One of the first things I look for when I enter a Catholic church is the sanctuary lamp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_lamp). When I see it I have, albeit briefly, a sense of comfort. Symbols are important to a lot of people: they are reminders of simple truths, the essence of something, stripped away from the complications of expressing a concept in definitive words.
It is important to have corporate worship. The public gathering of Christians to celebrate a liturgy serves a number of important purposes. It acknowledges YHWH as the one true God, who created us, sustains us, and died as one of us on a cross in Israel. This is an important declaration, a sign to the nations and the spirits that the Day of Judgment is coming, and that those of Adam’s race who repent and put their faith in Jesus can be saved.
The signs of our faith are a proclamation to the powers. Baptism reminds them of the Flood that destroyed the bodies of the Nephilim and occasioned the imprisonment of the Watchers in the Abyss. The eucharist proclaims the victory of Christ at Golgotha, when He made a spectacle of the powers of darkness and took the keys of Sheol from Baal Zebul. Incense ascending in columns signifies the prayers of the saints coming before the throne of YHWH, who will one day answer the question of the souls under the alter, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
The enemy likes to silence the ministrations and prayers of the Church. We saw with ISIS, and we have seen many times before, the destruction of buildings, statues, and crosses, accompanied by the withdrawal of the liturgy from public space, celebrated in hiding underground. The enemy, when he cannot employ this tactic, will try to corrupt the liturgy: changing words, infusing idolatrous sentiments, and bringing in “ministers” who should not stand in the place of God’s servant.
This great insult occurred in the history of Israel at the Second Temple in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (see 1 and 2 Maccabees and Josephus’ Wars of the Jews and Jewish Antiquities). I believe that a Third Temple will come one day and history will repeat itself in the days of the Antichrist. But his attention will not be restricted to Israel; the Book of Revelation tells us he will attack Christians as well.
In an age of confusion, it is important to remember that public services, which any person off the street can attend, should be clear in their proclamation of the Gospel and the basic truths of our faith. Corporate worship is first and foremost about honouring YHWH – in so doing, we announce His greatness and the need for all nations to come to him and renounce the powers of darkness.
All Along the Watchtower 
Thank you. Very enlightening.
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Indeed symbols are important as they say, without words, that which may take an entire sermon to get the same physical, emotional and spiritual reaction from a people. They inspire (breathe the spirit) our souls and thereby puts us in the right frame of mind and soul to offer up worship to God Almighty and give thanks to Christ our King.
Sadly, symbols are also easy to corrupt and denude them from all their power and substance, which makes of them meaningless. If you do not mentally understand the significance of dipping your fingers into the Holy Water font and remembering your baptismal vows then the Holy Water might as well be ordinary tap water or you might as well be a panting dog looking to quench his thirst.
The same can be said of the sanctuary light and the idea that Christ is present on the altar. If it does not say this to you interiorly then it is only a candle. Practice and custom of all your fellow worshippers is as important as is the sign. After all a stop sign only has significance when the practice of all your peers is the same as yours, to stop at the intersection. If they all ignore that then it won’t be long before a stop sign is totally meaningless.
A genuflection to Christ present on the altar is then the proper practice and reaction to a lit sanctuary light and the priest facing the tabernacle and altar where Christ resides is the proper understanding of the priest and His function as the one who pleads for his people. It is like Moses ascending the mountain, his back to the people and his face toward God, to plead for the sinful people in his care. Once you turn him around he is no longer seen as an intercessor or an alter Christus but as one of the mob who is presently speaking in a closed circle of equals. The sign is now insignificant.
All of these and more have been changed since Vatican II and it has not been lost on the faithful (some overtly and others in a more hidden way). For the loss in the belief of the signs and the sacraments, the Rite of Worship and the priest’s dignity are dwindling . . . bringing us down rather than lifting us up to God. It is like we are plotting to steal Heaven rather than to plead forgiveness and mercy from the Risen Christ.
And lo, what a sad site is the present destruction of the Rite of Worship in the Catholic and Anglican churches. Look at this very gay, effeminate and effete expression of God knows what that was put up on Canon212.com yesterday:
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I could barely watch any of that – I just found it disquieting.
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Good. For that in itself is a sign of the respect and dignity that you afford the worship of God. For those who would stay in that building while this is going on is a sacrilege.
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I have a thing about worship, be it low church or high church – when people start drawing attention to themselves rather than God, they make a mockery of it. This is the danger of too much western individualism – it exalts the self rather than the Creator; then we are just replaying the Eden fiasco all over again. There is a world of difference between that display and David dancing his heart out for the Lord, even if superficially the two look the same.
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Indeed that is the case.
It is also the case with this false egalitarianism that has swept the planet and especially the Church recently. I call to mind the same thing happened to Moses and Aaron as Core and those of like mind thought themselves to be equals. Read Numbers: 16
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+16&version=DRA
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I would concur that we are seeing something similar today – people climbing to conditions of power who should not be there.
