The Filipino Catholics

Curiosity about One's Salvation

CHRIST:

MY CHILD, a certain person was once anxious and worried about his salvation. He threw himself down before the altar and moaned: “Oh, if only I were sure that I will be saved!” At that very moment I placed the answer in his heart. “If you knew this, what would you do? Go forth and do all the good which you would then do, and you will have no reason for fear now.”

He saw at once that I had answered his question. He went out joyfully and led a good and useful life. He no longer worried about his salvation, but left his future in My hands. He was interested in one thing alone: “How does God want me to act in what I am now doing?” He who previously was selfishly afraid, was now generously brave for Me. You do the same, and you will Live forever. What you will be after death, depends on what you are trying to be in this earthly life.

THINK:
If I do my best each day, I shall be living for Heaven. As long as I am trying to learn what God expects of me, and am doing my best to follow His Will, I need not fear bell.

PRAY:
Lord, I hope to please You in all that I think, do, or say. On You I depend for the grace to do this. As for my salvation, I leave it entirely in Your loving hands. If I do my best for Your sake, I know that You will not forget me. Amen.

Did Christ died for all?

The Bible speaks of the importance of Scripture. The Reformers then turn this into the doctrine of sola scriptura, belief in Scripture alone to the exclusion of Tradition, a doctrine the Bible doesn’t teach. Indeed, St. Paul reminds his readers to “stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess. 2:15).

So, whether we’re talking about our differing views on justification or on the proper role of Tradition, part of our divergence comes from the fact that Protestants added limitations (alone or only) where God didn’t put them. Heresy almost always works this way: Jesus is only human, or only God; the Father alone is God, etc. The same thing is true here. It’s true that Christ died for the righteous, but it’s false that he died for only the righteous.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul says that Christ “loved me and gave himself for me” (2:20). It would be absurd to conclude from this that therefore Christ died only for Paul. It’s no less mistaken to take biblical references to the fact that Christ died for the elect as proof that he therefore died only for the elect. In each case, you’re adding an “only” that isn’t there and doesn’t belong.

Christ died for the Church, but he also died for the ungodly. He died for the apostles but also for the false teachers whom Peter says “deny the Master who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1). He died for the many and for the world. He also died for you and for me. The difference in each case is one of emphasis, just as I might say, “I saw your wife last night at the restaurant,” while clearly not meaning “your wife and I were alone together at the restaurant last night.”

When John tells us that Christ “is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world,” he’s reminding us that the reach of the cross is universal. When Paul tells us that Christ died for him, he’s reminding us that the merits of the cross are personal in their depth. Those two beliefs need to be held side by side, and together they are extremely good news.

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/did-christ-die-for-all

The altar servers bow at the mention of the holy name of Jesus.

On Heresies

“But if there be any [heresies] which are bold enough to plant [themselves]15 in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [their first] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men — a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter” (Demurrer Against the Heretics 32).

Tertullian

On Prayer for the Catholic Church

We pray Thee, O Almighty and Eternal God, who through Jesus Christ hast revealed Thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of Thy mercy; that Thy Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue, with unchanging faith, in the confession of Thy name.

On Apostolic Tradition

Apostolic Tradition is the transmission of the message of Christ, brought about from the very beginnings of Christianity by means of preaching, bearing witness, institutions, worship, and inspired writings. The apostles transmitted all they received from Christ and learned from the Holy Spirit to their successors, the bishops, and through them to all generations until the end of the world.

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Bible texts about Apostolic Tradition:

1 Corinthians 11:2
Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

2 Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

2 Thessalonians 3:6
Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.

Christ is personal Savior to Filipino Catholics not as private individuals, but as members of a community of salvation wherein we meet Jesus and experience his saving power. Faith is never just something private or individualistic, but a sharing in the Christian community’s faith. This faith is in living continuity with the Apostolic Church, as well as being united to all the Catholic communities today the world over.

