I am an orthodox Christian, ask me a question!

[Jon Paul]

1.Why do Catholics worship idols when it is strictly forbidden in the scriptures?
Exodus 20:4,5
4Thou 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.

Catholics don't worship anything except God. Catholics don't believe any image, or any creature, or any other created thing, to be God, and thus do not worship it.

For instance, the word God is a symbol, pointing to something outside of the word itself: God. We don't worship the symbol of God, namely the word God; we worship that which it symbolises and points to, namely God.

An image of Christ is a SYMBOL, which points to something outside of itself (Christ). It is not in itself the Christ (obviously); it is not in itself God (obviously). Therefore, Catholics do not worship any image, any symbol; symbols are strictly pointers towards things outside of the symbols themselves. Symbols are themselves empty, only what they are pointing to has any meaning.

Catholics only use symbols to point to something outside of the symbol that they do worship.

For instance, the word "Christ" is not itself Christ. It's simply a symbol pointing TO Christ.

The word "God" is not in itself God. It's a symbol pointing to God.

And we do worship God, but we don't worship the symbol.

5Thou 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;

2.Why do Catholics cannonize men or women that they deem to be holy and then worship them when it is strictly forbidden in the scriptures?
Acts 10:25,26
25And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.

26But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.

We do not worship St. Peter or any other canonised saint.

We only worship God.

Saints are friends of God, created human beings, who have followed the will of their Creator and our Creator, and been given His graces, and become holy. In this they set an example for their human brethren in the faith (us). We revere the Saints for their holiness, but we don't worship them, and we don't consider them anything else than most holy, created human beings. They bring us closer to our common Creator, and we thank God for them.

It is even forbidden to worship angels too did you know that?
Revelations 19:10
10And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We do not worship angels or any other created beings.

3.Why do Catholics worship Mary when she is not supposed to be an object of worship?
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Mary is certainly not worshipped. Mary is the Mother of God; she is a woman who followed in accord to Gods will and therefore was given many graces by God to bear God incarnate himself.

We thank Mary for bearing God and for giving God to the world; because it's in Gods incarnation that we receive our salvation and forgiveness of sins, and spiritual restitution to holiness, and in whom we live and breathe, so nothing is more important, and Mary is the holiest and most important human being before Christ for this fact, and the example she sets is for all humanity. So yes, we revere her holiness. But we do not worship her, and we don't consider her anything else than a most holy, created woman and human being.

This last verse also applies to the Pope whom many Catholics believe is Gods intercessor on Earth although the bible teaches that that is what Jesus came for.

Jesus was not merely Gods intercessor, but God himself incarnate.

As to the Pope, he is merely a human being, and is not worshipped. His only role is to follow Gods will, guide the Church after Gods will while it is in this world; and to lead humanity to Christ.

We'll start with those I have a thousand more or so.

The objections you raise are all based on the false grounds that "Catholics worship something else than God". They do not. Your objections are typically raised by ignorant, fundamentalist indoctrinated American evangelicals, so I can only guess that is what you are, or that is what your background is. No wonder you became an atheist.