. I’m not adoring her as a goddess. I am expressing love. And that’s the key. When you see images and icons and bowing to them, it’s a lot like. I keep pictures, or at least I used to. Now I have them on my phone. I used to keep pictures in my wallet. Don’t need that anymore with my phone. I’ve got 500 pictures of my wife and kids on my phone. But at night, I used to, especially when I was traveling and speaking out of state, I would pull out the pictures and kiss them before I go to bed. Now, I can just do it with my phone. But that’s what we’re talking about as Catholics. It’s expressing love either for God or the angels, the saints who are represented in these statues, and we do not worship them again. To worship them or adore them would be grave sin. But does that help at all? Charles?
Caller: Yeah. One question about the commandment.
Tim Staples: Yes.
Caller: He’s quoted it as saying, thou shalt not bow down. And worship doesn’t, at least in the version I was reading, bow down or worship. No, I understand your point.
Tim Staples: Yeah, yeah. Because in fact, it does say bow down and not not or but either way, if you’re going to hold to a strict interpretation of that, well, then you’ve got all sorts of cases of idolatry up to and including Jesus Christ committing it.
Cy Kellett: Charles, thank you for that call. I appreciate that very much. And by the way, Tim, you’re not alone in this. On Wednesday, I believe it was, with Father Jeff Kirby, we did the show on Living the Beatitudes, and I kept referring to.