Posted for dialogue with Muslim brothers, sisters

It is correct that idols are forbidden. Exodus 20:4-5 You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. Notice that God specifically cites “anything in the sky above or in the waters beneath the earth”- he is clearly referring to animals. He refers later to past wickedness in this regard and he is specifically expressing ire at the creation of animal idols, the very beasts that God himself has created, as being worshipped as a rival god. Psalm 115 specifically replies to the taunts of idol worshippers who ask “Where is their God?” Psalm 115: 4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell. They have hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk, and no sound rises from their throats. Their makers shall be like them, all who trust in them. Notice here that idol worshippers believe that an object created or fashioned in shape by their own hands can have sensation and power, which this Psalm refutes. This Psalm answers the idolaters’ question by stating “Our God is in heaven; whatever God will is done.” (Psalm 115: 3). So God clearly prohibits the taking of a natural or manmade object and believing that it possesses some or all of the qualities or abilities of God.

However, during the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, God included in his instructions to Moses the making of two images of angels, called cherubim. Exodus 25: 16-22 You shall then make a propitiatory of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and one and a half cubits wide. Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the propitiatory, fastening them so that one cherub springs direct from each end. The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them; they shall be turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory. This propitiatory you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the commandments which I will give you. There I will meet you and there, from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim on the ark of the commandments, I will tell you all the commands that I wish you to give the Israelites. God also instructed Moses to make a table of acacia wood with gold vessels: Of pure gold you shall make its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations. On the table you shall always keep showbread set before me (Exodus 25: 29-30). It is very clear reading God’s detailed instructions that the creation of two images of angels, the cherubim, is not an invitation to worship the statues as sentient beings. God states that he will meet Moses at the location between the two created images of angels. This, the lid of the ark of covenant, is called the “Mercy Seat” because it is there that God “sat” when he met with Moses, and where on the table the holy bread was always kept for offering to God, and was later eaten by the priests. Still later in this passage God instructs Moses to fashion lamp stands with branches like almond blossoms. Again, there is no confusion that either the angels or the almond flowers contain any sentience or godly powers. The representations are sacred, however, because they belong to God and decorate the place where God meets with Moses.

Moses, who was not shy with the Lord, would have had no problem asking God if there had been any doubt that creation of cherubim to decorate and honor the ark constituted idols, because clearly they did not. Indeed not obeying God in his desire for specific decorations in his honor would have been sinful, and extremely unwise.

When the Israelites came to Jerusalem, the ark resided in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the temples priests conducted sacrifices according to the Jewish law, as specified by Moses following God’s instructions in the Book of Leviticus and the Book of Deuteronomy. We recall that Abraham conducted sacrifice according to God’s wishes, even being tested to sacrifice his own son Isaac. After seeing that Abraham was faithful and would do the sacrifice if necessary, God sent an angel to stay Abraham’s hand. Genesis 22:13-14 As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, “On the mountain the Lord will see.” It was then that the Lord’s messenger spoke on behalf of the Lord saying “that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore…” (Genesis 22:16-17). In the Book of Leviticus God provides to Moses very detailed instructions about the importance of and procedures for acceptable sacrifices, which were animal holocausts or other offerings such as cereal. For example Leviticus 2:1-3 instructs “When anyone wishes to bring a cereal offering to the Lord, his offering must consist of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense over it. When he has brought it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of them shall take a handful of this fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and this he shall burn on the altar as a token offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. The rest of the cereal offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. It is a most sacred oblation to the Lord.” God details through Moses how to make peace offerings, sin offerings for priests, for the community, for the princes, for private persons, for special cases, for daily offerings and for guilt offerings. Provision is made for the poor who cannot afford an animal of the flock. Offerings may be made of two turtledoves or two pigeons (Leviticus 5:7) or “If he is unable to afford even two turtledoves or two pigeons, he shall present as a sin offering for his sin one tenth of an epha of fine flower” without frankincense if it is a sin offering (Leviticus 5:11). These rules of sacrifice, established during the exodus through God’s instruction to Moses, continued to take place, and in fact became much “institutionalized” into the time of Jesus Christ.

The reason that I am instructing about the offering of sacrifice is that this has a direct bearing on the accoutrements of the Catholic Church; those accoutrements which are sometimes mistaken for idolatry or use of graven images. It is an understandable mistake because faith formation and understanding has become, regretfully, so very poor among Catholics themselves, say nothing of the Protestant and non denominational faiths who have split away from the true Church. Most Catholics probably could not explain what I have just presented, and now will present part two of. It is not surprising that non Catholic Christians and Muslims do not understand this, and I do not fault Muslims at all for not understanding and questioning, because I believe they are very faithful guardians of God’s will. However it is important for Muslims (and Christians who are poorly formed) to understand that the Catholic Church is still the holy place a sacrifice. Jesus Christ did not eliminate God’s instructions regarding the need for sacrifice.

At the time of Jesus Christ there are several events in his life that directly attest to the status of sacrifice in the temples during that time. After Jesus was born, circumcised and named, he was presented in the temple “according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,” and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate of the law of the Lord.” (Luke2: 23-24). Notice that Jesus’ family made the level of offering of people who were too poor to sacrifice an animal from a herd. During his public ministry Jesus would admire and point out to his disciples the poor widow who only had a few small coins representing a few cents to give to the temple treasury. Mark 12: 43-44 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood. Near to the same time Jesus criticized the scribes because “they devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation” (Mark 12: 40). His criticism of the financial exploitation of the poor in the name of sacrifice to God came to the boiling point when Jesus cleansed the temple: Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on to his words (Luke 19: 45-48). Notice that Jesus did not say that sacrifice to God was no longer needed; he was driving out the moneychangers who were selling at high price to the poor the animals, birds, and goods for sacrifice. What used to be the people bringing in from their harvest a portion to God had become a financial business taking place right in the temple.

