Image from Madrid
This picture is typical of the interior of many cathedrals is Spain. Imagine all the labor, passion and commitment that went into this. Imagine how removed this is from the simple worship of the King. Such beauty – such tragedy.
This picture is typical of the interior of many cathedrals is Spain. Imagine all the labor, passion and commitment that went into this. Imagine how removed this is from the simple worship of the King. Such beauty – such tragedy.
Ah, so difficult to leave pagan roots behind.
I agree. But don’t think we want to throw the baby out with the bath water 🙂
A lot of what I read in Everyman’s Talmud and Jesus the Jewish Theologian, I was taught by nuns and lay teachers as a child.
And when I studied The Jerusalem Bible (which I think is a Catholic translation) as a grad student, I thought to myself “OMG Jesus was a Jewish Theologian” ie, not a Christian.
Most things in this world have an upside and a downside.
On the upside, the Catholics taught me the value of the 10 commandments, how to confess my sins, to take responsibility for my actions, and find God in prayer in the solitude of the church.
And the “Catholic” culture of Spain, France, and Italy is inspiring to say the least.
On the downside, there is probably a good reason why Dante put a number of high level Catholics in the lower rungs of Hell 🙂
Beautiful, but idolatrous!
I recall Mister Pentecost, the late David du Plessis, saying, to people with a special devotion to the mother of Jesus, Mary, that he was her most obedient son. Because, he told, that at the wedding of Cana, Mary told the servants: “Whatever He says do this”. “So all of my life I’ ve done what He said me to do”.
It is outrageous when we realize that satan has stolen the name of the mother of Jesus, to start within christian churches an idolatry, after he had seduced a mulitutde with appartions of a demon that calls itself Mary. The messages coming from these “mary’s” have nothing in common with the character of the mother of Jesus, because the mother of Jesus never asked something for herself nor commanded people to do things that crash frontally with sound biblical teaching.
This is simply false religion and an insult to YHWH, Yeshua and the Holy Spirit! No wonder that the churches of these infected denominations get astray and run empty.
Just a counter – I don’t have quite as much of a problem with this – I know that Mary has a special place in Catholicism (a bit too special at points) but alot of saints get pretty lofty treatment (gilded and whatnot). I’d be curious to know how Jesus was depicted in the same cathedral before making a judgment on this picture.
Well I’m no expert on the subject, I converted from nothing to Catholicism for a few years (10 – 14).
I trained to be an alter boy and took weekly cathecism classes, but never learned anything about Mary other than she was the mother of Jesus.
My impression after travelling in southern Europe after grad school was striking in that Mary seemed to be such a dominant figure in the art and culture, while Jesus was either a crucified man, a saint, or a babe in her arms.
I tended to read it all in psychological terms: God the father, Mary the mother, and Jesus the son.
For me, Mary seemed sort of like an esthetic device; a concrete mediator between God and mankind. A sort of archetypal mother figure that all men and women can relate to.
For me, it is like King Lear’s love for his daughter, Dante’s love for Beatrice, or Cervantes’ love for Dulcinea.
It is not about physical love, it is about loving God (no thing).
I am always impressed at the devotion and passion shown in the iconography in these churches. It is overwhelmingly beautiful. I can only begin to imagine what it must have taken for the years and years of dedication to build such places.
At the same time, I am so sad. Jesus is merely one of the fixtures in the religious devotion to saints. How easy it is to forget that God used ORDINARY people as his instruments when these ordinary people are now ensconced in gold halos and wreathed in splendor. The tragedy is that all of this removes us from our humanness, our wretchedness and our inherent sinfulness. It fixes our attention on the beautific visions rather than on the God who brought His plans into being through broken human beings.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the imagery, the majesty and the splendor. I just know that it is a far cry from what really happened.
If these statues inspire you, then praise the God who works His wonders through us. They are only pagan if we allow them to steal our sight of the God who loves us beyond measure. If they take your vision away from His great gift in the Son, then put them aside and look clearly at the face of the Redeemer.
SOS, please , Skip, Patrick, or someone help me– too much going on, computer down, too, and one of the ‘” Today’s WordS” got lost; I had spent five seconds skimming it ( often do that when busy, and then later come back and study same). It was the past few days, all I can remember is it was on a word that should have been translated,”bowels”, but was not– -****This is very important to me, to find it.
I also have much to write about the Cathederals, Catholicism, Mary, but will do that later, the Lord willing.——- If any of you prayed for our military foster family, thanks, the husband is to arrive from Iraq via U.S. hospital in Germany. today in Central TX. Please continue to pray for this young family of three little girls, mother( her mother is Korean, and father Anglo—husband is Mexican , abandoned by his blood mother, when he was a year or so old. –They both are truly Christians– but life is very difficult for them. The military moves them back and forth, and him to Iraq often. He has now been injured. God let us become their mentors almost three years ago. At our ages, keeping up with three active little ones even to help them out, is very taxing.—The place where they had to move in Jan, this last move returning ” home”, had river flood waters backed up in the yard last week–causing more recent havoc. Because of the military’s change of his training plans, their own litle home was leased out, and they could not get into it.—- The adjustments of an injured father to be cared for is now upon the young wife.——- God is still on His throne; we will trust in, believe in, rely on that HOPE ! But I still think praying helps everyone involved. Thanks for help in both of the above areas! L.B. —
I will look into your request about the word, but I frankly do not remember anything like that this year. If I find it, I’ll send it along.
Skip
Lavaye, I don’t remember this either. But on the right hand side of this website, there is a “Search” box that might assist you. And right below that is a calendar. Click on the past few days and you’ll see all the posts that were from that day. Hope that assists you.
Lavaye, I checked all of the Today’s Word editions for 2007-2009. There is no word “bowels” in any of them. Perhaps you had it confused with an article. The Greek word for compassion, splanchnon, is from a root that means “intestines”. Maybe that’s what you had in mind.
Skip
I FOUND IT! eureka! THANK YOU BOTH, SKIP, PATRICK, IT TOOK BOTH OF YOU TO HELP ME locate it, AND I AM SO HUMBLED BY THE FACT THAT YOU TOOK SO MUCH TIME TO HELP ME, WHEN YOU BOTH ARE SO BUSY! WORDS OF THANKS ARE NOT ADEQUATE–TRUELY—
As earlier stated, I barely skimmed several articles; had dozens of other pressing things to do, then could not locate it again.
It is ” Paradigm Shift”, May 3, 2009: Topical Index : emotions, feelings, kilyah, kilah, Psalm 16: 7, worldview, KIDNEYS-(-was the word that I was replace in my memory with ” bowels”- interior of anything-) — I have printed THIS NOW, and will study it, so much in there, and I relate in many ways to one particular area of it. G-D has done something very neat in my life in one of those areas. I Hope to write about that sometime, too. For now, my time and energy is needed by too many people that God has placed in front of me to help, teach, and pray for.
AGAIN, SKIP, PATRICK, YOU WENT BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY— MAY THE HEAVENLY FATHER REWARD YOU 100 FOLD OVER! L.B.
When I saw this image of Mary, I was immediately reminded of Paul’s “Men of Athens” sermon in Acts 17: “I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship…etc” Then he says: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands…Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.” Even Paul admired the “religiousity” of the Athenians and marveled at their craftmanship…but to Paul, it also reminded Him of the fact that God could not be imaged by human hands nor could His glory be contained in gold, silver, stone….and the call to worship became…repent.