I wish I could remember where I read this…it was on some anti-Catholic website somewhere.
The writer, a fundamentalist, was attempting to explain the Catholic “preoccupation” with the crucifix. There was the usual “no graven images” explanations. The writer then went on with this angle…when Christ was on the cross, He took on our sins and was dirty, and shamed, and humiliated…even God could no longer look upon Christ on the cross and turned away from him (trying to explain the “why have you forsaken me” statement and missing the point of the sacrifice, Psalm 22, Scott Hahn’s ‘The Fourth Cup’, etc.). So when we Catholics have the crucifix, we are (allegedly) holding Christ up to ridicule, we are keeping him in his moment of shame, and how-dare-those-awful-Catholics do that, etc…and a real Bible-believing Christian would never want to gaze upon Christ in his most shameful, humiliating moment.
Too bad this writer didn’t understand. When I look at the crucifix, I don’t see Jesus in a moment of shame. I see Him in His moment of triumph!
