I know that some people are still caught up in New Age practices and ways of thinking, so here is another post to explain why the assumptions behind them are fallacious and even harmful. I wrote earlier about how one of the limitations with the use of playing cards, such as tarot, is that by assigning "favorable" or "adverse" meanings to cards, one is assigning a much harsher percentage of "good" or "bad" outcomes than actually exists in life overall. So if one suit, such as spades (swords) is assigned adverse or sad meaning, one is building in right from the start the assumption that there is a 25% occurrence of sadness or adversity in every single aspect of life (since the entire deck is assigned meaning and the deck supposedly represents all aspects of what the person might be inquiring about in a so called "reading.") Now I want to point out the same limitation in numerology.
By numerology I do not mean the study of sacred numbers, which is worthy and academic. I mean the transformation of dates, names, phrases and other information into a number that is "reduced" (added to itself on an integer by integer basis) until it is one of the singular digits (1 through 9, plus some special numbers such as 11, 22 and 33.) For example, numerologists would take the recent 4th of July holiday (7/4/2007) and call it a "2" day (because 7+4+2+7 equals 20 which equals 2. They then read all sorts of meaning into what a "2" means. I studied this around 4 years ago and included this information in my undercover web site in order to get a better understanding of why so many people (including people in amazingly high places) actually buy into this and use it to manipulate themselves and others. It's actually become a very OCD problem (obsessive compulsive disorder) because "counting" is a neurotic function of the brain when it tries to regain control over life when it feels some loss of control in a vital area of life. So here is what I want to explain to people who may be "hooked on numerology."
Numbers were invented by humankind as an outcome of a very good thing: agricultural prosperity. The first writing and numbers deals with amounts of livestock and crops. Suppose a man has 70 bushels of wheat. That is a good thing. It is a good thing because it is a lot of wheat. It is not a good thing because 7+0 equals 7 and 7 is a sacred number. You cannot eat or sell a sacred number. And if another man offered to trade to you 7 bushels of wheat for your 70 bushels of wheat because "they are numerologically the same," then you would be crazy to agree. Here are the bushels of wheat all lined up: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 56 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70. The average hungry person would be thrilled beyond imagination to have 70 bushels of wheat in storage to feed their family, or to sell to others as their business. Bushel number 23 has a much value as number 31 as much as 56 and as much as bushel 69. Each will feed the family and each adds to the treasury of the family.
Life is the same way and God created it so. Life is not meant to be "reduced" to a "symbol," to be taken down to a simple level that lends itself to manipulation, but not to prosperity, thriving and living. Everything that God created tends toward increase, toward reproduction, toward fullness. Numerology is like looking at a forest and being only able to see 9 of the trees in that forest, and then applying value (and worse, action steps) to those 9 trees.
When I was in high school one of the ways I relaxed was with mathematics. This week I've gone back to doing for "doodling" and relaxation something I love to do, which is matrix multiplication. Matrices, also known as arrays, which is what I tend to call them, are sets of numbers that are managed as a whole, based on their position in a grid type of structure. I like to populate two arrays with numbers and then multiple them together. It's fun and a relaxing process. Matrix multiplication is more representative of how life and the universe works than reductionist affectations such as numerology because when you multiple matrices you are seeing how the universe tends to more, and how every amount of "more" is real. Someone who has 14 children, for example, has fourteen children, not 1+4=5 children. Multiplying matrices relaxes me and is enjoyable because I like seeing how the increases happen, and what surprising numbers result from the multiplication. It's like seeing what colors and genders are each of the kittens in a new litter for the first time. People are happy because they have 14 children, or 70 bushels of wheat, not because "5" is the number of "creativity" or "7" is a "holy number."
Here's a numerology detox exercise for anyone who might need it! I multiplied two matrices below, with this result:
1 3 times 5 7 yields 23 31
2 4 times 6 8 yields 34 46
(I can't really get the symbols to work out right on this post, since I'm not geeky enough and don't have any tech staff to lend me a hand ha ha) but here are the words. A matrix consisting of the numbers 1 2 3 4 multiplying another matrix of the numbers 5 6 7 8 yields a matrix of 23 31 34 and 46. Aren't those great numbers? Don't you feel all prosperous when you see that two matrices of single digit numbers yields good solid double digit numbers? Whether leaves on a tree, children in a school room, bushels of wheat, or bars of gold, prosperity is good. It is the existence of a new thing that is good, not the "underlying" "reduced" meaning of the number. Any day is a good day to escape from a POW camp, to love a neighbor, or to grow some crops. Any number is a good thing if it is used for good. The detox exercise is to simply enjoy the numbers 23 31 34 and 46 and not "reduce" them or read any meaning into them (since I didn't even say what the arrays that I build and multiply represent! Who knows, those might have been the "first amoebas" when the earth was born
;-)
So seriously, people who have been hooked on numerology need to stop; it is a life limiting neurosis. You need to view quantities in their fullness and completion again, as I listed each of the 70 bushels above, and not read reductionist symbolism that does not exist and frankly is a neurotic way to cut down information, not illuminate. 23 acres of land owned by you is a good thing and you are happy, not because you bought the land on an "8" day or because there is happy arty "5" symbolic of the acreage. A box of 31 chocolates is a good thing because there are lots of chocolates to enjoy (maybe someone gave you an extra on top of the 30 in the box!) So I urge people who add numbers together for numerology to stop, for your brain's health (and your soul's, if you are manipulating people based on anti-life reductionist formulas such as numerology.)
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Help in understanding the Holy Eucharist sacrament
Here's an analogy that children and parents can understand about Jesus, as God's son, as a sacrifice to God on behalf of humankind, to save them from sin and create the New Covenant.
Little children receive all of their money from their parents in the form of allowance, or gifts from relatives. When it is Mom or Dad's birthday, or Christmas time, little children want to be generous and buy gifts for their parents, but are totally dependent on them for money. Lovingly telling your child that they don't have to spend money on you, that just a crayon drawing is gift enough, sometimes is not enough, because children by nature are generous and this is where generosity is nurtured. So as a godparent, I know that usually a parent arranges to give the child money and helps the child to shop for his or her own gift. Usually the Dad will take the child shopping for a gift for Mommy, and vice versa. So the loving parent provides the loving child with the very financial means for a gift for the parent.
