It is the worship of anything but God that is wrong and sinful. The mere images, symbols or icons doesn't constitute idolotry. Remember Moses and the brass serpent? How about in the Holy of Holies? Were not images of angels made by the command of God?
According to the bible, idoloters really believed their idols were gods. This isn't the case with Catholic and Orthodox symbols. When God gave the commandment regarding idloltry, I think He meant for it to be understood in the literal form.
Let's take a look at this again, this time from Scripture.
Do you remember the events of Paul entering Ephesus in Acts 19 where the great statue (idol) of Diana was situated.
Acts 19:22-24 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
--Demetrius was a businessman. He didn't care about Christianity, and for that matter he probably didn't care about the cult of Diana. His god was money. He made the "statuettes" of this goddess that others would "worship." And he made "no small gain." In other words he made a lot of money from this trade.
Acts 19:26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
19:24-26. silver shrines for--"of"
Diana--small models of the Ephesian temple and of the shrine or chapel of the goddess, or of the shrine and statue alone, which were purchased by visitors as memorials of what they had seen, and were carried about and deposited in houses as a charm. (The models of the chapel of our Lady of Loretto, and such like, which the Church of Rome systematically encourages, are such a palpable imitation of this heathen practice that it is no wonder it should be regarded by impartial judges as Christianity paganized). (Jamieson, Faucett and Brown)
Acts 19:27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
--There were many small statuettes of Diana, but there was one great temple that housed a "great goddess of Diana."
19:27 “also the temple of the great goddess Diana . . . despised, and her magnificence . . .” destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth--It was reckoned one of the wonders of the world. It was built about 550 B.C., of pure white marble, and though burned by a fanatic on the night of the birth of Alexander the Great, 356 B.C., was rebuilt with more splendor than before. It was four hundred twenty-five feet long by two hundred twenty broad, and the columns, one hundred twenty-seven in number, were sixty feet in height, each of them the gift of a king, and thirty-six of them enriched with ornament and color. It was constantly receiving new decorations and additional buildings, statues, and pictures by the most celebrated artists, and kindled unparalleled admiration, enthusiasm, and superstition. Its very site is now a matter of uncertainty. The little wooden image of Diana was as primitive and rude as its shrine was sumptuous; not like the Greek Diana, in the form of an imposing huntress, but quite Asiatic, in the form of a many-breasted female (emblematic of the manifold ministrations of Nature to man), terminating in a shapeless block. Like some other far-famed idols, it was believed to have fallen from heaven (Ac 19:35), and models of it were not only sold in immense numbers to private persons, but set up for worship in other cities [HOWSON]. What power must have attended the preaching of that one man by whom the death blow was felt to be given to their gigantic and witching superstition! (Jamieson, Faucett and Brown)
19:27 “But also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised.” This temple, so celebrated, was regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. It was two hundred and twenty years in building, before it was brought to perfection. It was built at the expense of all Asia Minor. The original object of worship among the Ephesians was a small statue of Diana, of elm or ebony, made by one Canitias, though commonly believed in those days to have been sent down from heaven by Jupiter. It was merely an Egyptian hieroglyphic with many breasts, representing the goddess of Nature--under which idea Diana was probably worshipped at Ephesus.
“Whom all Asia. All Asia Minor. And the world.” Other parts of the world. The temple had been built by contributions from a great number of princes; and doubtless multitudes from all parts of the earth came to Ephesus to pay their homage to Diana. (Barnes)
Acts 19:35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
19:35 he said . . . what man . . . knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana--literally, the neocoros or "warden." The word means "temple-sweeper"; then, "temple-guardian." Thirteen cities of Asia had an interest in the temple, but Ephesus was honored with the charge of it. (Various cities have claimed this title with reference to the Virgin or certain saints) [WEBSTER and WILKINSON]. (Jamieson, Faucett, Brown)
Please note, Lori, that Diana was the goddess of fertility. The people of Ephesus, and in fact all over the known world would bow down in front of this idol, and replicas of it, and worship "Diana"
the goddess that the statue represented. They were not worshiping something made of stone or wood. They worshiped what it stood for. They worshiped the spirit--the goddess of fertility, of Nature, that the statue(s) represented.
The same is true in the RCC. You bow down in front of statues. You don't say that you worship the statue. No religion does. You worship Mary or whatever saint the statue represents. That is true of every pagan religion. They don't worship the wood or stone. They worship the god which the statue represents. That is idolatry, and the very idolatry that the RCC practices, which is here demonstrated very well in Acts 19
