If lord dislikes idol worshippers so much, whats with all the statues in a church?

Statues (in Catholic churches) and icons (in Orthodox churches) are not idols and they are not worshipped. They are foci for veneration of the persons they depict. The church includes all the people who have been parts of it since the beginning, not only those present at any time. Saints are those who achieved what we strive towards, and their representations aid us in our direction. Study a bit of liturgics, so you can tell the symbolism that statuary and iconography carry.