Jesus prepared the Apostles and disciples for the change that he was bringing on behalf of God by reminding them that he was fulfillment of the Old Covenant and initiation of the New Covenant. At no point does he say that sacrifice to God is no longer to take place. And at no point does he say that the temple (soon to be church) is not the location for sacrifice to God. What Jesus brought from God to the Jews, and would be also for the Gentiles, was the bloodless sacrifice to God. Sacrifice would continue to take place, but as I cited earlier in Leviticus, the sacrifice would be one of flour, in memory of Jesus Christ. This was foreseen in the time of David when it is written: And the king said to Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my god of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.” David had sinned in conducting an unauthorized census, and would not accept from the man Araunah the goods for sacrifice to God as a free gift; David insisted on buying “it of thee at a price.” This becomes one of the most profound and frequently quoted prophecies of the ministry of Jesus Christ, to “buy it of thee at a price” (2 Samuel 24: 22-24).

Through his suffering and sacrifice of his life, Jesus deliberately instituted a bloodless sacrifice to God, one that he paid once for all, so that the poor would no longer have to buy sacrifice goods, and one that would be based on flour (bread) in his memory to God. This was the hardest theological point of the New Covenant for many of his disciples and they left him. There was centuries of mentality that all Jews, regardless of their means, had to give money or livestock to the temple for propitiatory of sins and for holy day and event sacrifice to God. It was extremely radical of Jesus Christ to offer himself once as sacrifice to God in order to institute the New Covenant, and new, “of all nations” church. Many Christians who are not Catholics freely accept and celebrate that Jesus Christ became the sacrifice once for all, but they think, erroneously, that Jesus eliminated sacrifice to God completely. He did not. The temple, soon to be the Church, is still the place of daily sacrifice to God. What Jesus Christ did, however, is he now provides the sacrifice in the form of the Eucharistic bread and wine. It is every bit a solemn a sacrifice to God as it was when bullocks were slain on the altar of the temple. Jesus, as brought forth by God, took the humblest of offerings available to the poor for sacrifice (think back to the above reference of the cereal and oil with frankincense) and created a sacramental daily offering to God with his body and spirit with bread and wine. He did this at the Last Supper, the night before he was betrayed, and in the most solemn of tones. There is no indication in the Bible Gospels, Epistles, or early Church Father writings that this Eucharist, this bloodless sacrifice, was anything other than the most solemn of occasions in continuity with offering daily sacrifice to God as he commanded. The Catholic Church took form, through Peter, Paul and the other first Apostles and disciples following Jesus’ example and instructions, where the temple became the church, and the holocausts offered to God became bloodless. It is in a Catholic Church that every day for two thousand years one can find the faithful offering of the bloodless sacrifice to God. All people have to do is show up; they do not have to drag a sheep for slaughter, and they do not have to pay a temple moneychanger for two turtledoves.

Having said this, I think Muslims can now better understand why the Church infrastructure tends to be decorated with statuary, carvings, and stained glass. Catholics view the Church as the new temple decorated in accordance with the solemnity of the daily sacrifice to God, now called the sacrament of Holy Eucharist. As God instructed Moses to construct the ark with cherubim and with gold vessels of cups and plates for the bread offering, Catholics see themselves as providing continuity with providing the respectful images of God and the bloodless sacrifice. The crucified Christ is the Catholic way to honor and recall the price that Jesus Christ paid to bring fulfill and replace the Old Covenant with the New. No Catholic believes that Jesus or God is within the carved statue or the crucifix. But they honor and venerate his teachings and deeds through gazing on the image. This would have been true of the Israelites as the gazed on the cherubim who bracket the Mercy Seat of the ark, though they could not touch it on penalty of death, since God was physically present in the vicinity of the ark. Catholics gaze on the statues of Jesus, the Holy Family, and the martyrs as those who with their own blood brought a free and bloodless ability to perform daily sacrifice to God, who merits this sacrifice from the faithful, since it is from God that all goodness comes. When Catholics gaze upon a statue of Mary, they are recalling a young girl who said “Yes” to the angel and who became the pure vessel of God… and who later had to watch her son be persecuted and die a physical death. People are not worshipping Mary, or the saints, because like the cherubim on the ark, Catholics understand that no spirit resides within the statuary. However, they can better understand the New Covenant by recognizing who has been blessed by God. Mary said “Generations shall call me blessed;” she did not say that generations will worship her. The key to understanding the imagery of the Catholic Church is to consider what I have explained above, how true, completely formed Catholics understand that the Church is the new temple where sacrifice to God continues to take place, in the form of the sanctified bread and wine. Catholics view each church building as the temple where the continuous celebration of the bloodless sacrifice of the lamb takes place in God’s presence. This is why even non believers often comment that they do not feel alone when they go into a Catholic Church. It is because the sacrifice to God of the lamb in bread and wine has taken place and is celebrated each day in honor of God, with no price of admission charged and no money changers for turtledoves. Therefore Catholics feel that because God instructed that cherubim placed in image of each side of the ark of the covenant, likewise the Church is to be provided with reminders and images that illuminate the sacrifice that is constantly celebrated within.

I hope this helps our very fruitful dialogue for mutual respect and understanding!