Does your church have an altar?

[Timothy17]

Alters are found in the temples where men and women kneel across from each other to be “sealed” ie married

scriputecatholic.com

The video on the home page, though lengthy, provides you with the source of Mormon altars, especially in their temple establishment. People forget that Smith was a Mason and incorporated Masonic ritual into his new religion. Mormons are made, however unawares, to defile their marriages if they are married in the Mormon temple (covenant and blood oaths, hence the altar) ; otherwise, they are made to think their marriages are second-class if they did not meet the obligations for a temple marriage. Mormon apologists will deny this, and go about their typical sophistry, but the implication is very, very clear to those who partake of it.

Pax Christi,
Tim

 

[Marie5890]

scriputecatholic.com

The video on the home page, though lengthy, provides you with the source of Mormon altars, especially in their temple establishment. People forget that Smith was a Mason and incorporated Masonic ritual into his new religion. Mormons are made, however unawares, to defile their marriages if they are married in the Mormon temple (covenant and blood oaths, hence the altar) ; otherwise, they are made to think their marriages are second-class if they did not meet the obligations for a temple marriage. Mormon apologists will deny this, and go about their typical sophistry, but the implication is very, very clear to those who partake of it.

Pax Christi,
Tim

Oh it’s been so long since I have been in an LDS temple that your post reminded me that, yes, there are alters in the ordinance rooms too.

The penalties (Im not sure if now a days participants go thru the motions of the penalties like they did when I was a member or not any more. I think today they are just described and demonstrated?)

Yes very Masonic. Thanks for the reminder. It goes to show how much I have let go of Mormonism and it’s mind think. YAY!

 

[Esdra]

I grew up in a Fundamentalist Baptist church that had many sermons about “laying things on the altar.” There were altar calls. People during the final part of the service, the invitation, were asked to come to the altar. The funny thing was that there was no altar and none of us noticed. Really!

I suppose you could think of the front of the church as the altar, but there really was only the pulpit. In a discussion with a woman one time, I made the comment that we had no altar. She, like me when I first realized that, was surprised. There were so many references to the altar, especially when people were asked to come to the altar, but it wasn’t there.

I’ve been attending a Baptist Church in Austria for 2 years now.

We have the pulpit, and a little in the back there is a wooden table where the bread and the grape juice stands, if the Lord’s Supper is celebrated.
This table is put next to the pulpit when celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
So, you could say we do have an “altar”!

 

[Esdra]

I am told it was John Calvin who removed the altar from the church and replaced it with the preacher’s pulpit front and center. Calvin believed that the centerpiece of worship was proclamation of the gospel and not the gifts brought to the altar.

Of course most Protestant churches today have no altar. Yet it is quite common for the preacher to say things like, “Come and kneel before the altar,” or “Bring your sins and leave them on the altar.”

Yes, I’ve also realised that in my Baptist Church.
They even sing about kneeling in front of the cross. - Although noone ever kneels during worship.
Only sitting, standing, or dancing (the last two of course only when singing)

 

[The_Sentry]

Does your church have an altar, and do you bring a gift to the altar every week?

I don’t bring it personally, but our gifts are taken to the altar. So yeah, we have one…complete with altar rails too!

 

[Marie5890]

This is a very interesting thread. Never gave much thought to how other denomination view or see (not see) importance of an alter

 

[Marie5890]

One more thing about Mormon alters in their temple ordinance rooms (considering how people are talking about bringing gifts to the alter, or alter calls etc)

Toward the end of the “Endowment” ceremony, participants are asked if they would like to be part of the prayer circle that gathers around the alter. Then a list of names of people who have asked for prayers are placed on the alter

(There is …or was…an actual phone number people would call to place names on the temple prayer list…If I recalled these names would be kept and prayed over for 30 days)

 

[CMatt25]

The church bldg representing the territorial parish for Catholics where I live, not long ago spent money on a fancy marble one.

 

[JonNC]

=Zenas;7571694]
Of course most Protestant churches today have no altar. Yet it is quite common for the preacher to say things like, “Come and kneel before the altar,” or “Bring your sins and leave them on the altar.”

I, frankly, was not aware of this. Lutherans and Anglicans obviously do. Perhaps the difference has to do with views regarding the sacraments.

Jon

 

[xixxvmcm85]

The penalties (Im not sure if now a days participants go thru the motions of the penalties like they did when I was a member or not any more. I think today they are just described and demonstrated?)

