Do Images of God Break the Commandments?

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I was talking with a Protestant friend who asked me why Catholics have pictures of the whole Trinity depicted as three men. He said he saw this in artwork and also in a cathedral in which they held mass shown in EWTN TV. He said he understands if Jesus is shown as a man since He became a man, but why the Father and Holy Spirit?

I could understand if God was depicted as a pillar of cloud or fire, since He showed Himself this way in the OT. Or the Holy Spirit could be shown as a dove or tongues of fire, as this was depicted in the New Testament. However, he said that this Catholic practice of showing 3 men contradicted the passage below from Dt. 4 (below in NAB)

10 There was the day on which you stood before the LORD, your God, at Horeb, and he said to me, 'Assemble the people for me; I will have them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me as long as they live in the land and may so teach their children.' 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, which blazed to the very sky with fire and was enveloped in a dense black cloud. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He proclaimed to you his covenant, which he commanded you to keep: the ten commandments, which he wrote on two tablets of stone. 14 The LORD charged me at that time to teach you the statutes and decrees which you are to observe over in the land you will occupy. 15 "You saw no form at all on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire. Be strictly on your guard, therefore, 16 not to degrade yourselves by fashioning an idol to represent any figure, whether it be the form of a man or a woman, 17 of any animal on the earth or of any bird that flies in the sky, 18 of anything that crawls on the ground or of any fish in the waters under the earth. 19 And when you look up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or any star among the heavenly hosts, do not be led astray into adoring them and serving them. These the LORD, your God, has let fall to the lot of all other nations under the heavens;

My friend directed me to this passage and showed how God specifically did not show them any form of Himself, and he said that Catholics are breaking this command from God by making the figures of the Trinity in the form of 3 men.

I searched the Catechism and this was the closest I could find that seemed to touch on this topic:

2779 Before we make our own this first exclamation of the Lord's Prayer, we must humbly cleanse our hearts of certain false images drawn "from this world." Humility makes us recognize that "no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him," that is, "to little children." The purification of our hearts has to do with paternal or maternal images, stemming from our personal and cultural history, and influencing our relationship with God. God our Father transcends the categories of the created world. To impose our own ideas in this area "upon him" would be to fabricate idols to adore or pull down. To pray to the Father is to enter into his mystery as he is and as the Son has revealed him to us.

The expression God the Father had never been revealed to anyone. When Moses himself asked God who he was, he heard another name. The Father's name has been revealed to us in the Son, for the name "Son" implies the new name "Father."

Please explain this all to me. Thank you and God bless,

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), May 09, 2004

Answers

bump

-- (bump@bump.bump), May 09, 2004.

Pictures of God are there because we believe that because Christ came to earth in the form of a man that we could now make images of God. The Herbrews did not have pictures because they did not know what their God looked like. So to avoid making God something that he wasn't, they did not try to draw him.

The issue of the three men is a bit different. It is just an artists renditioning of the Trinity. The Trinity is draw many different ways. Use of the dove, tounges of fire for the Holy Spirit, for instance.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), May 09, 2004.


Scott, Thanks for your response. My friend did not necessarily object to pictures of Jesus as a man, since we know that Jesus came as a man. However, he said that we still don't know what God the Father looked like, so it would be wrong to portray Him as a man. And the Holy Spirit did not come in the form of a man either, so this would also be wrong to portray Him as a man.

I guess I'm asking, does the Catholic Church agree that it's wrong, and this particular picture was a violation of that? Or is there some other explanation?

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), May 09, 2004.


Please go here for answering your Protestant friend.

-- Andrew (andyhbk96@hotmail.com), May 10, 2004.

" we still don't know what God the Father looked like, so it would be wrong to portray Him as a man"

A: God the Father doesn't "look like" anything. He is pure Spirit, and that is what the Church teaches. So, the only choices are to portray Him as something we are familiar with, or not to portray Him at all. Since Jesus was/ is a man, and spoke of God as His Father, it is natural to portray His Father as a man also - generally a very old and wise-looking man. But this is simply an artist's concept. It has nothing to do with Church teaching on the subject of the Trinity. Your friend says we don't know what God the Father looks like, so it would be wrong to portray Him as a man. However, Jesus revealed God as our "Father". Therefore, since Jesus said God is a "father" ask your friend if it is acceptable to portray God as a "father". Then ask Him how we would portray Him as a father without portraying Him as a man. Incidentally, we don't really know what Jesus looked like either, as the great variation in different artists' portrayals indicates.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), May 10, 2004.



In Genesis Abraham is visited by what looks like 3 men - but who turn out to be either "the angel of Yahweh" or a theophany of God himself.

There's no reason to think that the Trinity can't appear as 3 men if God so wants to be revealed. After all, God isn't a cloud or fire or volcano or wind...they all are "messengers" IMAGES which are used to reveal his presence.

Ask yourself what exactly a word is... an image, a sign...of something else!

Then meditate on what it means for "The word became flesh..."!

-- Joe (joestong@yahoo.com), May 10, 2004.


Don't a lot of Muslims also get really serious and literal about pictures and images?

-- mark advent (adventm5477@earthlink.net), May 10, 2004.

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