In the Biblical times the children of God showed their love of the Lord by sacrificing (giving up) something of their own that is of great value to them, to give to God. Usually this was a perfect animal from the flock - often the purest and most valuable animal - but the poor could offer a pair of birds, or cereal with oil. Even for the poor this was great sacrifice, taking food out of the mouths of someone for some period of time, or at the least, eating into the surplus they had saved for times of crisis.
In the time of Jesus, God wanted to fulfill the actual sacrifice of valuable livestock or food from the families' stock to give to him in sacrifice, and complete this phase of human's gift giving to God. So Jesus Christ, the son of God through Mary and the Holy Spirit, allowed himself to be the last "bloody" sacrifice; the final loss of valuable life as sacrifice to God. He then drew upon the tradition that the poor could offer cereal and oil and instituted the Holy Eucharist. Thus God, the parent, is providing the very means by which his children can gift him and sacrifice to him. The bread is provided, the wine is provided, and the priest is provided. All that is needed is for this sacrament to be done reverentially and liturgically correct, in the memory of Jesus. And like all true gift giving, like the generous child at the parent's birthday or Christmas time, the giver of the gift, the parishioners who with the priest give the sacrifice of the Mass to God, in return flows an abundance of renewing grace. This is why it is still a "sacrifice" but it is also the "celebration" of the Mass.
I hope this analogy helps with understanding, and is also useful in discussing the faith with little children in your family.
Also, to my Muslim friends who might be reading as part of better understanding some of the mysteries of Christian faith, this sacrament does not refer to the generosity of alms giving (which rightly receives such mention in the Qur'an). Christians call that "charity" these days. This refers to sacrifice, or the giving of offerings, to God.
Little children receive all of their money from their parents in the form of allowance, or gifts from relatives. When it is Mom or Dad's birthday, or Christmas time, little children want to be generous and buy gifts for their parents, but are totally dependent on them for money. Lovingly telling your child that they don't have to spend money on you, that just a crayon drawing is gift enough, sometimes is not enough, because children by nature are generous and this is where generosity is nurtured. So as a godparent, I know that usually a parent arranges to give the child money and helps the child to shop for his or her own gift. Usually the Dad will take the child shopping for a gift for Mommy, and vice versa. So the loving parent provides the loving child with the very financial means for a gift for the parent.
In the Biblical times the children of God showed their love of the Lord by sacrificing (giving up) something of their own that is of great value to them, to give to God. Usually this was a perfect animal from the flock - often the purest and most valuable animal - but the poor could offer a pair of birds, or cereal with oil. Even for the poor this was great sacrifice, taking food out of the mouths of someone for some period of time, or at the least, eating into the surplus they had saved for times of crisis.
In the time of Jesus, God wanted to fulfill the actual sacrifice of valuable livestock or food from the families' stock to give to him in sacrifice, and complete this phase of human's gift giving to God. So Jesus Christ, the son of God through Mary and the Holy Spirit, allowed himself to be the last "bloody" sacrifice; the final loss of valuable life as sacrifice to God. He then drew upon the tradition that the poor could offer cereal and oil and instituted the Holy Eucharist. Thus God, the parent, is providing the very means by which his children can gift him and sacrifice to him. The bread is provided, the wine is provided, and the priest is provided. All that is needed is for this sacrament to be done reverentially and liturgically correct, in the memory of Jesus. And like all true gift giving, like the generous child at the parent's birthday or Christmas time, the giver of the gift, the parishioners who with the priest give the sacrifice of the Mass to God, in return flows an abundance of renewing grace. This is why it is still a "sacrifice" but it is also the "celebration" of the Mass.
I hope this analogy helps with understanding, and is also useful in discussing the faith with little children in your family.
Also, to my Muslim friends who might be reading as part of better understanding some of the mysteries of Christian faith, this sacrament does not refer to the generosity of alms giving (which rightly receives such mention in the Qur'an). Christians call that "charity" these days. This refers to sacrifice, or the giving of offerings, to God.
God's 3 Tools for Humankind
This is my comment on a blog where the blogger is repeating some debate about what communion really means and who has the authority to say so.
I'm not against dialogue and even vigorous debate, but the focus of many on who has "authority" and on definitions of terms is indicative of the weakness of human beings. Authority and word smithing are not what faith is about and the entire Bible is one's guide to understanding God's will. If you read the entire Bible and understand it both literally and conceptually, you will find that God taught humans three tools of faith: covenant, sacrifice, and witness. The Old Testament starts with God's covenant with Adam and Eve, where they have Eden plus God's physical presence so long as they obeyed his simple restrictions. They broke that covenant. Abel is then killed for his perfect sacrifice, which is the first mention of sacrifice in the Bible. God establishes covenants with Noah and with Abraham, and then the Israeli people through Moses. Jesus is the New Covenant, which fulfills the Old, but does not erase the tools of God. Jesus becomes the perfect sacrifice, which does not erase sacrifice, but fulfills the old form of bloody sacrifice with bloodless sacrifice once for all. He instructs the Apostles to continue to offer him as the bloodless sacrifice. And finally, witness is given by God to the people of the Old Testament, and there are readings (I have some on my web site) about how witness is THE tool of the Church. The Apostles, disciples, and the Early Fathers all faithfully carry through witness as taught to the Israelites by God. So people who argue today about who has authority and what words mean without looking at the three rivers of instruction and communication that flow from God and are utilized by Jesus Christ completely miss the point and understandably don't "get" the true Catholic Church.