Catechism for Filipino Catholics

THE SIDDUR (JEWISH PRAYER BOOK)

A siddur is the Jewish prayer book containing prayers according to the order of the Jewish calendar. It is the instrument of synagogue worship and includes prayers for weekdays, Sabbath, New Moon and all the festival and fast days, together with the relevant halakhot (guidleines) preceding each section. At the end it contains benedictions and special prayers for special occasions such as marriage, circumcision, redemption of the firstborn, and the burial service. It contains passages from the Talmud and the Bible, and selections written by rabbis and poets through the Middle Ages.
https://bje.org.au/knowledge-centre/jewish-texts/siddur/

Saint Peter went to Rome!

“Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:1:1 (c. A.D. 180).

The Saints in Heaven

The Apocalypse reveals the concern of the saints in Heaven for their fellow believers who are still sojourning on earth in the midst of difficulties of all sorts. “And when he broke the fifth seal, I saw there, beneath the altar, the souls of all who had been slain for love of God’s word and of the truth they held, crying out with a loud voice, ‘Sovereign Lord, the Holy, the True, how long now before Thou wilt sit in judgment, and exact vengeance for our blood from all those who dwell on earth?’ Whereupon a white robe was given to each of them, and they were bidden to take their rest a little while longer, until their number had been made up by those others, their brethren and fellow-servants, who were to die as they had died.”

Clearly, the souls of the blessed cannot be full of hatred and thirst for revenge. Their clamor is a prayer to stop the persecutions raging against the Church. The Bible shows us the saints in Heaven praying for the Christians on earth.

The Scriptural Roots of Catholic Teaching
by Chantal Epie

Did you know that Martin Luther (Protestant Reformer) has a low view of the Book of Revelation? He thought it was neither apostolic nor prophetic.

Martin Luther's Preface to the Revelation of St. John (1522)​

About this Book of the Revelation of John, I leave everyone free to hold his own opinions. I would not have anyone bound to my opinion or judgment. I say what I feel. I miss more than one thing in this book, and it makes me consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic.

First and foremost, the apostles do not deal with visions, but prophesy in clear and plain words, as do Peter and Paul, and Christ in the gospel. For it befits the apostolic office to speak clearly of Christ and his deeds, without images and visions. Moreover there is no prophet in the Old Testament, to say nothing of the New, who deals so exclusively with visions and images. For myself, I think it approximates the Fourth Book of Esdras; I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it.

Moreover he seems to me to be going much too far when he commends his own book so highly [Revelation 22]—indeed, more than any of the other sacred books do, though they are much more important—and threatens that if anyone takes away anything from it, God will take away from him, etc. Again, they are supposed to be blessed who keep what is written in this book; and yet no one knows what that is, to say nothing of keeping it. This is just the same as if we did not have the book at all. And there are many far better books available for us to keep.

Many of the fathers also rejected this book a long time ago; although St. Jerome, to be sure, refers to it in exalted terms and says that it is above all praise and that there are as many mysteries in it as words. Still, Jerome cannot prove this at all, and his praise at numerous places is too generous.

Finally, let everyone think of it as his own spirit leads him. My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book. For me this is reason enough not to think highly of it: Christ is neither taught nor known in it. But to teach Christ, this is the thing which an apostle is bound above all else to do; as Christ says in Acts 1[:8], “You shall be my witnesses.” Therefore I stick to the books which present Christ to me clearly and purely.

The 1522 “Preface to the Revelation of St. John” in Luther’s translation of the New Testament. Pages 398-399 in Luther’s Works Volume 35: Word and Sacrament I (ed. E. Theodore Bachmann; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1960).

The Holy Eucharist was instituted by Christ.

Before going out of the Church after the Holy Mass, spend some time in prayer.

These are the suggested prayers.

