Protestant
Doesn't the Bible forbid statues and images?
The commandment forbids worshiping idols as gods, not making religious images, since God himself commanded Moses to make graven images of cherubim and a bronze serpent for sacred use.
Catholic teaching
Catholics do not worship statues; they use images as aids to prayer and reminders of the saints and Christ, honoring what the image represents, exactly as Israel honored the ark and cherubim without worshiping the gold itself.
Biblical foundation
Exodus 20:4-5 forbids making images 'to worship them'; yet in Exodus 25:18-20 God commands golden cherubim on the ark, and in Numbers 21:8-9 commands a bronze serpent for the people to look upon and be healed — proving sacred images are not intrinsically idolatrous.
Scripture references
Historical evidence
Archaeological finds like the third-century Dura-Europos house church show Christian religious art in use from the earliest centuries, well before any supposed medieval corruption.
The Church Fathers
“The honor paid to the image passes to the prototype.”