I'm not against dialogue and even vigorous debate, but the focus of many on who has "authority" and on definitions of terms is indicative of the weakness of human beings. Authority and word smithing are not what faith is about and the entire Bible is one's guide to understanding God's will. If you read the entire Bible and understand it both literally and conceptually, you will find that God taught humans three tools of faith: covenant, sacrifice, and witness. The Old Testament starts with God's covenant with Adam and Eve, where they have Eden plus God's physical presence so long as they obeyed his simple restrictions. They broke that covenant. Abel is then killed for his perfect sacrifice, which is the first mention of sacrifice in the Bible. God establishes covenants with Noah and with Abraham, and then the Israeli people through Moses. Jesus is the New Covenant, which fulfills the Old, but does not erase the tools of God. Jesus becomes the perfect sacrifice, which does not erase sacrifice, but fulfills the old form of bloody sacrifice with bloodless sacrifice once for all. He instructs the Apostles to continue to offer him as the bloodless sacrifice. And finally, witness is given by God to the people of the Old Testament, and there are readings (I have some on my web site) about how witness is THE tool of the Church. The Apostles, disciples, and the Early Fathers all faithfully carry through witness as taught to the Israelites by God. So people who argue today about who has authority and what words mean without looking at the three rivers of instruction and communication that flow from God and are utilized by Jesus Christ completely miss the point and understandably don't "get" the true Catholic Church.
A riddle or corundum about God
While browsing around yesterday through my usual Internet favorites I noticed somewhere (I don't recall which blog or web site) someone posted a riddle or corundum about God. It asked, something to the effect of, can God create something that is too heavy for him to carry, if he is indeed all powerful? The answer is that everything that exists is within the body of God. All matter, all energy, all space, and the non dimensional realities are all actually contained within God. So no, God cannot create something that he cannot carry, because everything that he creates is within his bodily reality. There is nothing outside of God because even the nothingness is part of his body, which is glorified in its total nature. The largest galaxy and the smallest subatomic speck, and all the nothingness of potentiality of existence are all contained within God. The question comes from the understandable boundary of human thinking that God is "someone" "out there" rather than the totality of both existence and non existence of matter and energy, dimensions, and time.
Jesus Christ, of course, fell as he carried a cross too heavy for him, as he had been whipped and beaten prior to crucifixion. Obviously while Jesus explained that one could meet God the Father through him, God did not squeeze his entire existence into Jesus' body. This is incidentally why good faithed Muslims wonder how Christians can call Jesus God. They recognize that God in his fullness of power and total completion of existence did not occupy a human dimensioned body.
Jesus Christ, of course, fell as he carried a cross too heavy for him, as he had been whipped and beaten prior to crucifixion. Obviously while Jesus explained that one could meet God the Father through him, God did not squeeze his entire existence into Jesus' body. This is incidentally why good faithed Muslims wonder how Christians can call Jesus God. They recognize that God in his fullness of power and total completion of existence did not occupy a human dimensioned body.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Example of a new age "Joke"
When I was "undercover," being available for ministry among New Age sorts, many of whom were clinically depressed, bipolar and so forth, I was communicating via email, chat room, and bulletin board, and had my own web site. So I never met any of these people face to face in consultation. I was keeping my Catholic evangelism tightly under cover because I had received dark attacks for years before. I didn't realize that my cover had actually been blown in a number of places, except for, praise be to God, people cannot resist being clever and giving themselves away. Here is an example.
One of the girls I thought was very nice and sweet was always looking to New Age practices to help her to "get a good exhibition space in Basel." I liked her but felt extreme concern for her because she openly cultivated mental practices to open oneself up sexually to "whatever." I thought that her insistence on a good exhibition space in Basel was odd (she did photography) and a few other things seemed odd, until it clicked. She was making a joke about the Ecumenical Council of Basel, which was convoked by Pope Eugene IV in 1431. Eugene happens to be the name of my neighbor for 22 years, back when I owned a beautiful home and had a job. Get it? Photographer? Neighbor? Catholic Pope? She was posting on the bulletin board one of a number of jokes, thinking it was at my expense, about how I've been photographed and stalked. (I never did get to tell her that I know a very hot exhibition space that she might eventually have permanent space within.)
New Agers think that Catholics are stupid because Catholics don't get their inside jokes and "hints" about karma, past lives, and so forth. What they don't realize is that the reason Catholics don't get those jokes and hints is because a sane person cannot get a hint that alludes to something that is not and cannot be true. I had to do a fair amount of study of astrology and tarot to figure out what insane belief one of my "friends," "clients," or "patients" were engaging in at any given moment. Gosh, who is truly stupid? Not I. And not well formed and faithful Catholics who never touch New Age garbage.
One of the girls I thought was very nice and sweet was always looking to New Age practices to help her to "get a good exhibition space in Basel." I liked her but felt extreme concern for her because she openly cultivated mental practices to open oneself up sexually to "whatever." I thought that her insistence on a good exhibition space in Basel was odd (she did photography) and a few other things seemed odd, until it clicked. She was making a joke about the Ecumenical Council of Basel, which was convoked by Pope Eugene IV in 1431. Eugene happens to be the name of my neighbor for 22 years, back when I owned a beautiful home and had a job. Get it? Photographer? Neighbor? Catholic Pope? She was posting on the bulletin board one of a number of jokes, thinking it was at my expense, about how I've been photographed and stalked. (I never did get to tell her that I know a very hot exhibition space that she might eventually have permanent space within.)
New Agers think that Catholics are stupid because Catholics don't get their inside jokes and "hints" about karma, past lives, and so forth. What they don't realize is that the reason Catholics don't get those jokes and hints is because a sane person cannot get a hint that alludes to something that is not and cannot be true. I had to do a fair amount of study of astrology and tarot to figure out what insane belief one of my "friends," "clients," or "patients" were engaging in at any given moment. Gosh, who is truly stupid? Not I. And not well formed and faithful Catholics who never touch New Age garbage.
Human sin or Satan? 1 of 100 Satan I'd say
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0704749.htm
(snips)
Dark spots exist in the Catholic Church, but they are only a small part of the reality of the church and its members, said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state. In an Aug. 20 interview with Vatican Radio, the cardinal said media that focus only on the failures of church members are giving the public a distorted vision of the church.
