Posted on 06/14/2014 2:29:20 PM PDT by NYer
Most basketball players in college would rather slap each other’s hands after a FT than make the sign of the cross. I have seen Catholic football player make the sign after scoring a touchdown.
We have no Biblical support for making the sign of the cross as we see a lot of people do.
Oh, really?
Where are the references to the Holy Trinity in the Bible?
Paul in 2Cor
READING 2 2 COR 13:11-13
Brothers and sisters, rejoice.
Mend your ways, encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace,
and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the holy ones greet you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Where are the references to the Holy Trinity in the Bible?
Matthew 28
Gospel mt 28:16-20
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
I have no problem with this ending. In fact, it's one of the most biblically based things I've seen on this board.
However, the crossing of the body is not Biblical.
I think most people over a certain age were taught that (in the Latin Rite churches, at least). It’s kind of depressing to see how hesitant and shaky many young people are with it now, though. Of course, they’ve no longer been taught to genuflect or do much of anything, so I guess that’s not surprising.
Never denied the Trinity.
Just crossing the body.
I am encouraged that catholics are appealing to Scripture and not Tradition for a change!
Thank you.
The Sign of the Cross existed in both the East and the West long before Protestants even came on the scene. It was not meant to distinguish Catholics.
Protestantism arose almost 1500 years after the founding of the Church, and because Protestantism is very similar to Islam in rejecting traditional images and symbols, it was the Protestants who rejected the Sign of the Cross.
We were always complimented when in a restaurant, making the Sign of the Cross (yes, all five children and mom and dad) and saying the Prayer before Meals.
People would always stop by our table and say how impressed they were with our family.
Many Lutherans make the sign of the cross, and most people consider Lutherans to be Protestant.
I can’t speak to other denominations.
Google reports that the Methodists do too.
Also: Reformed Tradition
In some Reformed churches, such as the PCUSA and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the sign of the cross is used on the foreheads during baptism or during an Ash Wednesday service when ashes are imposed on the forehead. The sign of the cross in some instances is used during Communion.
In some instances during a Benediction, when the minister concludes the service using the trinitarian blessing, a hand is extended and a sign of the cross is made out toward the congregation. This type of benediction is seen in quite a few High Presbyterian congregations, especially on the East Coast of the USA and in Scotland, (The Church of Scotland) which is Presbyterian as in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
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Apparently the Apostles first used it.
From: THE SIGN OF THE CROSS - Catholic Tradition http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/signum-crucis.htm
It was first instituted by the Apostles themselves, who, invested with the authority ... The Gospel also declares to us that when He shall come at the last day to judge the world, the sacred sign of the Cross shall appear in the heavens, ... be the disciples of the Cross, and none but they, whom He will acknowledge for His Own.
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So we are following a 2000 year old tradition.
Good to learn that.
Oops! I meant to say my forefinger, my middle finger, and my ring finger. Those three fingers represent the 3 Persons of the Trinity.
This devotion is one of many customs and teachings among Lutherans which validate the description offered half a century ago by (then) Lutheran World Federation President Rev. Dr. Franklin Clark Fry:
Lutherans are bridge church; not truly Catholic and not really Protestant.
I would say much of Protestantism embraces the Iconoclastic heresy which was condemned in 787AD at 2nd Nicea. Even before that, Pope Gregory III condemned the iconoclastic movement around 731 [which would be affirmed at the 7th Council in 787AD]. Saint John Damascene, the last of the Church Fathers, wrote against the Iconoclastic supporters. If you read the canons and decrees from 2nd Nicea in 787, one clearly sees that rejection of icons was seen as an attack on the Doctrine of the Incarnation [of which both Jews and Muslims reject]. And while Protestantism does not reject it, you still have a segment of Protestantism that has Nestorian tendencies, which I can attest to given my time here and comments made by numerous FR protestants in thread and after thread.
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum07.htm
In the fifth grade was the first time I ever saw someone make the sign of the Cross. Rural Oklahoma. A kid stepped up to the plate, did so, and promptly hit a home run. I was impressed no end. I was too scared to ever try it, but I did convert 20 years later. God Bless
Welcome Home!
Aye.
The descendants of Calvin, Zwingli, and the radical reformers changed the numbering of the Ten Commandments--combining 9 & 10 on coveting so to allow for a new # 2 "Thou shalt not make any graven image".
Catholics, Orthodox, and Lutherans have retained the historic numbering.
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