Catholics and the UCC

I don't post here much but you guys might like this one.

The minister who handled my MIL funeral is the sister of my wife's grandmother. Very sweet articulate woman and did a great job. She is a member of the United Church of Christ.

We were driving to the airport and my wife begins to tell me that Aunt Janet told her that Catholics are different from other Christians because they don't believe that Jesus was ever taken down from the cross. Hence, when you go to a Catholic church they have the cross with Jesus on it.

Being a Catholic I started to chuckle and said 'No we don't! Affirmation of Faith...Crucified, died , buried and risen again!"

To which she says, 'We she went to seminary school, she should know!"

To which I said, 'I went to CCD and have been a Catholic all my life, I think I know!"

WTHeck? Where did she get that idea?

 

I never cease to be amazed at what people assume & accept as true! Especially about what other people & groups supposedly "believe."

I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, although I'm not a Catholic now. Never was I taught anything that even hinted at Jesus never being taken down from the cross. Crucified, died, buried, rose again. Where does this stuff come from???

I think people just get a tidbit of (often questionable) information, put their own interpretations on it, & as it spreads around, the falsehoods grow. Even to the point of being taught in schools, including universities.

If you want to know what anybody believes, go to the source. I'm not gonna ask Muslims what Jews believe, & I'm not gonna ask Protestants what Catholics believe--& so on with any subject. Aunt Janet may be sincere in her acceptance of this BS, but she's misinformed.

 

I've been to several Catholic churches and your aunt has a point. Alot of crosses in the church have Christ on them. If the RCC teaches Christ resurrected & ascended back to Heaven, why do they continue to portray him as crucified?

 

Why do those who consider themselves Christian in general, whether Catholic, Protestant, or otherwise, portray crosses at all--on steeples, as a focal point in the church building, in jewelry & elsewhere? I've heard opinions from those who think the cross itself is idolized, whether it has the Christ-figure on it or not. I think most Christians simply regard it as a symbol to remind them of what their savior was willing to suffer on their behalf.

 

Because that was the seminal moment in his life. The time when he had a chance to renounce God and possibly save himself. A choice that he himself anguished over during that moment.

Instead of saving himself, he chose to save all of us.

 

Guilt factor, maybe?

 

Excellent point. I think in many settings, crosses and/or crucifixes have indeed become idols. It's a dangerous practice, IMHO, to place much focus on visual symbols of Christianity. It's the main reason I refuse to wear a cross. If someone wants to put his faith on display, my feeling is that he should be doing it by how he lives, not by what he wears.

 

Until very recently there was a lot of open hostility and propaganda among Protestant churches against Catholics, so I'm not surprised that she was told something like that, although I am surprised if she was gullible enough to believe it. I remember going to one "Christian" bookstore in Gaston Mall as a kid with my mom and seeing a comic book of sorts with the Pope depicted as the anti-Christ. My mother was obviously horrified and we never went back.

But back to the point, it seems logical that the crucifix is intended to remind people what Christianity is all about, which is the idea that Jesus suffered and died on the cross so that believers might be blessed with everlasting life in heaven. Hasbeen has a point about the concern regarding idolatry, which I believe is the root of Eastern Orthodox rejection of the crucifix and other imagery, which would much later repeat itself with the Protestant split. I might be incorrectly remembering some of that, though.

Personally I happen to think that while the concern about idolatry might have some validity, I think it tends to be overblown. I also believe that the more churches distance themselves from the image of Christ on the cross, the more they can get away from the true meaning of the religion and sort of "lose Jesus" into becoming a generic belief or moral system. That's not to say that people should necessarily wear the cross, but that at least churches should have that imagery so people don't forget the whole point. Following the Ten Commandments isn't Christianity unless you also believe that Jesus died for your sins, and that his sacrifice opened the way for eternal life.