Church Puts up Stained Glass Window of Judas' Suicide

Creative Minority Report ^ | May 5, 2014 | Matthew Archbold

[NYer]

There are bad ideas, really bad ideas, and then there's this...

Yup. It's a picture of Judas hanging himself and the coins dropping out of his hand are turning into flowers. Why? I'm not really sure.

The Church Times reports that the window had been turned down in years past because "church authorities at the time deemed the subject of suicide unfitting."

No!!!!?

Two years ago, the Rector, the Revd Jacqueline Birdseye, and her parishioners re-examined the issue. She said on Tuesday: "It seemed that everybody wanted it to go ahead; we had a PCC meeting, and the vote was unanimous. We spent a long time just making sure that we got the procedure right.

"Back then, many people regarded suicide as an unforgivable sin; but people's attitudes have changed. I have known several families who have been touched by suicide, and we felt that it was the right thing to have in church. Churches are not just about angels and Easter happiness."

Yes, let's put Jesus' crucifixion and Judas' suicide on the same plane. That sounds like a brilliant idea. Never mind that Jesus said it would've been better if he had not been born.

[NYer]

Judas window allowed into church -Original Article

[NYer]

FYI ping!

[Roman_War_Criminal]

So he was wearing jeans & tennis shoes when he dropped from the tree?

[Don Corleone]

Human beings are fallible. The Church is made up of human beings. Ergo the Church is fallible...except when the Pope makes a pronouncement on faith and morals.

[NYer]

So he was wearing jeans & tennis shoes when he dropped from the tree?

Contemporary 'artistic license' interpretation of robe and sandals?

[BarbM]

It’s not a REAL church, because the pasture is female.

[PastorBooks]

Some things you just can’t make up.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Could be Michael Hutchence or David Carradine.

[TheThirdRuffian]

I agree it’s distasteful, but I don’t really have a problem with it.

Rejection of Christ results in death (and worse).

You go to the Vatican, and there are some rather gruesome pictures of the fate of bad folk like Judas, Haman, etc.

[Dr. Thorne]

This is a Church of England parish in Dorset AKA the Synagogue of Satan.

[null and void]

"Back then, many people regarded suicide as an unforgivable sin;

Back then? Unforgivable? No less an authority than a medieval Pope declared that jumping from a burning tower (clearly an act of suicide) wasn't a mortal sin.

[tbpiper]

"Revd Jacqueline" is as far as I needed to go to find out why that church is so screwed up.

[onona]

Most interesting sermon I've heard in awhile was this past Easter, when our Priest took 5 minutes to explain how Jesus had forgiven all of his disciples; and that in all likelihood, had Judas been there as well, would have been forgiven too.

The message beyond forgiveness I got was that, in essence, suicide is not the answer. That you CAN be forgiven.

Gave me pause for thought.

[muir_redwoods]

"It’s not a REAL church, because the pasture is female."

Fertile fields?

[Alex Murphy]

Two years ago, the Rector, the Revd Jacqueline Birdseye, and her parishioners re-examined the issue. She said on Tuesday: "It seemed that everybody wanted it to go ahead; we had a PCC meeting, and the vote was unanimous. We spent a long time just making sure that we got the procedure right. "Back then, many people regarded suicide as an unforgivable sin; but people's attitudes have changed. I have known several families who have been touched by suicide, and we felt that it was the right thing to have in church. Churches are not just about angels and Easter happiness." It's a picture of Judas hanging himself and the coins dropping out of his hand are turning into flowers. Why? I'm not really sure.

PFL

[HereInTheHeartland]

“That you CAN be forgiven. “

Absolutely.
Satan tells the lie that we can’t be forgiven; but the cross took care of it for us if we accept it.

[heartwood]

"Back then, many people regarded suicide as an unforgivable sin; but people's attitudes have changed. I have known several families who have been touched by suicide, and we felt that it was the right thing to have in church. Churches are not just about angels and Easter happiness.

"We felt it was a comfort for people who thought that their loved ones were beyond redemption."

Ah. Nope. That would not work for me. My father committed suicide, and to see a man in the process of doing so would not be a comfort to me. Nor would the idea of Judas the betrayer as a representative of suicide.

Although it's an odd thing - we get used to a man on a cross. The image of a man hanged by his neck is somehow disturbing.

[NYer]

No less an authority than a medieval Pope declared that jumping from a burning tower (clearly an act of suicide) wasn't a mortal sin.

... we can see why suicide has traditionally been considered a gravely wrong moral action, i.e. a mortal sin. Our Holy Father affirmed this position in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (#66). (Please note that suicide is distinguished from the sacrifice of one's life for God or another, as in the cases of martyrdom, or of offering one's life or risking it to save another person.)

The Sin of Suicide

[Berlin_Freeper]

Weird, weirder, weirdest, slight pause, weirder, weirder, weirder...

[Albion Wilde]

I didn’t thing pastures had sex, either.