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If people understood the symbolic meanings they would have learned almost by osmosis the underlying theology. That is why symbols are the theology of the poor and the uneducated but that does not mean that they are not different from the scholarly theology of the educated or the acquired theology of the saints of our faith attained by prayer and living a holy and heroic life of faith. In fact the symbols that surrounded the laity in our parishes was the Gospel in art and symbol with stained glass windows which brought to mind all of the stories of the Bible and the saints that lived their lives in a manner that the laity aspired to copy.
Indeed we now have pastors, bishops and a pope who seem not to have a clue about theology anymore . . . but rather very worldly philosophies which have supplanted the former. Sadly, this is what is fed to their flocks and why we are losing ground year after year.
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And every woman should note Numbers 12 and see that thought of an aborted child was a horror to all righteous people: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+12&version=DRA
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“Indeed symbols are important as they say,”
“They inspire (breathe the spirit) our souls and thereby puts us in the right frame of mind and soul to offer up worship to God Almighty ”
“Symbols are important to a lot of people: they are reminders of simple truths, ”
Leviticus 26:1 – Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up [any] image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I [am] the LORD your God.
Exodus 34:13 | But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
Numbers 33:52 | Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
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* Holy images
1159 The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ. It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new “economy” of images:
Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be represented by an image. But now that he has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make an image of what I have seen of God . . . and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face unveiled.27
1160 Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message that Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each other:
We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten traditions of the Church which have been entrusted to us. One of these traditions consists in the production of representational artwork, which accords with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it confirms that the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary, and to our benefit as well, for realities that illustrate each other undoubtedly reflect each other’s meaning.28
1161 All the signs in the liturgical celebrations are related to Christ: as are sacred images of the holy Mother of God and of the saints as well. They truly signify Christ, who is glorified in them. They make manifest the “cloud of witnesses”29 who continue to participate in the salvation of the world and to whom we are united, above all in sacramental celebrations. Through their icons, it is man “in the image of God,” finally transfigured “into his likeness,”30 who is revealed to our faith. So too are the angels, who also are recapitulated in Christ:
Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets.31
1162 “The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God.”32 Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart’s memory and is then expressed in the new life of the faithful.
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Well good brother, you believe the catholic catechism is gospel, the inspired word of god. Seeing as how the catechism is in direct opposition to the scriptures, I guess you are going with the catholic catechism. Its must be comforting to have a book to explain why the CC engages in practices forbidden by god.
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Thank you for this.
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Say good brother scoop, could you find me some passages out of the holy scriptures to support your use of images. Thanks in advance.Ill be happy to change my mind.
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Genesis 1:26 . . . “Let us make man to our image and likeness”
And now that Christ has come to us and lived among us as a man it is not too hard to see why Christ is sculpted or painted.
And what was the Ark of the Covenant: made of materials fashioned by the hands of men? And why would Jews fall on their faces before it.
In the short years after Christ’s death were the drawings in the catacombs of Rome simply graven images. They were drawings of Christ, His mother, His Foster Father, the apostles etc. Were they graven images and did they belong in the catacombs where the early Christians met not only to bury their dead but to worship God as well. Even some of the tombs were carved with similar images. All graven images to you and you would be wrong as usual.
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Thanks. Interesting quote. I believe Adam and Eve were made by gods hands, not of wood and stone fashioned by mens hands.
Ark. Yes, well its my understanding that GOD DWELLED ON TOP OF THE aRK, WHICH GOD HAD MADE.If anyone bowed befor it, they were bowing to god himself, not the box. I understand that people couldn’t go in to see the Ark, only the priests could go in once in a great while. No one was allowed to slobber all over it like the faithful do to Jupiter in the Vatican. If images were carved in tombs, that’s up to them.
I have idolatry in my life also. But I don’t compound it by using images to help me worship the invisible god. I just let people know that….no…images are not good and helpful. Well, for worship purposes that is. I paint oil on canvass and have no moral issues with that.
You see, god co0mmanded US not to kill, but he has people killed all the time.
He commanded US not to make images or to bow befor them, but god had a box made to keep some of his stuff in. Because god had a box made, is that the go ahead for us to make images of men and to bow down befor them? Look at the Vatican…its lined from one end to the other with graven images of men. I think the total count is 156. Its letting you know how much the CC cares about gods commandments. And upon entering, there is Jupiter waiting for the faithful to kiss is. They done plumb wore down Jupiters shoe from slobberin on it so much.
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So all our Christian forefathers who gathered in the catacombs aren’t really martyrs at all but a bunch of paeanistic idol worshippers I suppose?
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Good brother, that’s a good question. Ive been in a number of catacombs, but I don’t know about their faith. If they knew Jesus, they wouldn’t have made images. Personally, I wouldlove to see what Jesus looked like. Images of the apostles and Mary are in prot art and catholic art. But they are misleading. Why Because its not anything what they look like. They are idealized. You say they help inspire you to godliness.If you aren’t born again, it doesn’t matter what the image does for you.Let me tell you and the readers something. All the St Paul pictures….they are all wrong and idealized. How do I know? There is a written account of Paul. Paul had a man and wife that were friends of his and he visited every time he was passing by. The couple wrote a description of Paul approaching them from a distance. They said he was short and stocky, either bald or bald on top . He had a big beak jewish nose and thick black eyebrows that met in the middle. Which reminds me of Burt on sesame street.
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