Religious Images​—How Do You View Them?

IN 1888 there was massive flooding in Canton, China. Continuous rain ruined the crops. Desperately the peasants prayed to their god Lung-wong to make the downpour cease, but in vain. Angered by the indifference of their deity, they jailed his image for five days! Some years before, the same god had ignored their prayers to end a drought. They chained his image outdoors in the searing heat.

In 1893 a drought struck Sicily. Religious processions, candles lit in the churches, and prayers to images all failed to produce rain. Having lost patience, the peasants stripped some images of their robes, turned the faces of others to the wall, and even dunked some in horseponds! In Licata, “Saint” Angelo was stripped, chained, reviled, and threatened with hanging. In Palermo, Italy, “Saint” Joseph was dumped in a parched garden to await rain.

These incidents, related in the book The Golden Bough, by Sir James George Frazer, have disturbing implications. They indicate that both professed Christians and non-Christians seem to have identical views of religious images. In both cases, worshipers used their images as a means of contacting a “saint” or a god. And interestingly, both tried to spur their tardy “saints” or gods to action by inflicting upon them the uncomfortable conditions their worshipers were experiencing!

Today, though, many who use religious images would view such actions as extreme, perhaps even laughable. They would argue that for them images are merely objects of respect​—not worship. They might even claim that statues, crosses, and religious paintings are legitimate aids in worshiping God. Perhaps you feel the same way. But the question is: How does God feel about this? Could it be that veneration of an image really amounts to worshiping it? Is it possible that such practices actually pose hidden dangers?