Another way to understand idolatry and not

People sometimes think Christian churches, especially Catholic churches, contain idols. I've written extensively on this and quoted from scripture demonstrating this is not true. However just now I have thought of another way to explain it using one of my, yes, ubiquitous analogies.

When a religious object manufacturer or craftsman makes a Christian object, such as a statue, a rosary, or the vessels used in the sacraments, it is never their thought that they are putting the power of the sacrament or the venerated saint in the object he or she is fashioning. No one is sitting there making a rosary and thinking they are creating a "holy" object with the essence of Mary within it. Likewise the craft person who forges in metal the holy vessels is not thinking to himself that he is making the object that causes the sacrament to take place, such as the presence of Jesus in the sacrament.

As the Bible explains in the Old Testament, idolaters are humans who think they are manipulating the supernatural in their own hands. They think they can take a rock or piece of wood and by their own intention create a "magic" object. They then worship the artifacts of their own making.

This is totally different from Christian beliefs, where there is no sanctity given to the wood, plaster, gold or cloth of the object when it is first obtained as raw material, and there is no belief that the spirit of sanctity of God or a saint "enters into" the object when it is fashioned and completed. The religious decorations of the church are part of enclosing the sacred space within which prayer and worship takes place. The earliest churches had decorations of mosaics on the floor which remain for us to study, and it is clear that no one was worshipping the mosaics or thinking that God or Jesus Christ's spirit resides in the flooring.

Anyway, I hope this comparison and analogy helps. I have a feeling that in the past year there has been much more clarity on this subject; that is my general impression, but it never hurts to put forth yet another way to approach the truth and clarity in an easy to understand way.