In the same way, Cardinal Bertone said, "the church is a great masterpiece of God's and of the men and women of the church," who have done and continue to do "an immense volume of good in every part of the world." Cardinal Bertone said that "sometimes it seems that there is a plan" on the part of the media to present only negative stories about the Catholic Church and to focus on them long past the time they are news.
He told the radio there are many signs that the devil continues attacking all that is good and all that is of God."Think of violence, which is so widespread and which erupts almost spontaneously, even in places that should be sanctuaries of love: within a family, in forums of sharing, reconciliation and friendship; and the violence that explodes on the part of religions," he said. "Religions were created for peace because they look toward the same God of all," he said. "Each of these are signs of the furious attacks of the evil one in our age, which we must oppose with a strong faith, the faith of one who follows Christ," Cardinal Bertone said.
***
I'm a very big fan of Cardinal Bertone's and think that his comments (read the whole article in the above link) are very important and need to be heeded. I've known for a long time that there is a huge target drawn on the Catholic Church by secularists, controlling the media and who also use the court and tax systems for harassment. That is no surprise but the faithful need to be reassured that they aren't imagining things: that the Catholic Church IS good, and that blots on its character by those who sin inside the Church and outside are not the story of the entire faith, by far.
I also agree with him that people need to be reminded of the work of Satan. However, I disagree with his characterization of Satan as being behind the mundane widespread evil of the day. Here I have to be a bit Calvinistic, I'm afraid. If you look at the scriptures, Satan tends to move in "new" areas of sin. He tempts humans into huge, ground breaking new areas of sin. Humans, on the other hand, through their flawed nature and willingness to be tempted by sin (by sin, not by Satan) are responsible for 99 percent of what is evil in the world. When Satan works, it's a whopper of evil for sure; he stimulates the minds of the great sinners of the day, and is behind much of the "culture of death" that is disguised in being "humane." But violence in strife, theft, lying, cheating widows and orphans, depravity, slavery... all of these are driven by human's tendency to sin. Much of it is because humans did not follow the teachings of God in their evolution: they followed the evolution of technology and material goods. Moses received the commandments from God not because Satan was running around with the Israelites. Notice that? The Commandments were given because the people were sinning. Satan stimulated in Eve the need to be in control of humankind, and then he really didn't have to do too much work after that. He steps in once in a while to stir the pot into a new area (drugs and alcohol are examples, as are the destruction of the family) but for the large part, it is human's own desire to play God, to control other humans, and to covet and sin that stimulates the violence we see today. Satan rarely has to get involved.
In fact, if truth be told, Satan is becoming a little bit alarmed. See, if people eradicate themselves, Satan no longer has a hold on earth. Satan was not running around kicking sand in the faces of baby dinosaurs in order to piss off God before humans arrived on earth. Earth was peaceful and thrived, the original garden of Eden, for the 2 billion or so years of life before modern "civilized" humans emerged. He made his first appearance in humans, because they are in the image of God, and so he, also in the image of God, as a "fallen angel" is a part of human physiology and psyche. If people are not alive, neither is he. That is his "defeat" in the Apocalypse, oh dummies who cheer for the End of Times... he's defeated because all the people on earth die! He no longer has a "host" to support him, and thus he's confined fully to hell. Satan exists only as baggage that human beings carry. So the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees and the moon up above... none of them are under Satan's power, because he only exists where humans that can be tempted exist. And most of the time he does not have to stimulate temptation because human nature is to be grasping and sinful, to be honest... especially when the society has taken control and pushed Christianity, which is the antidote to Satan, out of the public square. So I agree with Cardinal Bertone, but have to remind people that Satan is moving only in the major developments of the culture of death and so forth.... humans are providing their own mundane day to day temptation, just as they did throughout the Bible's recorded history. Satan cannot be blamed for each of you who steals from me, for example... but Satan can be blamed for a society that believes that theft is OK and needs to be looked at "in context" or for New Age reasons. Satan stimulates the great "thinkers" and "false prophets" and then sits back on his beach chair and watches human sinfulness kick in and do the thousands of sins in support of the "thinkers" and "false prophets'" "policies." People do need a reminder from Calvin in this respect. I'd say about one time out of a hundred has a touch of Satan; the rest of the sins are just good old human nature, as usual.
(snips)
Dark spots exist in the Catholic Church, but they are only a small part of the reality of the church and its members, said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state. In an Aug. 20 interview with Vatican Radio, the cardinal said media that focus only on the failures of church members are giving the public a distorted vision of the church.
In the same way, Cardinal Bertone said, "the church is a great masterpiece of God's and of the men and women of the church," who have done and continue to do "an immense volume of good in every part of the world." Cardinal Bertone said that "sometimes it seems that there is a plan" on the part of the media to present only negative stories about the Catholic Church and to focus on them long past the time they are news.
He told the radio there are many signs that the devil continues attacking all that is good and all that is of God."Think of violence, which is so widespread and which erupts almost spontaneously, even in places that should be sanctuaries of love: within a family, in forums of sharing, reconciliation and friendship; and the violence that explodes on the part of religions," he said. "Religions were created for peace because they look toward the same God of all," he said. "Each of these are signs of the furious attacks of the evil one in our age, which we must oppose with a strong faith, the faith of one who follows Christ," Cardinal Bertone said.
***
I'm a very big fan of Cardinal Bertone's and think that his comments (read the whole article in the above link) are very important and need to be heeded. I've known for a long time that there is a huge target drawn on the Catholic Church by secularists, controlling the media and who also use the court and tax systems for harassment. That is no surprise but the faithful need to be reassured that they aren't imagining things: that the Catholic Church IS good, and that blots on its character by those who sin inside the Church and outside are not the story of the entire faith, by far.
