I am deleting personal parts of the letter:
My proposal was that the power of Christ is really and truly present in and through the sacraments. And that Christ calls us to seek Him together and through each other.
It is interesting that when St. Paul encountered Christ, the Lord said to Him, "Paul, why do you persecute me?" Paul was persecuting Christians, not Christ. Unless Christians are in some way Christ.
If Paul persecuted Christ by persecuting Christians, then we encounter Christ when we encounter Christians.
I propose that it is exceedingly rare that anyone encounters Christ alone without first having encountered Christ through others. Conversion in solitude is not "plan A" if you will. Otherwise, Christ would not have bothered to say, "where ever two or more are gathered... there I am in the their midst." And the Acts wouldn't mention the fact that the first Christians worshipped together.
As for statues and the Old Testament, I grant that your objections are reasonable. And I appreciate your concession that Catholics and Orthodox (both of which have been engaged in their mode of worship centuries and centuries prior to Protestant modes of worship) are not idolaters.
But my understanding is that St. John of Damascus gave the most worthwhile explanation of why sacred images are okay. His point was now that the Incarnation has happened, the humanity of Christ Himself lifts us to the Father, and Christians are in some sense an extension of that Humanity.
Take Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most famous image of Mary, for example: http://www.sancta.org/art/our_lady_of_guadalupe_4x6.jpg
She is depicted in prayer to Another greater than herself. Yet she is depicted, like the woman of Revelation, as being clothed with the sun. Does Revelation deify that woman? No because it portrays her as being directed in the service of the Lord. So does the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe...
Objections to images in worship first arose in the centuries after Islam came into existence. The first Christians who demolished sacred images (thinking that they were blasphemous) were most likely influenced by Islam, which preaches the otherness of God in a manner that is to the Gospel.
I invite you to look at the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that I linked to you and ask if it exhalts her more than God or whether it looks more like the woman mentioned in Revelation.
Again, the story of your conversion is just the beginning of your walking with the Lord. It may be the case that you are called to encounter Him sacramentally as well. You may think, "I have the Holy Spirit--I don't need that." But perhaps it's exactly what you would desire... if you understood it rightly.
In fact, the question of the sacraments and that of Mary and images are interconnected in the following manner: if the Eucharist is what Catholics believe it to be--that is, if Catholics truly encounter and ADORE the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Risen Savior in the Eucharist--then all other forms of worship pale in comparison. From my Catholic perspective, I can see how Protestants are reluctant to honor Mary: it's because they are only honoring but not ADORING Christ in their prayer services. Since they honor but don't adore Christ, they feel awkward giving what seems to Protestants like the same honor to Mary. I propose that the best response to this problem is to give more honor to Christ by adoring Him where He is truly present... Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.... in the Eucharist
The Eucharist is, in a sense, the Parousia of the Lord that we all long for!
My proposal was that the power of Christ is really and truly present in and through the sacraments. And that Christ calls us to seek Him together and through each other.
It is interesting that when St. Paul encountered Christ, the Lord said to Him, "Paul, why do you persecute me?" Paul was persecuting Christians, not Christ. Unless Christians are in some way Christ.
If Paul persecuted Christ by persecuting Christians, then we encounter Christ when we encounter Christians.
I propose that it is exceedingly rare that anyone encounters Christ alone without first having encountered Christ through others. Conversion in solitude is not "plan A" if you will. Otherwise, Christ would not have bothered to say, "where ever two or more are gathered... there I am in the their midst." And the Acts wouldn't mention the fact that the first Christians worshipped together.
As for statues and the Old Testament, I grant that your objections are reasonable. And I appreciate your concession that Catholics and Orthodox (both of which have been engaged in their mode of worship centuries and centuries prior to Protestant modes of worship) are not idolaters.
But my understanding is that St. John of Damascus gave the most worthwhile explanation of why sacred images are okay. His point was now that the Incarnation has happened, the humanity of Christ Himself lifts us to the Father, and Christians are in some sense an extension of that Humanity.
Take Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most famous image of Mary, for example: http://www.sancta.org/art/our_lady_of_guadalupe_4x6.jpg
She is depicted in prayer to Another greater than herself. Yet she is depicted, like the woman of Revelation, as being clothed with the sun. Does Revelation deify that woman? No because it portrays her as being directed in the service of the Lord. So does the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe...
Objections to images in worship first arose in the centuries after Islam came into existence. The first Christians who demolished sacred images (thinking that they were blasphemous) were most likely influenced by Islam, which preaches the otherness of God in a manner that is to the Gospel.
I invite you to look at the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that I linked to you and ask if it exhalts her more than God or whether it looks more like the woman mentioned in Revelation.
Again, the story of your conversion is just the beginning of your walking with the Lord. It may be the case that you are called to encounter Him sacramentally as well. You may think, "I have the Holy Spirit--I don't need that." But perhaps it's exactly what you would desire... if you understood it rightly.
In fact, the question of the sacraments and that of Mary and images are interconnected in the following manner: if the Eucharist is what Catholics believe it to be--that is, if Catholics truly encounter and ADORE the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Risen Savior in the Eucharist--then all other forms of worship pale in comparison. From my Catholic perspective, I can see how Protestants are reluctant to honor Mary: it's because they are only honoring but not ADORING Christ in their prayer services. Since they honor but don't adore Christ, they feel awkward giving what seems to Protestants like the same honor to Mary. I propose that the best response to this problem is to give more honor to Christ by adoring Him where He is truly present... Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.... in the Eucharist
The Eucharist is, in a sense, the Parousia of the Lord that we all long for!
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