THE BIBLE'S VIEWPOINT/IMAGES

Did the early Christians use images in their worship?

A COMMON CLAIM "The use of images in early Christian worship cannot now be reasonably questioned," says the New Catholic Encyclopedia.  "The Christians catacombs were veritable galleries of early Christian art. . . . Early mythological figures adorn the holy chambers of sacred worship and burial."

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW The oldest images found in these catacombs -underground passages used as burial places-date back only to the third century.  That was some 200 years after Jesus died.  Therefore, what the New Catholic Encyclopedia calls "early Christian worship" is not the earliest Christian worship-that which was practiced by first-century disciples and described in the Christian Greek Scriptures, commonly known as  the New Testament.  The fact that such images were in the catacombs merely shows that by the third century, nominal Christians had adopted the pagan custom of using images, like to attract converts.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS "Flee from idolatry." -1 Corinthians 10:14. 


Should images be used simply as an aid to worship?

A COMMON CLAIM "Since the worship; given to an image reaches and terminates in the person represented," says the New Catholic Encyclopedia,  "the same type of worship due the person can be rendered to the image as representing the person." 

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW When Jesus taught his followers how to pray, he did not tell them to use images.   The very idea of using an image to worship the true God cannot be found in the Christian Greek Scriptures.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS "It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service. 

Next time: Earthquake Survivors Tell Their Story/VISIONS OF HORROR, GLIMMERS OF HOPE

From the Awake! magazine