I also agree with him that people need to be reminded of the work of Satan. However, I disagree with his characterization of Satan as being behind the mundane widespread evil of the day. Here I have to be a bit Calvinistic, I'm afraid. If you look at the scriptures, Satan tends to move in "new" areas of sin. He tempts humans into huge, ground breaking new areas of sin. Humans, on the other hand, through their flawed nature and willingness to be tempted by sin (by sin, not by Satan) are responsible for 99 percent of what is evil in the world. When Satan works, it's a whopper of evil for sure; he stimulates the minds of the great sinners of the day, and is behind much of the "culture of death" that is disguised in being "humane." But violence in strife, theft, lying, cheating widows and orphans, depravity, slavery... all of these are driven by human's tendency to sin. Much of it is because humans did not follow the teachings of God in their evolution: they followed the evolution of technology and material goods. Moses received the commandments from God not because Satan was running around with the Israelites. Notice that? The Commandments were given because the people were sinning. Satan stimulated in Eve the need to be in control of humankind, and then he really didn't have to do too much work after that. He steps in once in a while to stir the pot into a new area (drugs and alcohol are examples, as are the destruction of the family) but for the large part, it is human's own desire to play God, to control other humans, and to covet and sin that stimulates the violence we see today. Satan rarely has to get involved.
In fact, if truth be told, Satan is becoming a little bit alarmed. See, if people eradicate themselves, Satan no longer has a hold on earth. Satan was not running around kicking sand in the faces of baby dinosaurs in order to piss off God before humans arrived on earth. Earth was peaceful and thrived, the original garden of Eden, for the 2 billion or so years of life before modern "civilized" humans emerged. He made his first appearance in humans, because they are in the image of God, and so he, also in the image of God, as a "fallen angel" is a part of human physiology and psyche. If people are not alive, neither is he. That is his "defeat" in the Apocalypse, oh dummies who cheer for the End of Times... he's defeated because all the people on earth die! He no longer has a "host" to support him, and thus he's confined fully to hell. Satan exists only as baggage that human beings carry. So the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees and the moon up above... none of them are under Satan's power, because he only exists where humans that can be tempted exist. And most of the time he does not have to stimulate temptation because human nature is to be grasping and sinful, to be honest... especially when the society has taken control and pushed Christianity, which is the antidote to Satan, out of the public square. So I agree with Cardinal Bertone, but have to remind people that Satan is moving only in the major developments of the culture of death and so forth.... humans are providing their own mundane day to day temptation, just as they did throughout the Bible's recorded history. Satan cannot be blamed for each of you who steals from me, for example... but Satan can be blamed for a society that believes that theft is OK and needs to be looked at "in context" or for New Age reasons. Satan stimulates the great "thinkers" and "false prophets" and then sits back on his beach chair and watches human sinfulness kick in and do the thousands of sins in support of the "thinkers" and "false prophets'" "policies." People do need a reminder from Calvin in this respect. I'd say about one time out of a hundred has a touch of Satan; the rest of the sins are just good old human nature, as usual.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Posted for dialogue with Muslim brothers, sisters
It is correct that idols are forbidden. Exodus 20:4-5 You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. Notice that God specifically cites “anything in the sky above or in the waters beneath the earth”- he is clearly referring to animals. He refers later to past wickedness in this regard and he is specifically expressing ire at the creation of animal idols, the very beasts that God himself has created, as being worshipped as a rival god. Psalm 115 specifically replies to the taunts of idol worshippers who ask “Where is their God?” Psalm 115: 4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell. They have hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk, and no sound rises from their throats. Their makers shall be like them, all who trust in them. Notice here that idol worshippers believe that an object created or fashioned in shape by their own hands can have sensation and power, which this Psalm refutes. This Psalm answers the idolaters’ question by stating “Our God is in heaven; whatever God will is done.” (Psalm 115: 3). So God clearly prohibits the taking of a natural or manmade object and believing that it possesses some or all of the qualities or abilities of God.
However, during the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, God included in his instructions to Moses the making of two images of angels, called cherubim. Exodus 25: 16-22 You shall then make a propitiatory of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and one and a half cubits wide. Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the propitiatory, fastening them so that one cherub springs direct from each end. The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them; they shall be turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory. This propitiatory you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the commandments which I will give you. There I will meet you and there, from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim on the ark of the commandments, I will tell you all the commands that I wish you to give the Israelites. God also instructed Moses to make a table of acacia wood with gold vessels: Of pure gold you shall make its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations. On the table you shall always keep showbread set before me (Exodus 25: 29-30). It is very clear reading God’s detailed instructions that the creation of two images of angels, the cherubim, is not an invitation to worship the statues as sentient beings. God states that he will meet Moses at the location between the two created images of angels. This, the lid of the ark of covenant, is called the “Mercy Seat” because it is there that God “sat” when he met with Moses, and where on the table the holy bread was always kept for offering to God, and was later eaten by the priests. Still later in this passage God instructs Moses to fashion lamp stands with branches like almond blossoms. Again, there is no confusion that either the angels or the almond flowers contain any sentience or godly powers. The representations are sacred, however, because they belong to God and decorate the place where God meets with Moses.
Moses, who was not shy with the Lord, would have had no problem asking God if there had been any doubt that creation of cherubim to decorate and honor the ark constituted idols, because clearly they did not. Indeed not obeying God in his desire for specific decorations in his honor would have been sinful, and extremely unwise.