The passion is not a mystery of divine
wrath and vengeance but of divine justice, mercy, and reparation.
There is no problem with the use of the language of “substitutionary atonement,”
but there is a question of what this language connotes.
Jesus’ substitutionary atonement for our sins is above all
something positive, not something negative. He substitutes his
love, his justice, and his obedience there where the human race
has lacked love, justice, and obedience. He “remakes” our condition
from within, “justifying us,” presenting us anew to the Father
as authentic “children of God” by grace, grace merited for us
by the only-begotten Son, in and through his passion.

The Light of Christ
An Introduction to Catholicism
by Thomas Joseph White, OP

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee;
blessed are thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Amen!

I do realize that the difficulties experienced by Christians in the Holy Land are also related to the continuing tension between Jewish and Palestinian communities. The Holy See recognizes Israel’s legitimate need for security and self-defence and strongly condemns all forms of anti-Semitism. It also maintains that all peoples have a right to be given equal opportunities to flourish. Accordingly, I would urge your Government to make every effort to alleviate the hardship suffered by the Palestinian community, allowing them the freedom necessary to go about their legitimate business, including travel to places of worship, so that they too can enjoy greater peace and security.

Pope Benedict XVI

Israel and the Church

One of the disputes in Protestant circles is over the relationship between Israel and the Church and whether God still has a special purpose for the ethnic people of Israel in his plan of the ages. Two of the chief disputants are the Protestant schools of thought known as “dispensationalism” and “covenant theology.” The former is a relative newcomer on the Protestant scene and was started in the 1830s by an Englishman named John Nelson Darby. A distinctive characteristic of dispensationalism is its insistence that God’s plan of the ages focuses chiefly around the ethnic people of Israel.

With the close of the Church age, many dispensationalists have said they expect God to turn away from dealing with the Gentiles and turn again to dealing primarily with the Jews.This affects dispensationalism’s reading of the book of Revelation as well as much of the rest of biblical prophecy. Dispensationalists see Revelation as a blueprint of future events, chiefly concerning the Jewish people, leading up to a future, earthly reign of Christ known as the Millennium.

During the Millennium, they believe, Israel will be restored as a nation, will return to offering animal sacrifices (in commemoration of Christ’s death on the cross), and will be the most favored nation on earth, with Jesus physically ruling in its capitol. In dispensational thought, the Jews may also have a special status in the eternal order that follows the Millennium.

Covenant theology is much more in line with what traditional Protestant views have been. It tends to be amillennial, viewing the Millennium as the present reign of Christ in heaven and, through the Church, on earth. This is the historic Protestant view, in contrast to dispensationalism’s pre-millennial (future earthly reign of Christ) stance.

Covenant theology thus does not take Revelation as a checklist of future events but as a prophecy of events occurring at the beginning of or all through Church history. Consequently it does not see Revelation as a record of God’s future dealings with the Jewish people. When dealing with apparently unfulfilled prophecies that speak expressly of Israel—such as those in many of the Old Testament prophets—covenant theologians tend to apply them to the Church, arguing that the Church is the spiritual Israel. This “transfer” of prophecies from ethnic Israel to the Church does not go over well with dispensationalists.

If we may speak of the two systems in their unqualified forms, dispensationalism asserts that God still has future plans for the Jewish people and deduces that the Church is not spiritual Israel; covenant theology asserts that the Church is spiritual Israel and deduces that God has no future plans for the Jews different than his plans for any other people.

Both systems cite Scripture for the major premises of their arguments, and the verses they cite seem successful in showing these points. The problem is not with the Scripture passages cited by the two groups but with the conclusions they draw from them. It is the constraints of the two systems that keep their adherents from recognizing that the inferences they make do not follow.

The Catholic Church is able to acknowledge the truth that is found in both positions. Along with the dispensationalists the Church acknowledges that God does still have plans for the Jews as a unique people (Catechism of the Catholic Church 674). Paul clearly indicates this in his writings, especially in Romans 9–11, where he indicates God continues to fulfill his promises about the Jewish people by preserving a remnant of Jewish believers in Christ (11:1–5). This indicates a special place for Israel, for no other people has a promise that there will always be a believing remnant. God also has future plans for the Jewish people: One day the Jewish people as a nation will return to Christ, and this will be one of the signs of the Second Coming and the resurrection of the dead (11:12, 15).

