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 ...
“Baptists do not worship images of Jesus or Mary.”
Catholics do not worship images of Jesus or Mary.
He looks alive so, can’t be to graven...
X
Look at it this way, no one knows what God or Jesus looks like. So you make a statue of something that sort of resembles a man. Then you stand it up in church and call it God. That's just stupid. No one is saying George is a god. I don't know how you can get clearer than "Don't make a graven image."
Jews have artwork, but at the same time they don't even dare to put the "o" in G-d out of reverence.
“Sometimes, leaving earth to go live on another planet sounds like a pretty good idea.”
I’m with you.
L
Good call and I’m Baptist....I think.....
Naw, I complain too much, I love Chinese food buffets and go to the movies on Christmas Day.
Probably because it wasn’t a Jehovah’s Witness protection program?
“It’s idolatry no matter who or what it is...”
In Jesus name, I pray you are right...
One correction, though, if I may. You wrote, "In Catholic theology, they "sacrifice" Jesus on the cross every week as part of their liturgy."
This is not so. Jesus, the "Lamb of God", was sacrificed once, only once, in a particular time and place, on Calvary Hill outside Jerusalem, in the 3rd decade of the Christian era, historical, and not repeated.
In another sense, since Jesus is God, His actions are eternal and timeless. Hence, even at His baptism at the Jordan, John said of Him, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." This word is in the present tense, and signifies a continuous act, for the Lamb rightfully has this power both now and forever to take away the sins of the world.
Even more strikingly, Revelation calls Jesus "The Lamb that was sacrificed before the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)
It's in this "timeless" sense that the Liturgy is a sacrifice--- Christ is not "re-sacrificed," but the One Sacrifice of Christ is made present -- and not only "every week" but every hour of every day, everywhere in the world. This very thing --- the Pure Offering--- was prophesied long ago (Malachi 1:11)
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"A" pure offering. One pure offering. Jesus, once and for all. And forever.
I have been a practicing Catholic for 66 years, and I have never "idolized" a statue.
You ought not to say such things, because it gives a false impression, and it's moral defamation. Although I realize you do not mean it that way. You know Christians adore God alone.
Do you kneel before the idol of Mary in your church or home? Pray to her? Wear a scapular or miraculous medal?
You say Christians adore God alone....do Romam Catholics not adore Mary?
Except “Catholic” statues of Jesus have him still hanging on the cross.
It is not Michelangelo-level sculpture, that's for sure. I wouldn't be grieved if they sold it at their annual Baptist Rummage Sale and make money for their Youth Group. That would be good, and the sculptor --- who might have made this with a very devoted heart --- would have his feelings spared.
Yep.
I wonder why they didn’t say Lexington is a suburb of Columbia.
“Thou shall not make unto Me any graven image.”
If you believe that Christ the Redeemer is the true son of God, a part of God, then you don’t make a statue of Him. It can be construed as idolatry.
Roman Catholics do not adore Mary.
**In Catholic theology, they “sacrifice” Jesus on the cross every week as part of their liturgy. The emphasis is on Jesus’s death on the cross.**
This is an untrue statement.
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