Garden Decor, Gnomes, Statues & Yard Art

A question about statues of the saints?

I have a statue of Saint Fraincis in my garden. I do not worship the statue, pray to it, nor think it has any great powers. I have it there because I really like the story of the life of St. Francis, and that’s all. Is it really wrong as a Christian to have a statue of a historic figure because he happens to be a saint (and many Christians don’t like the idea of the Catholic saints)?
clusium- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that Catholics aren’t Christians…I was speaking of fundamentalists and the like when I referred to “some Christians.”
Super- It’s only an “idol” if I worship it. What if I had a statue of Shakespeare? Is that an idol, too?

No, honoring St. Francis with a statue is certainly not wrong or idolatrous, for just the reasons you stated.

Idolatry means worshiping a false god. The presence or absence of a sculture is incidental. Idolatry was associated with sculptures because we could see people dancing around a golden image of a calf or sacrificing their children to a grotesque image of Moloch. But the real idolatry was in worshiping a false god of orgies or child sacrifice.

I’m going to make a strong claim: No one ever worships the image. They either worship the Creator, with or without images, or they worship an imaginary god, with or without images.

Cheers,
Bruce

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Jim Shore Heartwood Creek St. Francis Garden Statue $69.99 A Heartwood Creek rendition of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals. This lovely 25" garden statue is designed to withstand the nature's harshest elements. During the off season it makes a wonderful indoor accent piece as well. Richly colored, hand painted, and old-fashioned, this figurine will rekindle warm thoughts from years ago. "Heartwood Creek" from Jim Shore and your friends at Enesc...

St. Francis Garden Statue $129 St. Francis Garden Statue With Bird And Animal Accents And Stone Finish, 10"L X 8"W X 22"H, Polystone

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Flowers from the Garden of St. Francis: For Every Day in the Year (1882) $12.73 Flowers from the Garden of St. Francis: For Every Day in the Year (1882)

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