Catholics pray rosary in front of satanic statue put in Illinois state capitol

[guanophore]

will you realise how Christian both the US and Britain still are despite present evils.

I will certainly stipulate that some of the vestiges of a Judeo Christian heritage still exist, but they are rapidly fading, as evidenced by the very subject of this thread

Do you believe the Catholic hierachy is still Christian despite the abuse crisis?

I think you lost me here. I don’t see what this has to do with societal values, or the thread topic.

Seeing Catholics preach apathy to evil on this forum is very sad.

Not just apathy, but support of the “right” to pander it!

You will see I lauded praying the Rosary.

Actually, I reread each of your posts in the thread, and saw nothing of the kind. Instead, I saw support for Catholics staying out of the public square and confining themselves to the Church building.

What I opined as counterproductive to that noble response was doing so at the site

Perhaps you don’t think Mary should have been at the Crucifixion? Or maybe those who witnessed the stoning of Stephan should have gotten out of sight? We have an obligation to resist evil.

James 4:7 "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Maybe it is time for a reread of the book of Acts? We only see the disciples in hiding before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After Pentecost, they made themselves very present in public, and resisted evil every place they encountered it.

In fact, even as a Christian I would now, if I lived in the USA, like to go and visit the exhibit for myself, assess the material and make my own mind up on the matter.

Perhaps you can send a proxy? Let us know your impressions.

 

[guanophore]

I am sure that is not the outcome our prayer warriors actually want

You seem to have judged these persons as bereft of the ability to think, engage in critical analysis, and objectivity. It is too bad that none of them have your intellectual ability and spiritual maturity.

younger persons equally as truth seeking and curious of other groups as I am.

In fact it is the young who most need to see the power of spiritual warfare at work. Perhaps their “curiosity” will be tempered by the evidence that there are some things that are spiritually dangerous to embrace?

All that’s happening here is 40 morons throwing a public fit

No.

Praying together does not constitute “throwing a public fit”. This is a disparaging assessment. Calling people that exercise their right to practice their faith “morons” is derogatory.

Christians don’t always notice how patronizing and passive aggressive this behavior looks from the outside.

How is prayer “patronizing”?

How is a peaceful and prayerful response to a insult “passive aggressive”?

No wonder you are consistently baffled!

 

[crenfro]

Great, just what is needed, protests by overwrought Christians which will further advertise this artefact and bring even more people along to see what the fuss is about.
Thats not really helpful is it?

They’re not advertising an artifact. They’re praying for the good of our souls and to be delivered from evil. Things such as wars, poverty, depression, cynicism, suicide, abortion, selfishness, etc., ad nauseum… is it so bad to pray for delivery from these things? Or to remove a statue which represents these things?

 

[Sophie111]

You will see I lauded praying the Rosary.

In your haste to delegitimise my contrary view you must have overlooked this line:

Wiser to offer prayer and reparation at Church…

How do people pray in a Church … perhaps the Rosary?
A brief apology would be nice thanks.

Anyways, didnt Jesus say something about retiring to your secret place to pray not ostentatiously standing on street corners for all to see…
Of course that would be anathema to such in your face “prayer” warriors. Why is it this politicising of prayer only seems to be considered normative by some groups in the US I do often wonder.

 

[Sophie111]

They’re not advertising an artifact. They’re praying for the good of our souls and to be delivered from evil. Things such as wars, poverty, depression, cynicism, suicide, abortion, selfishness, etc., ad nauseum… is it so bad to pray for delivery from these things?

Not at all. Its the both spiritual (cf Jesuss views) and publicity downsides (oxygen to the “Satanists”) of doing so before men that seems foolish.
Clearly you are entitled to your position.
As am I mine.

 

[Mary888]

I second this. Christians in non-violent places of the Earth (like Africa or the Middle East, North Korea and others) we just get stumped over because we don’t take our own religion seriously and we get lost in apologies for our faith trying to pass unnoticed (and safe). Public displays of religion are present when the statue of another religion is being displayed (like that of Baphomet, object of worship for the Satanists). We didn’t start this.
I think God allowed it to happen so we finally get out of the shell and express our faith in a non-violent way. Is it provocative? Yes, and? You cannot live a honest spiritual life and never provoke never say anything about it to anyone at all publicly.
There is nothing offensive in the Rosary not even to the Enemy who these people are worshipping (or claim that they are). Their inane deity is not offended by this prayer.
May the Lord help and empower those people praying to Him in front of it.

 

[0331]

The text you’re speaking of has been quoted here already. In it, Jesus says ‘Do not be like the hipocrates’ who pray so people can see them. But those people praying in front of that Satanic display are not praying to earn the esteem of others.

In fact, public prayer in this country in modern times doesn’t earn someone praise like it might in a Jewish society that Jesus lived in. Our country tells us ‘You can pray however you want as long as no one else sees it.’ Public prayer gets you ostracized, gets you looked down on, gets you accused of bigotry and backwardness.

And even if you do it sincerely for the Father, it earns accusations of doing it to be seen. But our culture doesn’t value piety and reverence much any more. So don’t accuse those people of praying for ‘political reasons’ and to be lauded for their efforts.

 

[0331]

The Enemy HATES the Rosary. It is entirely offensive to Satan and his works.

 

[Roguish]

…even if they don’t really ‘believe’ in Satan, they’re still doing his work.

This is such an important observation.

I also find it interesting – and disturbing – that even though they claim not to believe in a “literal Satan”, they did manage to conceive of the most insidious possible text to go on the pedestal that supports this abomination: “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift”.