(March 17, 2020 at 5:52 pm)Abaddon_ire Wrote:(March 17, 2020 at 5:35 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Growing up Catholic I certainly remember that Mary was often the go-to for prayer. The church I attended for many years was a Basilica and there was nearly as much imagery of Mary as there was Jesus, God the Father, and the saints. She even had her own section of the altar area.That's technically idolatry, I suppose. Because art is evil. When my parents died years ago, there was an inevitable division of the property. Being civil folks, I and my siblings divided it up as we wished. There was no acrimony, rancor or any such.
Along the way, there was a picture on the wall of the "Sacred Heart of Jebus". When we came to that object there was a long silent pause. Nobody wanted it. A picture of a bloke in open heart surgery is not nice. And that is not where the heart is anyway, nor what it looks like.
Nevertheless, the conversation about how to dispose of it was revealing. Everyone was scared of it. Everyone recalled memories from childhood of being terrified of that image.
The rest of Bel's crap I can't be bothered to respond to.
The Church has a work-around for the idolatry issue, too. Technically, kneeling in front of a statue of Mary while fondling your beads and praying isn’t idolatry, because you’re still praying to God, you’re just asking Mary to intercede on your behalf (but the real reason it’s not idolatry was that the pope discovered he could get artists to decorate churches for bread, board, and pocket money).
It’s like the Church invented fine print and loopholes.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
