I spent 15 years researching and writing about the medieval cult of saints and relics, especially reliquaries. There is mounds of witness testimony of miracles. When I see someone like Christopher Hitchens or Dawkins spouting off, I somehow know that they have never been exposed to those mountains of evidence.
So does touching a medal to a first-class relic make the medal a third-class relic?
It sounds like a fascinating field of study. Evidence doesn’t matter to people like Hitchens and Dawkins. It’s really quite the opposite of a “scientific” viewpoint, which draws conclusions from observations; theirs seems to be “reality is what I say it is.”
Let’s pray that God would show him a little evidence.
Wow! You are probably the person who could answer NYer’s question above in http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1855150/posts?page=13#13
I don’t doubt there are miracles associated with the remains of saints or objects they touched in life, however, none of the verses cited show one bit of biblical evidence of anything like medieval Roman Catholic worship...yes worship...of these things. A miracle associated with Elijah’s body, the honoring of Joseph’s bones (which were promptly buried with his fathers...not set in a glass coffin in a place of worship...) or the miracles associated with things which touched St. Paul do not at all set a precedent for the weird focus on bones, fingers, bodies, clothing, etc. of saints—when our focus should be (and they would say so too) on their, and our Lord.
“her skeleton is gilded, bejeweled, and kept in a glass case. Fitted with glass eyes, she seems to stare at you from the beyond...”
Yes I’ve seen things like this in Europe—and they are some of the weirdest eerie things I’ve ever laid eyes on. I recall seeing a skull set on a silk pillow with a bejeweled crown on it, all in a guilded glass relicry...totally bizarre. And one never sees such practices by God’s people in the bible, period.
In scripture even touching a dead body meant ceremonial uncleanliness (one could not worship until one went through a time period of ceremonial cleaning lasting days, weeks or even months). There’s no evidence anyone in scripture went to tombs to pray! Just the opposite. One can honor saints, and their remains, and other objects associated with holy people without going to the extreme of weird veneration and yes worship, which our medieval ancestors were surely guilty of. As for me and my house, we’ll worship and venerate the Creator, not the creature...or his remains.