Hi all
TruthSeeker1 First of all Christians Dont worship anything besides God.
Second of all Yes as Catholics we venerate the Virgin Mary and the Saints as Holy people of God.
Where in the Bible does it say that you CANT use Statues as part of worship? the Bible forbids actual statue worship, but not the use of statues IN worship.
People Who oppose the use of statues in worship forget that God himself commanded the making of statues. For example,
"And you shall make two cherubim of gold [Two gold statues of Angels] of hammerd work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one peice of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with thier wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Ex 25:18-20)
see also Ezekiel 41:17-18
There are many places in the Bible where statues are located IN worship but are NOT worshipped.
Also see Num 21:8-9 here God tells Moses to MAKE a STATUE of a fiery serpent.
A picture of your mother on your living room wall is there to remind you of her. a picture of our Mother Mary is for the same purpose.
God Bless