When the Israelites came to Jerusalem, the ark resided in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the temples priests conducted sacrifices according to the Jewish law, as specified by Moses following God’s instructions in the Book of Leviticus and the Book of Deuteronomy. We recall that Abraham conducted sacrifice according to God’s wishes, even being tested to sacrifice his own son Isaac. After seeing that Abraham was faithful and would do the sacrifice if necessary, God sent an angel to stay Abraham’s hand. Genesis 22:13-14 As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, “On the mountain the Lord will see.” It was then that the Lord’s messenger spoke on behalf of the Lord saying “that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore…” (Genesis 22:16-17). In the Book of Leviticus God provides to Moses very detailed instructions about the importance of and procedures for acceptable sacrifices, which were animal holocausts or other offerings such as cereal. For example Leviticus 2:1-3 instructs “When anyone wishes to bring a cereal offering to the Lord, his offering must consist of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense over it. When he has brought it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of them shall take a handful of this fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and this he shall burn on the altar as a token offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. The rest of the cereal offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. It is a most sacred oblation to the Lord.” God details through Moses how to make peace offerings, sin offerings for priests, for the community, for the princes, for private persons, for special cases, for daily offerings and for guilt offerings. Provision is made for the poor who cannot afford an animal of the flock. Offerings may be made of two turtledoves or two pigeons (Leviticus 5:7) or “If he is unable to afford even two turtledoves or two pigeons, he shall present as a sin offering for his sin one tenth of an epha of fine flower” without frankincense if it is a sin offering (Leviticus 5:11). These rules of sacrifice, established during the exodus through God’s instruction to Moses, continued to take place, and in fact became much “institutionalized” into the time of Jesus Christ.
The reason that I am instructing about the offering of sacrifice is that this has a direct bearing on the accoutrements of the Catholic Church; those accoutrements which are sometimes mistaken for idolatry or use of graven images. It is an understandable mistake because faith formation and understanding has become, regretfully, so very poor among Catholics themselves, say nothing of the Protestant and non denominational faiths who have split away from the true Church. Most Catholics probably could not explain what I have just presented, and now will present part two of. It is not surprising that non Catholic Christians and Muslims do not understand this, and I do not fault Muslims at all for not understanding and questioning, because I believe they are very faithful guardians of God’s will. However it is important for Muslims (and Christians who are poorly formed) to understand that the Catholic Church is still the holy place a sacrifice. Jesus Christ did not eliminate God’s instructions regarding the need for sacrifice.
At the time of Jesus Christ there are several events in his life that directly attest to the status of sacrifice in the temples during that time. After Jesus was born, circumcised and named, he was presented in the temple “according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,” and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate of the law of the Lord.” (Luke2: 23-24). Notice that Jesus’ family made the level of offering of people who were too poor to sacrifice an animal from a herd. During his public ministry Jesus would admire and point out to his disciples the poor widow who only had a few small coins representing a few cents to give to the temple treasury. Mark 12: 43-44 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood. Near to the same time Jesus criticized the scribes because “they devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation” (Mark 12: 40). His criticism of the financial exploitation of the poor in the name of sacrifice to God came to the boiling point when Jesus cleansed the temple: Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on to his words (Luke 19: 45-48). Notice that Jesus did not say that sacrifice to God was no longer needed; he was driving out the moneychangers who were selling at high price to the poor the animals, birds, and goods for sacrifice. What used to be the people bringing in from their harvest a portion to God had become a financial business taking place right in the temple.
Jesus prepared the Apostles and disciples for the change that he was bringing on behalf of God by reminding them that he was fulfillment of the Old Covenant and initiation of the New Covenant. At no point does he say that sacrifice to God is no longer to take place. And at no point does he say that the temple (soon to be church) is not the location for sacrifice to God. What Jesus brought from God to the Jews, and would be also for the Gentiles, was the bloodless sacrifice to God. Sacrifice would continue to take place, but as I cited earlier in Leviticus, the sacrifice would be one of flour, in memory of Jesus Christ. This was foreseen in the time of David when it is written: And the king said to Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my god of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.” David had sinned in conducting an unauthorized census, and would not accept from the man Araunah the goods for sacrifice to God as a free gift; David insisted on buying “it of thee at a price.” This becomes one of the most profound and frequently quoted prophecies of the ministry of Jesus Christ, to “buy it of thee at a price” (2 Samuel 24: 22-24).
Through his suffering and sacrifice of his life, Jesus deliberately instituted a bloodless sacrifice to God, one that he paid once for all, so that the poor would no longer have to buy sacrifice goods, and one that would be based on flour (bread) in his memory to God. This was the hardest theological point of the New Covenant for many of his disciples and they left him. There was centuries of mentality that all Jews, regardless of their means, had to give money or livestock to the temple for propitiatory of sins and for holy day and event sacrifice to God. It was extremely radical of Jesus Christ to offer himself once as sacrifice to God in order to institute the New Covenant, and new, “of all nations” church. Many Christians who are not Catholics freely accept and celebrate that Jesus Christ became the sacrifice once for all, but they think, erroneously, that Jesus eliminated sacrifice to God completely. He did not. The temple, soon to be the Church, is still the place of daily sacrifice to God. What Jesus Christ did, however, is he now provides the sacrifice in the form of the Eucharistic bread and wine. It is every bit a solemn a sacrifice to God as it was when bullocks were slain on the altar of the temple. Jesus, as brought forth by God, took the humblest of offerings available to the poor for sacrifice (think back to the above reference of the cereal and oil with frankincense) and created a sacramental daily offering to God with his body and spirit with bread and wine. He did this at the Last Supper, the night before he was betrayed, and in the most solemn of tones. There is no indication in the Bible Gospels, Epistles, or early Church Father writings that this Eucharist, this bloodless sacrifice, was anything other than the most solemn of occasions in continuity with offering daily sacrifice to God as he commanded. The Catholic Church took form, through Peter, Paul and the other first Apostles and disciples following Jesus’ example and instructions, where the temple became the church, and the holocausts offered to God became bloodless. It is in a Catholic Church that every day for two thousand years one can find the faithful offering of the bloodless sacrifice to God. All people have to do is show up; they do not have to drag a sheep for slaughter, and they do not have to pay a temple moneychanger for two turtledoves.
