The Crucifix Scandal

Catholic Exchange ^ | 7/21/03 | Patty Bonds

[el_chupacabra]

The Crucifix Scandal 7/21/03

I was assisting in a history class one day shortly after my conversion. I was wearing a crucifix and the history teacher, who happened to be a Baptist, commented that crucifixes always bother her.

She asked me why we Catholics kept Jesus on the cross when he was risen from the dead. She expressed her offense at the sight of Jesus hanging there 2000 years after the fact.

Prompted, I believe, by the Holy Spirit, I broke into a chorus of an old hymn traditionally familiar to Baptists: Lest I forget Gethsemane , Lest I forget thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary.She walked away with raised eye brows and a pensive nod.

Before I had given any thought to being Catholic I had decided I wanted a crucifix in my house. I had been plagued for too long by a pet sin that was draining the life out of me (more literally than I knew at the time) and I knew that part of the problem was that I took sin way too lightly. After all, being a Calvinist, I believed that I was one of the chosen few and that sin like this was only a temporary interruption in an indestructible relationship with Christ that began at the point of time I put faith in Him, and would not end until Christ himself had seen it to completion. I could not lose my salvation, so sin meant only a temporary loss of “fellowship” with Him.

Or so I thought.

I knew I needed to be constantly reminded of the price my Lord had paid for my salvation so that I would stop this presumptuous disregard for His will in my life. So I approached my (then) Baptist husband carefully and asked how he would feel if I got a small crucifix for the wall by my desk. He seemed unconcerned about it, especially in light of my motivation.

Little did I know that two years later there would hardly be a room in my house without one!

Recently my brother debated Patrick Madrid on the veneration of Saints and the use of images as an aid to prayer of devotion. The crucifix became a central feature of the debate. My whole being was shaken by the look of disgust my brother gave the beautiful crucifix that had been displayed earlier. How could anyone look with disgust on the most self-sacrificing act of love ever known? How could anyone loath the image of one’s Savior dying as a ransom for their soul? It was chilling.

As we read the lives of the Saints we find that many times victory over doubt or grace in suffering came as one of those precious Saints of God fixed their eyes on a crucifix. Converts have come home, myself included, because of the encounter with life-giving love that a crucifix represents

Could it be that the sight of the price paid for us makes some very uncomfortable? Could it be that as we look upon Christ giving his last drop of life for us we realize that we are called to the very same sacrificial life? Could it be that fixation on the resurrection, made “sanitary” by the omission of the crucifixion, allows us to believe we are called to live in painless power rather than in humility and sacrifice?

Should not the sight of the crucifix brings to the surface our regard for sin? Should it not be impossible to set our eyes on a crucifix and allow any sinful thought to linger in the same mind that is filled with that sight? Much like a recitation of the Ten Commandments, does not the sight of our sacrificial Lamb make us feel the pangs of every imperfect fiber of our beings?

In 1 Cor. Chapter 1, St. Paul tells us that “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” To those puffed up with the wisdom of this world, the sight of the Son of God hanging from a cross is a stumbling block, a sign of offense. But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God, the wisdom of God, the love of God. And since His strength is made perfect in weakness, the crucifix is the still life caricature of the triumph of Holy Love over selfish sin. Far from being the low point of Christ’s life and something to be or brushed aside or forgotten, the Crucifixion is the pinnacle of the Glory of God in Christ Jesus.

So it is with gratitude I wear this crucifix. It keeps my heart focused on the Lover of my soul, it keeps me submitted to the cross I must take up daily to follow Him, it reminds me how much he loves the rest of the world and how much he wants me to give to reach them.

Lest I forget . . . Lead me to Calvary .

Patty Bonds is a Catholic convert who lives and writes from Phoenix, Arizona . She is the founder of Mary's Mantle, an apostolate to serve Catholics who are experiencing family opposition to the faith. Her brother is James White, an anti-Catholic author and speaker.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Catholics don't think stautes and pictures and icons are Gods anymore than you think the pictures of your parents or siblings or children in your house and wallet are your parents or siblings or children.

We kneel to God. It may happen to be in front of an image of Jesus or a Saint or Angel, but the adoration or veneration is not given to that image.

So there is no violation of Exodus 34.17 because they are not molten gods.

[Blessed]

You left out vampires.

[Pyro7480]

"Only" on the cross for 3 hours? Did he forget that Jesus was also scourged, "crowned" with thorns (read thorns were driven into His skull), spit upon, buffetted, taunted...

[LiteKeeper]

Exorcisms by Catholic and Orthodox priests.

I will accept the use of the crucifix in these examples...what proof do you have that the Cross is not as effective as the Crucifix?

