Sorry, I’m ignorant or have forgotten about:
Tu quoque (ea quoque?) isnt much of an excuse.
I don’t know, personally, as a Protty, that Christ on the cross as in a crucifix . . . is so much an issue for me of displaying Christ in his weakness, pain etc.
as it is an issue of not emphasizing
THE RESURRECTION LIFE.
As Paul noted . . . without the RESURRECTION, we are of all men, most miserable.
Emphasizing his death on the cross by displaying it so persistently is a WRONG FOCUS, to Prottys.
Also, as we OBSERVE *MANY* Roman Catholics et al
vis a vis their crucifixes . . . there seems to be a tailisman/magical attitude toward them—which Prottys find idolatrous.
Certainly SOME [seems to me a minority percentage-wise] Prottys have a SIMILAR magical attitude toward their cross jewelry (USUALLY, even then, such attitudes do not seem to be quite as intense on the part of MOST Prottys). MOST PROTTYS just relate to such jewelry crosses as an advertisement of their relationship with Christ—which is something quite different in purpose, feeling and attitude.
I think the empty crosses Prottys use are, for us, more like an empty tomb advertisement as well as a reminder of the cost Christ paid and to crucify our flesh daily. Most Prottys don’t likely think of all that very often even when looking at such a cross. They just relate to it as a simple advertisement of their Christianity.
So defending piling on a person with misconstrued arguments because the person herself has been, ahem, koff, ah, vigorous is kind of a tu quoque.
The whole thing about crosses and such... To me, personally, the crucifix is a reminder that between now and the eschaton, most of what we do is "take up our cross daily," and that many of challenges of charity will be painful.
But more than that, I have this alleged though: That God shows his power in weakness, as a zygote, fetus, baby who must be feed and changed and washed and as a man hung on the cross. The "Way" is the way of the cross, and only at the end is it the way of the empty cross. So to me, looking at a crucifix is about the love that God shows in His willingness to suffer AND about how if I want to let that Love work in me, it's going to be really hard sometimes and I'm going to fail a lot. But these failures are as redeemable as the act of putting the righteous man on a cross.
Kinda like that.
As Bonhoeffer said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
Yes, you protties are perfect. I've understood that ever since I started participating on the RF. Everything you do is right in your own eyes. Everything Catholics do is wicked. Thanks for the reminder, though. /dripping sarcasm