In this 2007 file photo, Bert Baker, an amateur artist, had recently finished a 7-foot-tall sculpture of Christ at Red Bank Baptist Church. Credit: Gerry Melendez/The State Newspaper, Columbia, SC
Posted on 05/30/2018 4:56:29 PM PDT by marshmallow
In this 2007 file photo, Bert Baker, an amateur artist, had recently finished a 7-foot-tall sculpture of Christ at Red Bank Baptist Church. Credit: Gerry Melendez/The State Newspaper, Columbia, SC
Charleston, S.C., May 30, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Jesus is being evicted from a South Carolina church, and he must be out by the end of the month.
Red Bank Baptist Church in Lexington, about 120 miles northeast of Charleston, has voted to remove a statue of Christ and its accompanying reliefs after 11 years, because they are believed to be too “Catholic in nature”.
The white, hand-carved statue in question shows Christ with his outstretched and stepping out of the wall, while the reliefs depict images from Christ's life, death and resurrection.
Red Bank Baptist Church leaders sent a letter to the artist, Bert Baker Jr., earlier this month, informing him that the congregation had voted to remove the statue because it was being perceived as a Catholic icon and was causing confusion among churchgoers.
“We understand that this is not a Catholic icon, however, people perceive it in these terms. As a result, it is bringing into question the theology and core values of Red Bank Baptist Church," church leaders Jeff Wright and Mike Dennis said in the letter.
Baker, a former member of the church’s congregation himself, was commissioned to make the statue for Red Bank in 2007.
In a response letter, Baker told the church leaders that he wanted the Christ statue to appear to be stepping out in a symbol of the Lord’s commission, and that the other images in the reliefs were based on basic facts about Christ's life which can be found in the Bible.
“Under each arm the reliefs depict scriptural and historical events that we as Christians........
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...
Weird. I’ve been a Baptist since birth and have never seen a statue of Jesus in a Baptist church. It’s the “graven image” thing. It would creep me out to be in a church with a statue.
These days, I'm pretty sure people are more likely to make idols of money, pleasure, and power.
Anyhow, as long as you don't worship the figures in --- for instance ---your Nativity set, you're not committing idolatry.
Statue of the first pastor of the First Baptist Church in Amherst, Nova Scotia
Baptists worship God in all 3 persons just like Catholics.
Baptists do not worship images of Jesus or Mary.
Answer ?
No one knows because one does not exist.
I like it.
It would never occur to me that, oh my goodness, their statues are worshiping statues!!
“You must not bow down to them or worship them;Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or worship them”
“Diligently watch yourselves — because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb — so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form”
As for why...I think most baptist would view statues or painting as distractions. I don't have any pictures from inside the our church. I tend to go to smaller churches and this Internet picture would be pretty typical:
Guess the bottom line is the church voted 131 to 40 to remove the statue. Just didn't want it. Over 75% voted to remove.
“Retards. Jesus is “too Catholic”. Well just why the hell are they going to “church”?”
Well, to learn not to act like that, for one thing...
Is this the thread for all the lapsed Catholics to throw rocks at a Protestants?
I didn’t get the Bat Signal.
Look at your pocket change, or worse!, your currency.
“Statue of the first pastor of the First Baptist Church in Amherst, Nova Scotia”
Looks more like a garden gnome...
There is no prohibition on statues on the Baptist Faith & Message - a doctrinal statement that SBC churches are NOT required to use - but it would be RARE to see statues in a baptist church. Or on the lawn.
What is it about the new covenant that you don’t understand?
this is the perfect example of the hatred and bias that non Catholics show to Catholics and it happens frequently here on FR....
I was at a Baptist church for a performance of the Messiah last fall. The nativity scene was front and center.
Disputable issue addressed in general by Romans 14:1 imo. Don’t pass judgment.
I see some flags in that photo. How did they escape being labeled as idols?
Considering that the OT is full of instances of graven images and statues commanded by God Himself, I think it’s rather obvious that the prohibition on graven images is related to worship and not simply a ban on pictures and statues.
'Perceived' by WHOM?
Sounds like a teaching moment to me!
I guess their Nativity scene in December is gonna be a bit sparse this year; too.
In the Catholic world, contemplatives like the Trappists tend to keep it pretty spare. I remember how touched I was by the extreme simplicity of a Missionaries of Charities chapel. They don't even have pews.
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Re read the article.
This hit piece never said that Jesus was too Catholic, but rather the image looked too much like Catholic images..
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