Idol Worship?

Q

A Pastor spoke today on having images in the house like birds, fish, and of course, statues. He said they are to be removed so as not to defile the house and ourselves.

I can understand that if one has images of dragons or anything satanic for sure as that opens up the doors to the occult. I don’t have any of those. I do have gifts given me for decoration i.e. ceramic angels, cats etc. Needless to say I don’t ‘worship’ them. But the fact they are here, should they be removed?

A

The prohibition against images (Exodus 20:4-5) was given in the context of idol worship. There is nothing wrong with having statues of things in your house as long as they’re not objects of worship. Think about it. Photographs and paintings are images. Are we supposed to get rid of them, too? Should we throw out any book or magazine with a picture in it? Or how about videos or home movies, or for that matter our TV? If we have children, are we to get rid of their dolls and teddy bears? Where would it end? Your pastor must have been speaking about worshiping idols.