Posted on 08/20/2009 7:28:12 AM PDT by Pope Pius XII
Vandals have cut off and stolen the head of the infant Jesus from a marble statue at a parish in Wauwatosa. Local police said that such vandalism is typical in the Milwaukee suburb of 45,000, and the parish estimates that repairs will cost $12,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
‘Tosa used to be such a nice, safe place to live. The godless, socialist cancer is spreading.
This is an attack on ALL Christians.
Naw, it is the destruction of a statue. There is nothing holy about a graven image. And the destruction of a graven image is not an attack on Christians.
Now.. that guy who went into the church in India and shot up a bunch of Christians... THAT is an attack on Christians.
They’re called sacramentals. A bible is a sacramental is it not? And you call that holy? Do you not?
Someone is SO going to hell for this!
You’re pretty literal minded aren’t you.
They say that those who mess around with the Truth are worse than murderers, adulterers and rapists. And their place in hell will be lower. Much lower.
“Vandals”. That means it won’ be treated as a Hate Crime.
Vandals cut off baby Jesus’s head?
Now there’s a short cut to the everlasting torment in Hell if I ever heard one.
Would seem to be an attack on Christianity itself. Unless perp was ignorant as to Who statue represented. Which is quite possible with a population “educated” in government schools.
a statue of the Virgin Mary in a church courtyard in Pittsburgh recently received similar treatment. Sounds like part of a sick trend or movement to me.
1) Muslims,
2) Aetheists,
3) Kids
If you damage Muslim property, there would be a howl across the world.
When the Church is loved by the world, then is the time to be concerned.
We have had our parish hall vandalized this year, the kids were caught and they’ve had to pay restitution. The neighboring Catholic Church was broken into and they stole lots of stuff!
Just this weekend there was a report that someone had broken a window and when the policeman saw that it was a church he decided to take a cruise by some other churches and caught a 28 yr old man throwing rocks at the windows of the latter Catholic church.
That’s just recent, last year they devastated the Methodist church and a few years before another church basically had to be rebuilt inside.
Lock em up and throw away the key.
The Bible is God's holy, inspired Word. Of course it is holy. And in that very Bible, graven images are condemned as profane. Somehow, I don't think God is upset that one of those graven images was destroyed.
Stop calling the statues graven images. And stop misrepresenting the faith.
Guy in your 40s,
Maybe it is time to grow up? When someone walks on or burns an American flag, it’s just a piece of cloth, right? Or maybe it represents everything that is great about America? Including those who died so we can be free.
A marble statue made in the image and likeness of the Christ child is a help to contemplation, it teaches the Gospel in a 3D manner, and it is also suitable for children who can’t read yet. Bringing up the childish “graven image” argument shows that you do not understand what is meant by the concept. Any time you see the phrase “graven image” in the Old Testament, just substitute the phrase “manmade religion”. Then fast-forward to today, and look around. Any manmade christian sect is a “graven image”, especially the ones which are iconoclast.
When the Incarnation occurred, that is, when God became man, His human form became something our senses could grasp. We know from tradition what Jesus and Mary looked like, and art has done its best down through the centuries to represent their features for the express purpose of drawing hearts and minds towards God.
But something tells me you don’t really believe in the graven image injunction at all, you’re just stirring the pot.
Yep. Some people are so busy being ‘in your face’ to God that they don’t realize his patience isn’t from a weka sort of enabling love, but a chance to always do the right thing after doing wrong.
Uh.. no. A graven image is a physical representation of a deity. That is exactly what a statue of the baby Jesus is. What underscores the fact that it is a graven image is that the statue is considered to be "holy" by worshipers. That is the very essence of the term "graven image." It is no better or worse than the golden calf that Aaron made and labeled "Yahweh."
I most certainly do believe with all my heart that God does not want his people to fashion graven images. Furthermore, I believe with all my heart that fashioning a statue of Jesus is crystal clear example of what God ordered His people not to do in Exodus 20:4-6 and other passages.
It is inappropriate for you to attack me personally when I have thus far argued a position without attacking any individual.
So, you wouldn’t consider this damage to be vandalism, but instead, a theological lesson to teach apostates the right thing to believe?
Vandalism, yes. It is inappropriate and a violation to destroy someone else's property. The perpetrator should be caught, tried and punished for the crime of vandalism. If he had wished to make a theological statement, he should have purchased the statue from its owner and then destroyed it.
My earlier argument was with the individual who said this was an "attack on all Christians." It clearly was not. It was an act of vandalism, nothing more.
I wish you could see what your post sounds like.
This could make a good skit for SNL.
So what is the appropriate punishment for one who makes a “graven image”? Maybe when you are done telling us what it is, the person who beheaded the statue should get a medal?
By the way, from the looks of it I didn’t think it was a very good statue, but I am sure it meant something to that parish.
Now in the near future I plan to carve a statue of the BVM out of oak and one of the Holy Family out of poplar. Maybe I should I go to Confession in advance? Here is what it would sound like:
Me: “Bless me father for I will carve.”
Rev: “Oh no, not the graven thing again?”
Me: “Yes father, I can’t help it.”
Rev: “Can’t you stick to water colors, pastels?, keep it 2D, and you’ll avoid having to confess about engravings.”
Me: “Would an isometric view be okay, or maybe one of those Italian paintings that looks 3D?”
Rev: “Yes, as long as you’re not carving another deity.”
Me: “What if I just printed a statue, with one of those 3D plastic printers, there would be no carving involved.”
Rev: “I suppose that would be alright...now for your penance...”
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