On the other hand, along with covenant theologians, Catholics acknowledge that the Church is spiritual Israel or, in Catholic parlance, the “new Israel” (cf. CCC 877). This too is indicated in Paul’s writings: In Romans 9:6 he says that “not all who are of Israel are Israel.” This indicates the existence of two Israels. One—”all who are of Israel”—indicates the ethnic people, not all of whom believe in Jesus. The other Israel, the context reveals, does not include those who have rejected the Messiah. This new Israel, founded by Messiah, exists in spiritual continuity with the Old Testament saints and so counts as a “spiritual Israel.” It includes Gentiles who believe in the Messiah and so through baptism are spiritually circumcised (Col. 2:11–12) and are reckoned as spiritual Jews (Rom. 2:26–29).

In his letter to the Ephesians Paul is even more explicit about the Gentiles’ spiritual inclusion when he states that “you Gentiles in the flesh . . . were [once] separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel . . . But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near . . . So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints” (2:11–13, 19).

Thus the Catholic Church, not being constrained by the new theological systems of dispensationalism and covenant theology, is able to avoid the extremes of both while it acknowledges the truths both contain—as it has since before either was invented.

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/israel-and-the-church

Act of Faith
O my God, I firmly believe
that you are one God in three divine Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I believe that your divine Son became man
and died for our sins and that he will come
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe these and all the truths
which the Holy Catholic Church teaches
because you have revealed them
who are eternal truth and wisdom,
who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
In this faith I intend to live and die.
Amen.

218. What, briefly, is the ideal of the Christian family?

The ideal of the Christian family is as a society wherein father and mother, with mutual goodwill and self-sacrifice, founded on natural love, elevated and strengthened by grace, work and pray together that they may save their own souls and rear their children to be dutiful and virtuous Christians and worthy citizens.

Catechism of Catholic Social Teaching

Celebrating an incredible milestone today - 50 years of marriage! From the first day to the last, we've shared a lifetime of love and happiness. Grateful for the journey we've taken together.

Exodus 20:4 You shall not make unto yourself 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:

Statue Worship?

Ang mga taong hindi nakakaalam kung minsan ay nagsasabi na ang mga Katoliko ay sumasamba sa mga rebulto. Hindi lamang ito hindi totoo, hindi rin totoo na pinararangalan ng mga Katoliko ang mga rebulto.

Ang katotohanan na ang isang tao ay lumuhod sa harap ng isang rebulto upang manalangin ay hindi nangangahulugan na siya ay nagdarasal sa rebulto, tulad ng isang bagay na ang isang tao na lumuhod na may Bibliya sa kanyang mga kamay upang manalangin ay hindi nangangahulugan na siya ay sumasamba sa Bibliya. Ang mga estatwa o mga pintura o iba pang masining na kagamitan ay ginagamit upang maalala sa isip ang tao o bagay na inilalarawan. Kung paanong mas madaling maalala ang ina ng isang tao sa pamamagitan ng pagtingin sa kanyang litrato, mas madaling alalahanin ang buhay ng mga santo sa pamamagitan ng pagtingin sa mga representasyon ng mga ito.

Ang paggamit ng mga estatwa at mga icon para sa mga layuning liturhiya (kumpara sa mga diyus-diyosan) ay nagkaroon din ng lugar sa Lumang Tipan. Sa Exodo 25:18–20, iniutos ng Diyos: “At gagawa ka ng dalawang kerubin na ginto; yari sa pamukpok ay iyong gagawin, sa dalawang dulo ng luklukan ng awa. Gumawa ka ng isang querubin sa isang dulo, at isang querubin sa kabilang dulo; na isang piraso na may luklukan ng awa ay gagawin mo ang mga querubin sa dalawang dulo nito. Iuunat ng mga kerubin ang kanilang mga pakpak sa itaas, na nalililiman ng kanilang mga pakpak ang luklukan ng awa, at ang kanilang mga mukha sa isa't isa; patungo sa luklukan ng awa ang mga mukha ng mga kerubin.”