[RobbyS]

Here is one translation of the Scipture:

Thou shalt not deny me by making other gods thy own. Thous shalt not carve images, nor fashion likenesses of anything in heaven above, or on earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth, to bow down and worship it. I, thy God,the Lord Almighty, am jealous in my love; by my enemy and thy children, to the third and fourth generation, shall for they guilt make amends; love me, keep my commandments, and mercy shall be thine a thousand fold.

"Thou shalt not deny me by making other gods your own."

Further on it is said: "It is not for you to make yourselve gods of silver and gold."

In the ancient Middle East, images were the ordinary means of encounter between men and gods. That there were no images of Yahweh was a radical difference between Him, the Living God, and the other gods, who were only wood, metal or clay.

[RobbyS]

This is one reason for the resistance to Mel Gibson's "Passion." Many priests no more want us to realize what Christ suffered than they do to see what happens in an abortion.

[ninenot]

Further, Hebrew is a "concrete" language, having no capability of representing ideas or concepts.

Graven images (the concrete) could not represent Yahweh in the Hebrew mind---graven images could ONLY be false gods, as your post makes clear.

[Zack Attack]

God approves of the use of statuary, stained glass, ikons, and other graven images when they are used for their intended purpose: the glorification and adoration of God.

He approves of being worshipped in the manner he shall direct, not in the way men see fit. The golden calf was not intended to be a foreign god. They made the golden calf in honor of YHWH and to represent YHWH, and they called for a feast unto YHWH. Yet honoring Him in this manner angered Him.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

"Make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he
sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit
any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live" (Num. 21:8–9).

Interesting point. Years later it was found that some of the Israelites were WORSHIPING this fiery serpent.
II Kings 18:4 KJV
4 Kings 18:4 Douay- Rheims

[Polycarp]

That's not how I read it:

7 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

[Polycarp]

Interesting point.

Let's see if I'm getting this right...so...GOD, like the Roman Catholic Church, tricked men into making graven images, knowing full well that someday men would sin by worshipping the statue instead of God. Thus God is guilty of the same "sin" as the Catholic Church, by this line of reasoning.

Sorry, I don't buy that line of reasoning, neither in the case of God nor in the case of His Church.

[Polycarp]

"..these fifteen...Oy!!...these ten commandments!

[Ex-Wretch]

"And by personal experience. Can't beat those personal spiritual experiences, can you?"

No, you certainly cannot. ;-)

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Sorry, I don't buy that line of reasoning, neither in the case of God nor in the case of His
Church.****


Hey, I didn't write the book. I'm just pointing out that what Moses had made for a certain purpose was perverted for a different purpose years later. Look it up!

[Ex-Wretch]

"We also don't think the saints and/or their statues are gods."

Growing up RC in the 50's and 60's, I remember lots of "devout and zealous" folks (even me) kissing many statues feet (particularly Mary) as well as the crucifix that were hanging on the wall (not to mention kissing the crucifix hanging on the end of the rosary when we'd say it. Friday afternoons during lent were the stations of the cross. Lots of genuflecting(sp) and rosary kissing going on then.

[Polycarp]

No problem, its a good refutation of the argument against Catholic statuary. If one claims that Catholic use of staturary ipso facto leads to idolatry, then God is guilty of same. I guess the Church is in good company afterall.

[Polycarp]

Then you are the sole existing RC dumb enough to have thought you were worshipping those statues. Obviously, Christ's Church didn't lose much when you turned your back on Him.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Addendum to #31

And further more, having a crucifix does not bother me in the least.
Neither does a rabbit's foot.
Or a star of David.
Or a medical necklace with it's staff and snake.
If you get comfort from it that's your business.

[RobbyS]

Interesting that you should now object to the stations of the Cross. That means basically you have adopted an Anglo mindset What are the stations,but a reproduction of the central part of each gospel.

[Flying Circus]

The golden calf was not an acceptable representation of YHWH because of the associations with the Egyptian pantheon. The calf was one of their gods that represented virility (IIRC). They were not honoring God, but backsliding to the gods they knew in Egypt.

If you look at many of the restrictions on the Jewish diet and sacrificial offerings, they were essentially designed to make them a people apart from the pagan peoples around them. Foods common to their neighbor were unclean while animals the Egyptians worshiped were sacrificed to YHWH by the Jewish priests and made part of the Jewish diet. The strong angry, reation against the pagan calf idol is consistent with the rules designed to keep the Israelites separated from the pagans around them. On the other hand Crucifix as that is a representation of the greatest work of God, as He was in the flesh and universally recognized as identified as a Christian display.