Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Crucifix

Lillie rants...
We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.
-1 Corinthians 1:23

I haven't encountered a debate on the crucifix for some months, but recently, I got into one.

What is a crucifix?
A crucifix is a three-dimensional representation of Jesus on the cross. It emphasizes Jesus' sacrifice - His daeth on the cross.

The question that arose was praying in front of the crucifix - is this worshiping a statue? No! Do we talk to the crucifix and look at it while we pray? Yes, we do. Doesn't this mean we think the statue is God? No!

Imagine this, my reader. Perhaps you keep a picture of your mother, or father, perhaps your spouse or child in your wallet. If you haven't seen this person in awhile, perhaps you take this picture out. You look at it and say, "Mother, I love you." Does this mean you think that this picture is actually your mother? Of course not! Would this seem crazy? Of course not! Liken to this is our picture, our representation of Christ on the cross. If we look at it, and say, "I love you, Christ." are we crazy? Are we worshiping this picture/statue? Of course not!

This point was proven, and agreed upon.

However, my friend mentioned, "When you draw Christ on the cross, you are leaving him there, after in scripture it tells us, 'Do not leave me on the cross.'"

Well, first of, I don't know where you're talking about, 'leaving Christ on the cross'. But, for the time being, I'll ignore the fact I don't recognize it.

This is just a representation, of course we don't believe Christ stayed on the crucifix! That would be ridiculous. It's like if I took a picture, or drew a picture of my sister on a rollercoaster, a few days after she had went on it. Does that mean she's still on the rollercoaster? Of course not! That would be absolutely ridiculous.

I never got a response from anyone I had debated this subject on after that.

Anyone else willing to think up another reason why not to have crucifixes? I'd be interested to hear your objections.

-Lillie A.S. Tove

Thursday, January 14, 2010

i can haz rights?

Samuel writes...

No! Because I'm a white male. :P Okay, that's not the idea of this post.

I'm here to advertise quickly a book I'm about halfway through called Fatherless. Lemme give a quick history lesson.

Is America as profoundly the "best country" as it was? Heck, no! ...but why? If things were still being run the way they were with simple changes for new technologies, we would still be hangin' out on the top of the food chain. But that's slipping. This implies something changed. However, it isn't just the country's leadership and stuff that changed. The entire country has to change for so massive a slip as this (seriously, it's like tripping on the second to the top stair of the Sears Tower and falling back to the 50th floor -- major stuff here).

The book Fatherless details the time when I firmly believe this change happened. Though a fictitious novel, it is still historically correct. The whole scene occurs somewhere in the 1960's, when there was a plethora of "new evils" that we see being widely accepted today. This includes birth control pills, abortifacients, pay-to-watch programming along with cable in general ( at prime time, folks! -- but then you payed for it; now...), and a slew of other issues. All these were questioned and fought by the Catholic Church. Members of the Catholic Church sided with pleasure on most of these, and this tells of priests and the faithful in those times.

I'm no fan of slow-going, normal life novels. Really, I find them boring like nothin' else. However, if business was ever action-packed, and it is, this is where to find it.

"...This is storytelling at its heat pounding, page turning, masterful best..." -The Philadelphia Bulletin
"...A gripping and deeply moving read that is, at the same time, a hauntingly beautiful exploration of man, God, morality, faith and the Church in our contemporary world. Masterfully done..." - Roy Schoeman, author Salvation Is from the Jews

Note, some profanity and obscenity. Nothing alarming, though.

~Samuel