Nang dumating ang oras upang itayo ang Templo sa Jerusalem, binigyang-inspirasyon ng Diyos ang mga plano ni David para dito, na kasama ang “kanyang plano para sa gintong karo ng mga kerubin na nakabuka ang kanilang mga pakpak at tumatakip sa kaban ng tipan ng Panginoon. Ang lahat ng ito ay nilinaw niya sa pamamagitan ng sulat mula sa kamay ng Panginoon tungkol dito, lahat ng gawaing gagawin ayon sa plano” (1 Cron. 28:18–19). Bilang pagsunod sa planong ito na kinasihan ng Diyos, nagtayo si Solomon ng dalawang dambuhalang gintong estatwa ng mga kerubin.

https://www.catholic.com/tract/saint-worship

The Eucharist is the center of the Church's life. In it Christ offers himself to the Father for our sake, making us sharers in his own sacrifice, and gives himself to us as the bread of life for our journey on the highways of the world.

Saint John Paul II

Prayer of St. Ambrose (Before Mass)

I draw near to the table of your most delectable banquet, dear Lord Jesus Christ. A sinner, I trust not in my own merit; but, in fear and trembling, I rely on your mercy and goodness. I have a heart and body marked by my grave offenses, and a mind and a tongue I have not guarded well. For this reason, God of loving kindness and awesome majesty, I, a sinner caught by many snares, seek safe refuge in you. For you are the fountain of mercy.

I would fear to draw near to you as my judge, but I seek you out as my Savior. Lord, I show you my wounds, and I let you see my shame. Knowing my sins are many and great, I have reason to fear. But I trust in your mercies, for they are beyond all numbering.

Look upon me with mercy, for I trust in you, my Lord Jesus Christ, eternal king, God and man, you who were crucified for mankind. Have mercy upon me, you who never cease to make the fountain of your mercy flow, for I am full of sorrows and sins.

I praise you, the saving Victim offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all mankind. I praise the noble Blood that flows from the wounds of my Lord Jesus Christ, the precious Blood that washes away the sins of all the world.

Remember, Lord, your creature, whom you have redeemed with your own Blood. I am sorry that I have sinned, and I long to put right what I have done. Most kind Father, take away all my offenses and sins, so that, purified in body and soul, I may be made worthy to taste the Holy of holies.

And grant that this holy meal of your Body and Blood, which I intend to take, although I am unworthy, may bring forgiveness of my sins and wash away my guilt. May it mean the end of my evil thoughts and the rebirth of my better longings. May it lead me securely to live in ways that please you, and may it be a strong protection for body and soul, against the plots of my enemies. Amen.

Jesus and Paul Accepted Non-Biblical Oral and Written Traditions

Protestants defending sola scriptura will claim that Jesus and Paul accepted the authority of the Old Testament. This is true, but they also appealed to other authority outside of written revelation. For example:

a. The reference to “He shall be called a Nazarene” cannot be found in the Old Testament, yet it was “spoken by the prophets” (Matt. 2:23). Therefore, this prophecy, which is considered to be “God’s word,” was passed down orally rather than through Scripture.

b. In Matthew 23:2–3, Jesus teaches that the scribes and Pharisees have a legitimate, binding authority based “on Moses’ seat,” but this phrase or idea cannot be found anywhere in the Old Testament. It is found in the (originally oral) Mishnah, which teaches a sort of “teaching succession” from Moses on down.

c. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul refers to a rock that “followed” the Jews through the Sinai wilderness. The Old Testament says nothing about such miraculous movement. But rabbinic tradition does.

d. “As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses” (2 Tim. 3:8). These two men cannot be found in the related Old Testament passage (Ex. 7:8ff.) or anywhere else in the Old Testament.