Having said this, I think Muslims can now better understand why the Church infrastructure tends to be decorated with statuary, carvings, and stained glass. Catholics view the Church as the new temple decorated in accordance with the solemnity of the daily sacrifice to God, now called the sacrament of Holy Eucharist. As God instructed Moses to construct the ark with cherubim and with gold vessels of cups and plates for the bread offering, Catholics see themselves as providing continuity with providing the respectful images of God and the bloodless sacrifice. The crucified Christ is the Catholic way to honor and recall the price that Jesus Christ paid to bring fulfill and replace the Old Covenant with the New. No Catholic believes that Jesus or God is within the carved statue or the crucifix. But they honor and venerate his teachings and deeds through gazing on the image. This would have been true of the Israelites as the gazed on the cherubim who bracket the Mercy Seat of the ark, though they could not touch it on penalty of death, since God was physically present in the vicinity of the ark. Catholics gaze on the statues of Jesus, the Holy Family, and the martyrs as those who with their own blood brought a free and bloodless ability to perform daily sacrifice to God, who merits this sacrifice from the faithful, since it is from God that all goodness comes. When Catholics gaze upon a statue of Mary, they are recalling a young girl who said “Yes” to the angel and who became the pure vessel of God… and who later had to watch her son be persecuted and die a physical death. People are not worshipping Mary, or the saints, because like the cherubim on the ark, Catholics understand that no spirit resides within the statuary. However, they can better understand the New Covenant by recognizing who has been blessed by God. Mary said “Generations shall call me blessed;” she did not say that generations will worship her. The key to understanding the imagery of the Catholic Church is to consider what I have explained above, how true, completely formed Catholics understand that the Church is the new temple where sacrifice to God continues to take place, in the form of the sanctified bread and wine. Catholics view each church building as the temple where the continuous celebration of the bloodless sacrifice of the lamb takes place in God’s presence. This is why even non believers often comment that they do not feel alone when they go into a Catholic Church. It is because the sacrifice to God of the lamb in bread and wine has taken place and is celebrated each day in honor of God, with no price of admission charged and no money changers for turtledoves. Therefore Catholics feel that because God instructed that cherubim placed in image of each side of the ark of the covenant, likewise the Church is to be provided with reminders and images that illuminate the sacrifice that is constantly celebrated within.
I hope this helps our very fruitful dialogue for mutual respect and understanding!
However, during the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, God included in his instructions to Moses the making of two images of angels, called cherubim. Exodus 25: 16-22 You shall then make a propitiatory of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and one and a half cubits wide. Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the propitiatory, fastening them so that one cherub springs direct from each end. The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them; they shall be turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory. This propitiatory you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the commandments which I will give you. There I will meet you and there, from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim on the ark of the commandments, I will tell you all the commands that I wish you to give the Israelites. God also instructed Moses to make a table of acacia wood with gold vessels: Of pure gold you shall make its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations. On the table you shall always keep showbread set before me (Exodus 25: 29-30). It is very clear reading God’s detailed instructions that the creation of two images of angels, the cherubim, is not an invitation to worship the statues as sentient beings. God states that he will meet Moses at the location between the two created images of angels. This, the lid of the ark of covenant, is called the “Mercy Seat” because it is there that God “sat” when he met with Moses, and where on the table the holy bread was always kept for offering to God, and was later eaten by the priests. Still later in this passage God instructs Moses to fashion lamp stands with branches like almond blossoms. Again, there is no confusion that either the angels or the almond flowers contain any sentience or godly powers. The representations are sacred, however, because they belong to God and decorate the place where God meets with Moses.
Moses, who was not shy with the Lord, would have had no problem asking God if there had been any doubt that creation of cherubim to decorate and honor the ark constituted idols, because clearly they did not. Indeed not obeying God in his desire for specific decorations in his honor would have been sinful, and extremely unwise.
When the Israelites came to Jerusalem, the ark resided in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the temples priests conducted sacrifices according to the Jewish law, as specified by Moses following God’s instructions in the Book of Leviticus and the Book of Deuteronomy. We recall that Abraham conducted sacrifice according to God’s wishes, even being tested to sacrifice his own son Isaac. After seeing that Abraham was faithful and would do the sacrifice if necessary, God sent an angel to stay Abraham’s hand. Genesis 22:13-14 As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, “On the mountain the Lord will see.” It was then that the Lord’s messenger spoke on behalf of the Lord saying “that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore…” (Genesis 22:16-17). In the Book of Leviticus God provides to Moses very detailed instructions about the importance of and procedures for acceptable sacrifices, which were animal holocausts or other offerings such as cereal. For example Leviticus 2:1-3 instructs “When anyone wishes to bring a cereal offering to the Lord, his offering must consist of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense over it. When he has brought it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of them shall take a handful of this fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and this he shall burn on the altar as a token offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. The rest of the cereal offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. It is a most sacred oblation to the Lord.” God details through Moses how to make peace offerings, sin offerings for priests, for the community, for the princes, for private persons, for special cases, for daily offerings and for guilt offerings. Provision is made for the poor who cannot afford an animal of the flock. Offerings may be made of two turtledoves or two pigeons (Leviticus 5:7) or “If he is unable to afford even two turtledoves or two pigeons, he shall present as a sin offering for his sin one tenth of an epha of fine flower” without frankincense if it is a sin offering (Leviticus 5:11). These rules of sacrifice, established during the exodus through God’s instruction to Moses, continued to take place, and in fact became much “institutionalized” into the time of Jesus Christ.
The reason that I am instructing about the offering of sacrifice is that this has a direct bearing on the accoutrements of the Catholic Church; those accoutrements which are sometimes mistaken for idolatry or use of graven images. It is an understandable mistake because faith formation and understanding has become, regretfully, so very poor among Catholics themselves, say nothing of the Protestant and non denominational faiths who have split away from the true Church. Most Catholics probably could not explain what I have just presented, and now will present part two of. It is not surprising that non Catholic Christians and Muslims do not understand this, and I do not fault Muslims at all for not understanding and questioning, because I believe they are very faithful guardians of God’s will. However it is important for Muslims (and Christians who are poorly formed) to understand that the Catholic Church is still the holy place a sacrifice. Jesus Christ did not eliminate God’s instructions regarding the need for sacrifice.