Excised entirely. At least they were when I went in 2005.

 

[Zenas]

I, frankly, was not aware of this. Lutherans and Anglicans obviously do. Perhaps the difference has to do with views regarding the sacraments.

Jon

Probably I should have been more precise. Baptists, Presbyterians, Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, nearly all Evangelical nondenominationals, and (I think) Methodists and Pentecostals have no altar. However, most of these have some sort of communion table, which they call either the Lord’s table or the communion table. They will often refer to some invisible metaphorical “altar” in their worship services.

 

[seeker57]

You go to the UU Church on Comanche and Carlisle?

That would be odd if a UU Church had one.

No offense, but I would be surprised if one had had a temporary one put it for something like Wiccan sacrifices or whatevs. You guys kind of have a reputation for being very liberal, no offense.

One Unitarian I met said, “Unitarians believe in one God, at most.” He was an atheist who just like the social environment.

No, I live in the Four Corners and go to the fellowship in Farmington. We have had temporary stands or tables set up for different religious observances, the most recent was a Sikh holiday. But I don’t know whether that would be considered an altar. Probably not.

Yes, we have a liberal religious tradition that started with liberal Christianity and evolved from there.

Peace,

Seeker

 

[JonNC]

Probably I should have been more precise. Baptists, Presbyterians, Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, nearly all Evangelical nondenominationals, and (I think) Methodists and Pentecostals have no altar. However, most of these have some sort of communion table, which they call either the Lord’s table or the communion table. They will often refer to some invisible metaphorical “altar” in their worship services.

I think Methodists are more inclined to have an altar, if the link below is any proof of common practice. Regarding the others, I’ll take your word for it.
asburysouthumc.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=40023&PID=507911

Jon

 

[Bbigam]

I think Methodists are more inclined to have an altar, if the link below is any proof of common practice. Regarding the others, I’ll take your word for it.
asburysouthumc.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=40023&PID=507911

Jon

Many United Methodists do use what they call an altar. It tends to be a fairly simple wooden table with at most a cross, a couple of candles and maybe a Bible or some flowers or low-key decorations on it. However, since many only have communion monthly or quarterly, it doesn’t necessarily get used very much. It’s often placed in front of and below the pulpit, which tends to be large and prominent. In more “traditional” Methodist communities the altar is likely to be a little fancier and actually called an altar; in more low-church type Methodist communities it may be called just the communion table and be more simple, or even only set up temporarily on communion Sundays.

Still, an “altar call” means to go up front and kneel and pray at the prayer rail, not the altar itself.

 

[JonNC]

Many United Methodists do use what they call an altar. It tends to be a fairly simple wooden table with at most a cross, a couple of candles and maybe a Bible or some flowers or low-key decorations on it. However, since many only have communion monthly or quarterly, it doesn’t necessarily get used very much. It’s often placed in front of and below the pulpit, which tends to be large and prominent. In more “traditional” Methodist communities the altar is likely to be a little fancier and actually called an altar; in more low-church type Methodist communities it may be called just the communion table and be more simple, or even only set up temporarily on communion Sundays.

Still, an “altar call” means to go up front and kneel and pray at the prayer rail, not the altar itself.

Thanks. It seems Methodists, like their Anglican “parents”, tend to be rather diverse in belief and practice. I live in a hotbed of Methodism - not too far from the Junaluska Assembly - and really don’t know a lot about them.

Jon

 

[Bbigam]

Thanks. It seems Methodists, like their Anglican “parents”, tend to be rather diverse in belief and practice. I live in a hotbed of Methodism - not too far from the Junaluska Assembly - and really don’t know a lot about them.

Jon

Yeah, that’s pretty accurate. Methodists tend to be much more “low church” than Anglicans but do have a similar wide variety of expression and beliefs. You’d be hard pressed to find a Methodist church that looked like a traditional Catholic Church.

 

[gamewell45]

Yes we have an altar in our parish which is used every day.

 

[PTD]

I just got back from a Holy Hour at a church that was just “updated”. The traditional pre-Vatican II altar is still there, but they turned around all the pews in the front half of the church, and midway they now have a makeshift wooden altar, priest throne, and lecturn. Essentially the congregation will be focused on the congregation and the priest, more than anything (or AnyOne) else. Half the congregation will have their backs to the Blessed Sacrament. Then we wonder why fewer Catholics believe in the Real Presence. (The Holy Hour was certainly not sponsored by this parish, but they let our group meet there).