Reading more is better than reading less. LOL. Anything material is graven. The Temple and the Ark also contains graven images. Do you exist in spirit only?

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me

Well you make God contradict Himself then based on your interpretation of scripture. But Catholics do not worship the statues in itself. We honour and venerate the persons representated by the images be it statues, icons, paintings or photographs. And we have distinctions in worship. Do read back from the beginning of the Catholic thread v1 and v2 for more details.

He did even better than what you think He forbade. He came in the flesh, allowing people to see and touch Him!

“The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us.”

Your iconoclasm (an ancient heresy that has been dealt with by the Church), is an attack on the Incarnation.

Iconoclasm was a frontal assault on that seeable, touchable, and holdable attribute of the Church. Iconoclasm and the Iconoclasts would have eradicated that visible notion of the Church and made her the invisible entity, the “mere Christianity,” that she has become today in the minds of many. By seeking to suppress the very visible representations of Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Mother, and the Communion of Saints in Heaven, the Iconoclasts attempted to de-Incarnationalize Christianity and replace it with an immaterial and ethereal contemplation of God. To de-Incarnationalize Christianity is to remove the visible essence of the Church and her moral authority from the mind, to eradicate the priestly hierarchy, and to break down the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Once the Church and her visible essence have been removed from the mind, the other Authority — the State — soon fills the vacuum, and its “civil” religion replaces that of the True Faith. There are many examples of this in history, including the Protestant Revolt. Wherever Protestantism took hold (often accompanied by Iconoclasm), the end product was the consolidation of power — both civil and religious — in the hands of the State.

Iconoclasm comes from the Greek Eikonoclasmos , which is literally “image breaking.” Eradication of the visible representations, in any form, be it statues or paintings of Christ, His Mother, or the Saints, was the end to which Iconoclasts strove. The rise of Iconoclasm can be traced to a variety of causes, all coming together at that particular time in history. As is the case with all heresy, we are dealing not only with a doctrinal error, but also with historical circumstances which form its particular character.

The Iconoclast position de-Incarnationalizes religion and turns it into a form of Manichaeism, where flesh is evil and the corporate body of the Church is replaced by the individual’s immaterial contemplation of a God who is no longer “the Word made Flesh.”

Carried to its extreme, Iconoclasm becomes Docetism, where God merely appears to use a body of flesh. Docetism is very much alive in many modern Christian heresies.

“Of old, God the incorporeal and uncircumscribed was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, and conversing with men (Bar. 3:38), I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. I will not cease from honoring that matter which works my salvation. I venerate it, though not as God. How could God be born out of lifeless things? And if God’s body is God by union, it is immutable. The nature of God remains the same as before, the flesh created in time is quickened by a logical and reasoning soul. I honor all matter besides, and venerate it. Through it, filled, as it were, with a divine power and grace, my salvation has come to me. Was not the thrice happy and thrice blessed wood of the Cross matter? Was not the sacred and holy mountain of Calvary matter? What of the life-giving rock, the Holy Sepulchre, the source of our resurrection: was it not matter? Is not the most holy book of the Gospels matter? Is not the blessed table matter which gives us the Bread of Life? Are not the gold and silver matter, out of which crosses and altar-plate and chalices are made? And before all these things, is not the Body and Blood of Our Lord matter? Either do away with the veneration and worship due to all these things, or submit to the tradition of the Church in the worship of images, honoring God and His friends, and following in this the grace of the Holy Spirit. Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable.”

-- St John Damascene

Regarding the use of incense, it is merely to symbolise the prayers of the faithful rising to heaven and also used even in the Old Testament as a purification ritual.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me

In Exodus 20:3-6 God forbids making graven images for the purpose of idolatry but does not forbid the making of graven images per se. Elsewhere he commands that statues and other graven images be carved for religious purposes. The Catholic Church permits statues because they remind us of unseen things, but it condemns the idolatry of statue worship. Simple as that.

18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

To idiot K-Tards in LYN who think The One Holy Catholic Church is endorsing gay marriage ...     



WHAT DID THE POPE REALLY SAY?

Lots of sputtering about blessings, given or withheld with the latest media spin on our Holy Father’s words on the issue.

On blessings:
Re: the Holy Father and his Dicastry.

It's the spin the press wants.
It is NOT the point of the Holy Father's words.

Remember at every Mass the priest blesses sinners: couples living together, those using contraception, adulterers, etc etc. AND that's the point of the blessing: God deigns to bless everyone. What we DO with the Grace the blessing imparts is up to us.
The pope is simply saying that a priest can bless anyone/everyone. He also notes that a priest can consecrate ONLY males with females for the blessing of marriage. There is a distinction (always has been) in the point and power/authority of blessings. Some can be given by the non ordained if given in an individual's name, like a dad giving HIS blessing to a marriage.

But when done in the name of the whole Body, ordination is a prerequisite.

Now the Church is stating the obvious (as it often does) that in the Name of the Church, a priest can bless a gay couple, as in asking God to help and guide them. He CANNOT bless a gay couple in the manner of uniting them as one in a covenant relationship forever.
The "matter" is not present for the "form" to be used or be effective. (If i consecrate pretzels and beer at a campus Mass the "matter" required, bread and wine is not present, and the "form" is not effective. The lack of the proper matter indicates that it is being done outside the mind of the Church and cannot be effective outside the Body's intent.)

Remember in the sacrament of marriage a Priest/deacon acts as a witness. The COUPLE ENACT THE SACRAMENT. the ordained simply testifies to the effectiveness of their act as according to the faith of the church

Same with marriage.  The "matter" is the male/female couple. Not present, not effective, not in the mind of the Church. BUT JUST AS I BLESS MANY THINGS at a given Mass (water) and ask God to help the persons, the objects etc to become a sign of grace, it is NOT the same as a consecratory blessing( eg. Of the bread and wine).  Our Holy Father isn't saying anything really new.

If we can bless a house, we can bless people in need or those seeking God's love.
Blessings do not impart approval. They impart grace which can help lead to approval.