At the time of Jesus Christ there are several events in his life that directly attest to the status of sacrifice in the temples during that time. After Jesus was born, circumcised and named, he was presented in the temple “according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,” and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate of the law of the Lord.” (Luke2: 23-24). Notice that Jesus’ family made the level of offering of people who were too poor to sacrifice an animal from a herd. During his public ministry Jesus would admire and point out to his disciples the poor widow who only had a few small coins representing a few cents to give to the temple treasury. Mark 12: 43-44 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood. Near to the same time Jesus criticized the scribes because “they devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation” (Mark 12: 40). His criticism of the financial exploitation of the poor in the name of sacrifice to God came to the boiling point when Jesus cleansed the temple: Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on to his words (Luke 19: 45-48). Notice that Jesus did not say that sacrifice to God was no longer needed; he was driving out the moneychangers who were selling at high price to the poor the animals, birds, and goods for sacrifice. What used to be the people bringing in from their harvest a portion to God had become a financial business taking place right in the temple.
Jesus prepared the Apostles and disciples for the change that he was bringing on behalf of God by reminding them that he was fulfillment of the Old Covenant and initiation of the New Covenant. At no point does he say that sacrifice to God is no longer to take place. And at no point does he say that the temple (soon to be church) is not the location for sacrifice to God. What Jesus brought from God to the Jews, and would be also for the Gentiles, was the bloodless sacrifice to God. Sacrifice would continue to take place, but as I cited earlier in Leviticus, the sacrifice would be one of flour, in memory of Jesus Christ. This was foreseen in the time of David when it is written: And the king said to Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my god of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.” David had sinned in conducting an unauthorized census, and would not accept from the man Araunah the goods for sacrifice to God as a free gift; David insisted on buying “it of thee at a price.” This becomes one of the most profound and frequently quoted prophecies of the ministry of Jesus Christ, to “buy it of thee at a price” (2 Samuel 24: 22-24).
Through his suffering and sacrifice of his life, Jesus deliberately instituted a bloodless sacrifice to God, one that he paid once for all, so that the poor would no longer have to buy sacrifice goods, and one that would be based on flour (bread) in his memory to God. This was the hardest theological point of the New Covenant for many of his disciples and they left him. There was centuries of mentality that all Jews, regardless of their means, had to give money or livestock to the temple for propitiatory of sins and for holy day and event sacrifice to God. It was extremely radical of Jesus Christ to offer himself once as sacrifice to God in order to institute the New Covenant, and new, “of all nations” church. Many Christians who are not Catholics freely accept and celebrate that Jesus Christ became the sacrifice once for all, but they think, erroneously, that Jesus eliminated sacrifice to God completely. He did not. The temple, soon to be the Church, is still the place of daily sacrifice to God. What Jesus Christ did, however, is he now provides the sacrifice in the form of the Eucharistic bread and wine. It is every bit a solemn a sacrifice to God as it was when bullocks were slain on the altar of the temple. Jesus, as brought forth by God, took the humblest of offerings available to the poor for sacrifice (think back to the above reference of the cereal and oil with frankincense) and created a sacramental daily offering to God with his body and spirit with bread and wine. He did this at the Last Supper, the night before he was betrayed, and in the most solemn of tones. There is no indication in the Bible Gospels, Epistles, or early Church Father writings that this Eucharist, this bloodless sacrifice, was anything other than the most solemn of occasions in continuity with offering daily sacrifice to God as he commanded. The Catholic Church took form, through Peter, Paul and the other first Apostles and disciples following Jesus’ example and instructions, where the temple became the church, and the holocausts offered to God became bloodless. It is in a Catholic Church that every day for two thousand years one can find the faithful offering of the bloodless sacrifice to God. All people have to do is show up; they do not have to drag a sheep for slaughter, and they do not have to pay a temple moneychanger for two turtledoves.
Having said this, I think Muslims can now better understand why the Church infrastructure tends to be decorated with statuary, carvings, and stained glass. Catholics view the Church as the new temple decorated in accordance with the solemnity of the daily sacrifice to God, now called the sacrament of Holy Eucharist. As God instructed Moses to construct the ark with cherubim and with gold vessels of cups and plates for the bread offering, Catholics see themselves as providing continuity with providing the respectful images of God and the bloodless sacrifice. The crucified Christ is the Catholic way to honor and recall the price that Jesus Christ paid to bring fulfill and replace the Old Covenant with the New. No Catholic believes that Jesus or God is within the carved statue or the crucifix. But they honor and venerate his teachings and deeds through gazing on the image. This would have been true of the Israelites as the gazed on the cherubim who bracket the Mercy Seat of the ark, though they could not touch it on penalty of death, since God was physically present in the vicinity of the ark. Catholics gaze on the statues of Jesus, the Holy Family, and the martyrs as those who with their own blood brought a free and bloodless ability to perform daily sacrifice to God, who merits this sacrifice from the faithful, since it is from God that all goodness comes. When Catholics gaze upon a statue of Mary, they are recalling a young girl who said “Yes” to the angel and who became the pure vessel of God… and who later had to watch her son be persecuted and die a physical death. People are not worshipping Mary, or the saints, because like the cherubim on the ark, Catholics understand that no spirit resides within the statuary. However, they can better understand the New Covenant by recognizing who has been blessed by God. Mary said “Generations shall call me blessed;” she did not say that generations will worship her. The key to understanding the imagery of the Catholic Church is to consider what I have explained above, how true, completely formed Catholics understand that the Church is the new temple where sacrifice to God continues to take place, in the form of the sanctified bread and wine. Catholics view each church building as the temple where the continuous celebration of the bloodless sacrifice of the lamb takes place in God’s presence. This is why even non believers often comment that they do not feel alone when they go into a Catholic Church. It is because the sacrifice to God of the lamb in bread and wine has taken place and is celebrated each day in honor of God, with no price of admission charged and no money changers for turtledoves. Therefore Catholics feel that because God instructed that cherubim placed in image of each side of the ark of the covenant, likewise the Church is to be provided with reminders and images that illuminate the sacrifice that is constantly celebrated within.
I hope this helps our very fruitful dialogue for mutual respect and understanding!
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