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/a-quick-ten-step-refutation-of-sola-scriptura

True Religion is the right relationship with God.

St. Robert Bellarmine, S.J. (1542-1621)

A Cardinal and Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine took all and every argument of the Protestants (whom he always called “The Heretics”) and demolished their agenda in a colossal collection of his sermons and writings known as Controversies of the Christian Faith. . . St. Robert Bellarmine was a star by any standard and a constant thorn in the sides of the collective heretics—so much so that Anglican courses were taught at Oxford and Cambridge on how to argue against Cardinal Bellarmine!

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/10-other-reformers-who-helped-stem-the-tide-of-protestantism

What are works?

The basic meaning of the Greek term for work (ergon) is “deed, action.” But it is also used in a more commercial sense, by which it can mean “that which one does as regular activity, work, occupation, task.”

In the Protestant community, some have sought to explain “works” based on the first definition, as anything you do. If you perform any actions with respect to your salvation, you would be embracing a “gospel of works.”

This is problematic because the New Testament links salvation to things like faith and repentance. An act of faith is—by nature—an action, something you do. The same is true of repentance. It would make no sense to exhort people, as Jesus does, to “repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15) if people were not expected to undertake these actions. This means we must look more closely at how the New Testament uses the term works.

Thoughtful Protestants have recognized this and proposed that works should be defined in the commercial sense of ergon. On this view, works would be something you do to earn your place before God. To please God, these works would need to be good, so many have said that good works are the kind Paul says are useless for justification.

Of course, Paul says positive things about good works. He even says that we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). But the idea is that these are a result of being in a state of justification—that once we turn to
him, God gives us his grace and enables us to do works out of supernatural love. We do not do such works in order to get into a state of justification.

Though it would surprise many in the Protestant community, Catholics agree with this view. It is true that we don’t do good works to enter a state of justification. Indeed, we cannot, for Catholic theology recognizes that supernatural love or charity is only poured into our hearts at justification (Rom. 5:5). Therefore, the supernatural good works Paul speaks of are a result of being in a state of justification, not its cause.

JAMES AKIN

Sacred Scripture Depends on Sacred Tradition

Sacred Scripture positions itself as a part—albeit a very important part—of a much bigger picture: Sacred Tradition. At the end of his Gospel, John tells us that not everything taught by Christ was written down: “There are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

The things Paul taught orally he considered Sacred Tradition: “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us” (2 Tim. 1:13–14). Then he elaborates further, “And what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). Paul describes—in Sacred Scripture—exactly how Sacred Tradition is passed on: by hearing—in another word, orally.

At another time, Paul writes that Sacred Tradition may be handed on orally or by writing. “To this he called you through our Gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess. 2:14–15).

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/sacred-scripture-depends-on-sacred-tradition

Objection: Why are Catholic Churches decorated with images and statues, in direct violation of the second commandment?

Answer: The second commandment is, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Protestants, of course, call that the third commandment. But they are wrong in doing so, having taken that part of the first commandment which refers to images as the second of God’s commandments. But do those words forbid the making of images? They do not. God was forbidding idolatry, not the making of images. He said, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath … you shall not bow down to them or serve them.” God deliberately adds those last words, yet you ignore them. He forbids men to make images in order to adore them. But he does not forbid the making of images. You will find the commandments given in Exodus 20. But in that same Book, 25:18, you will find God ordering the Jews to make images of Angels! Would you accuse God of not knowing the sense of his own law? He says, “You shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.” In other words, the Jews were to make images of things in the heaven above. And if your interpretation be true, why do you violate God’s law by making images of things in the earth beneath? Why images of kings and politicians in our parks? Why photographs of friends and relatives? On your theory you could not even take a snapshot of a gum tree. You would be making an image of a thing in the earth beneath. You strain at a gnat and swallow a camel! This is the fruit of your private interpretation of Scripture. No. God does not forbid the making of images; he forbids the making of images in order to adore them.

FR. LESLIE RUMBLE
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