Holy sites and protestants

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horselvr

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So, a protestant lady posted on FB what a waste it is for people to fly or cruise to another country and how people should just stay here and see the USA. I came on and said that if someone wanted to see the Holy sites they will need to hop on a plane and leave the US. I don’t think we will find Christ birthplace or his tomb in the US. Boy, what a can of worms. They all came on and said God created all the land----everywhere is a Holy site even in my back yard. blah Blah.
 
I remember the commercials in the 1950s, with Pat Boone or Dinah Shore, “See the USA, in your Chevrolet!”
Actually many Protestants, including evangelicals, do try to see the Holy Land
once in their lives. If it were known which spot the Burning Bush was, you can be sure they would be flocking there. But, with many exceptions, Protestants don’t have the sacramental sense of place, or time, that Catholics have. They honor Sunday, but otherwise no sense of holy days.

I suspect that historically Protestants visited more American history shrines, like Gettysburg, etc. I think prior to recent decades, they regarded America as their Protestant country. Catholics, prior to recent decades, often related emotionally to shrines in Italy, Poland, etc. My mother said that prior to WWII, Catholics paid little attention to Thanksgiving; just a day off. We had our own Ember days.

But they are partly right. Everywhere is indeed a holy site, even in your back yard. I travel to shrines in the northeast US. But I feel a little sad, in that I know there are so many poor people who cannot afford to do that, let alone fly to Europe or the Holy land. So there needs to be a little balance here.
 
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Maybe some Christians are thinking of the Creation Museum or Ark Encounter that have opened in Kentucky… or the recently opened Bible Museum in DC.
 
Seeing the US first is a very wise policy, for several very good reasons. Obviously, religious sites are an exception.
 
So demons and bad people can dwell in holy places, according to them, right?
 
FaceBook. Meh. Nothing good ever comes of it.
 
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Community news and family photos… if there were an equivalent way to efficiently share those things in some of our rural areas so easily, I’d be on board with the abandon FB crowd.
 
This isn’t the view of most Protestants, but just your Facebook friend and their friends. I know many, many Protestants who love to travel! Even to places like Rome, where they’ll visit many beautiful Catholic Churches. I also know quite a few Protestants who have been to Israel, and quite a few Protestant churches that organize Holy Land trips every few years. Not to mention all of the foreign mission trips!
 
The good news is that these folks won’t be on your next pilgrimage. They’ll be at home… In their back yards. 😎
 
There are a lot of nice shrines in USA too.
Some Protestants and Catholics too do not like foreign travel. They see it as dangerous or think the money is better used elsewhere.

Others like to travel and see holy sites outside the US, and this includes Protestants and Catholics too.

How about we just call it a matter of personal taste and don’t get het up about it? Jesus in person is appearing at every Catholic Mass everywhere in the world daily, so if you don’t want to travel further than the nearest church holding Mass, you don’t have to.
 
Hold it right there missy.

You mean to tell me that THIS:

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Is less holy than THIS:

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Preposterous!
 
Most of the Protestants I know would love to go see the Holy Land. There’s advertisements for trips pretty regularly.
 
Yes! There are icons, so those people must be idol worshippers!
 
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Brittany said:
I think we should all just get rid of FB. 🙂
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I hate to defend one of the devil’s tools, but…
I try to eliminate as much controversial or political stuff as possible. I do like the sharing of pictures and news from relatives out of town; years ago, people didn’t have so many relatives out of state.

I have about 600 “friends” on facebook. Some are hard core Catholics who share info about events and urgent prayer needs. But many are mostly secularized, former co workers or fellow professionals of mine. They respect me, but not my traditional views on abortion, marriage, etc.

I often post brief quotes, mostly G. K. Chesterton, also C. S. Lewis, Fulton Sheen, and one recent person, Mother Theresa. I don’t refer to current issues, but to larger truths, which were true in their time, and also in ours, which are now forgotten but still recognizable. Anything over 2 or 3 sentences will get ignored.

If I try to push prolife they will Unfollow me. But I can get across some thought provoking ideas. Getting people to think, or apply logic, is a good exercise in itself. We won’t regain Prolife or Marriage until logic and reason becomes common again. The Church not only has to restore Faith, but now it has to restore Reason. Individuals can use social media to do that, a tiny bit at a time, for people who will not hear Reason in the organized media.
 
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Facebook is a matter of personal taste too.

I don’t stay friends with people who argue or brag. If they post too much political stuff I unfollow or snooze them till they stop.

But when somebody loses a relative or even a beloved pet, there’s an outpouring of support. And there are prayer groups to pray with too.

Like everything else, a tool. Use it for good or bad. Your choice. Throwing your tool away may or may not be the answer.
 
horselvr said:
So, a protestant lady posted on FB what a waste it is for people to fly or cruise to another country and how people should just stay here and see the USA. I came on and said that if someone wanted to see the Holy sites they will need to hop on a plane and leave the US. I don’t think we will find Christ birthplace or his tomb in the US. Boy, what a can of worms. They all came on and said God created all the land----everywhere is a Holy site even in my back yard. blah Blah.
Click to expand...
Bottom line, we can’t change or illuminate anyone’s mind that doesn’t want to change or be illuminated.
 
I wonder how much of that type of rant is related less to their religious belief as to their social (political, national) beliefs. There are many wondrous sites in the US to visit, and time would limit seeing them all. I have not kept that from seeing other countries. The Holy land was only one of many. It helped me better understand the people, their worldview and how that affects their actions, and the cradle of my faith and to see it in a real concrete way.
 
My mother was a devout Catholic and other than quick visits to the Canadian side of Lake Erie where her sister had a vacation cottage, mom had zero desire to ever go outside USA for anything.
She was Irish but didn’t want to see Ireland.
She didn’t even want to go to Hawaii, and that’s in USA.
She accepted that others might want to go, but she didn’t want to.
Just personal taste.
 
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