When Catholics enter a Church do they not Kneel before the image of Christ on a cross? the they literally "cross themselves while kneeling before this Idol? I see it done all the time, is this not worshiping an idol?

My favorite line is "if you want to make G-D laugh, tell HIM your plans"

Some excellant answers in this comment !!!

I love this!  It reminds me of a Proverb in the Jewish Scriptures: 

"A man's heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps."  Proverbs 16:9

Thanks for your explanation Leauki.  It proved most helpful.  Although I see this Messenger of the Lord a bit differently than you do.  Notice what it says as you continue to read two verses later in Joshua 6:2.   I explain who I think this Angel is here if you wish to check it out: 

http://kfc.joeuser.com/article/331786/Angels_Among_Us

I tend to have a very pragmatic attitude towards ancient texts.

I'll check the rest of the chapter. But it takes me a long time to read scripture, as you know.

I'll have a look.

I want to thank everyone for turning this article into a rare for these days 100 responses.

MM posts:

To start, let's be clear......since the days of the Apostles, the Church has condemned the sin of idolatry...always has and always will. Idolatry is committed by worshipping idols and images as God, or believing that the statue or image itself possess any divinity or virtue entitling them to our worship.

In response to your first and third question......Read God's Commandment again. Almighty God forbids idolatry, not the making or proper use of images which is what a statue is. I went over that in my last post on this subject. There are no idols in any Catholic Church.  So the statue is an image of Christ Crucified on the Cross, not an idol, and Catholics aren't so foolish as to commit so serious a sin to worship or adore it or any other statue that is in the Church. 

Tell me, do you honor our flag by lifting off your hat and crossing your heart and our dead soldiers by going to the cemetary and seeing their headstone and paying them tributes of respect? I bet you do and when you do, are you honoring the fabric of the flag, the flag itself, or the headstone, or are you honoring what the flag stands for and the memory of the person himself? Having the statues in Catholic Churches are a way we honor Christ and those who are in Heaven. It's certainly lawful to honor the the memorials of the dead heroes of Christianity, the Saints.

When Catholics enter the sanctuary of the Chruch and before sitting in their seat, they genuflect, that is, kneel on one knee, in reverence for entering into the presence of Our Lord Whom we believe is present in the Tabernacle. When we kneel in Chruch we are not worshipping the statues there. When Catholics enter the sanctuary, we believe we are in God's presence, and since we believe that Christ is God, we offer Him tribute of our deep reverence and worship by kneeling. You too, would kneel before Christ, if you believed as Catholics do.

Yes, Catholics literally make the sign of the Cross while kneeling, while standing up, at prayer before meals, anywhere they want, in the car and before we close our eyes and go to sleep. The Cross is the sign and spirit of true Christianity. We say with Saint Paul, "God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The early Christians made very much of the sign of the Cross even as we do today. Tertuillan, one of our early Church Fathers who died in 240AD, wrote, "In all our travels, in our coming in and going out, ..in going to rest, whatever employment occupies us, we mark oursleves with the sign of the Cross." St.Ephrem wrote, "...mark all your actions with the sign of the life-giving Cross." The sign of the Cross is a protecting wall around us and all our conduct.     

And, btw, according to Sacred Scripture, you too will kneel before Christ at your Judgment.

Lula, you are deceiving yourself. 

how many kneel at a flag and pray to it? 

I'm glad you did put "we believe" because this is not true; that is, it's not biblical.  You may want to read the book of Hebrews again. 

KFC POSTS:

Not really, However, you, my dear KFC, have unfortunately been programmed by Protestant oral tradition to think as much.

Please read my post again, KFC. We Catholics do not kneel and pray and worship statues. Period. Don't be riduculous.   

In England, some people kneel before the Queen to receive an honor without worshipping her as a god(dess)!

In the same way, Catholics who may kneel in front of a statue while praying aren't worshipping the statue or even praying to IT any more than a Protestant who kneels with a Bible in her hands when praying is worshipping the Bible or praying to IT.

Early in its history, Israel was forbidden to make any depictions of God becasue He had not revealed Himself in a visible form. Given the pagan culture surrounding them, the Israelites may have been tempted to worship God in the form of an animal or the sun, etc.

But later on, God did reveal Himself..in the Incarnation of Christ, His Son, God showed mankind Himself. St.Paul said, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all Creation." Christ, therefore is the tangible, divine of the unseen, Infinite God. The bottom line is that when God made the New Covenant with us, He did reveal Himself under a visible form in Jesus Christ. For that reason we can make representations of God in Christ. Common sense tells us that since God has revealed Himself in various images, another is when the Magi were "going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, His mother...", and most especially the Incarnate Christ, it's not wrong or idolatrous for us to use images of these forms to deepen our knowledge and love of God. God revealed Himself in these visible forms and that's why statues and pictures are made of them.

What anti-Catholics fail to recognize is the distinction between thinking a piece of stone or plaster is a god and desiring to visually remember Christ and His Saints in Heaven by making stautes in their honor. The making and use of religious statues is a thoroughly Biblical practice. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know his/her Bible.

Lula posts:

Yes, Catholics believe that Christ is Personally, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity present in the Holy Eucharist which is placed in the Tabernacle. When Christ allowed St.Thomas to touch His wounds , St. Thomas said, "MY Lord and My God". The same Christ left Himself present in the Eucharist when He said, "This is My Body" and when Catholics come into His presence, they offer Him the tribute of deep reverence by genuflecting when they enter and leave the sanctuary and by kneeling to worship, offer Him praise and to pray to Him.

Oh com'on and you're not programmed?  Are you kidding me????  That's what Catechism is all about.  Didn't you know that?  I didn't have a protestant version of Catechism.  There's no such thing. 

You know as well as I do Lula.  I was born and baptized Catholic as was my husband.  So if anything I wouldn't say I've been programed in the Protestant tradition so much as "set free" from the Catholic traditions.  If anything I can see it much clearer by stepping out of the CC. 

anti-Catholic?  hmmmm that's what I am?  Just like you're anti-choice Lula? 

Anyhow.  I brought two young teens to a Baptist service once.  They were both raised in Eastern Orthodoxy which is similar to the CC.  There are some differences but basically they're pretty close.  Anyhow they have icons instead of statues in their churches in Bulgaria.   One girl whispered to the other "how can they pray?  They have no icons in this church." 

The other girl whispered back.  "They pray by faith." 

That's how we're supposed to pray.  By faith. 

I have an Eastern Orthodox friend in Egypt, and she has told me the same thing.  Russian Orthodoxy is saturated with icons (as a side note). 

KFC, I'm not sure what we are going to accomplish by accusing the Catholic church of idolatry?

I am a Messianic believing Jew.  During a Torah processional I bow before the Torah and with a book or Tzitzit touch the Torah and then bring it to my lips.  I am in no means worshiping the Torah but I do recognize this as the Word of G-D.

There are similar things in Christianity and other religions as well.  

I think it's probably a matter of degree.

KFC probably feels that Catholics exaggerate it a bit. She says she was Catholic once. She probably felt that the ritual stands between G-d and believers.