Mormon relatives want to buy me a statue

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Hi,
I am a Catholic living in Salt Lake City. My wifes Grandparents are Mormon and are very much aware that we are Die Hard Catholics. They have said that they are purchasing an LDS “Christus Statue” for us. I have looked it up online and it looks like the Jesus we all know and love. What I am asking is, Is it ok to display a statue of Jesus (LDS Jesus) in my home. I am aware of the deep theological differences of LDS and mainstream Christianity… I’m just wondering if that would send the wrong message. I’m just plain old confused. Any comments would help me out greatly, Thanks. :confused:
 
It’s up to you but if you study the LDS religion you may see their Jesus as not your Jesus.
I’m not officially Catholic though so I don’t know if it’s OK or not by the Catholic standards.
 
I’m afraid I am rather old school (etiquette wise) when it comes to things like this.

I don’t believe it would be wrong to accept it as a gift, but my question would be, how often do they visit? 😉

If you think it might have to be on display alot (frequent visits), then it might be a good idea to explain to them in a compassionate way that based on theological differences, you can’t accept it.
 
It is Bertel Thorsvaldsen’s “Christus”. The LDS church has a replica of it in several of their temple visitor’s center, including the one in SLC.

edit to add: I don’t know what message it will send. 🤷 It may be they were just looking for something that conveyed commonality. I wouldn’t have a problem displaying it. You know Who Christ is, and it is a Christian piece of art.

You can also keep in mind, if you’ve ever gone into Our Lady Of Zion Chapel in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, that the sculpture of the Madonna and Child was made by the LDS artist Avard Fairbanks.

The message for us, is that the Catholic Church evangelizes all cultures and makes them her own. 🙂
 
mrmagoo661 said:
Hi,
I am a Catholic living in Salt Lake City. My wifes Grandparents are Mormon and are very much aware that we are Die Hard Catholics. They have said that they are purchasing an LDS “Christus Statue” for us. I have looked it up online and it looks like the Jesus we all know and love. What I am asking is, Is it ok to display a statue of Jesus (LDS Jesus) in my home. I am aware of the deep theological differences of LDS and mainstream Christianity… I’m just wondering if that would send the wrong message. I’m just plain old confused. Any comments would help me out greatly, Thanks. :confused:
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Just because someone gives you something they appreciate does not mean you have to display it, it’s your home and other people have no pull when it comes to the things you display in it. You decorate and display the things that make your residence a home, a reflection of you, not a reflection of someone else.

When someone goes all passive/aggressive on me I go right back. “You don’t have the statue we gave you out”, “I can’t find the right spot for it”. Why should you bother to find a place for something in your home that has meaning for someone else. Why are they doing this, why do they feel the need to decorate your home???

And yes, if you display something so clearly associated (in your area) with the LDS church it does indeed send a message and that message is that you are not a die hard Catholic.
 
🤷 I have a nativity scene my very, very LDS mother gave to me. I find great irony, and maybe even humor, in the fact that Mary is portrayed in a very, very Catholic fashion. For me, it portrays my faith very well, and is tied to someone I love.

What does my mother think when she sees it out at Christmas? I really have no idea, and I haven’t ever worried about it. I put it near my Advent candles, which is not LDS at all. Maybe it makes her wonder what that’s all about.

Many LDS people do seek to follow Jesus Christ. They have a very diminished understanding of Who Jesus Is. I’m thinking more and more these days, that it is better to grow that desire to follow Christ, into something more.

I’d put the statue someplace that makes it Catholic. Even have it blessed.
 
mrmagoo661 said:
Hi,
I am a Catholic living in Salt Lake City. My wifes Grandparents are Mormon and are very much aware that we are Die Hard Catholics. They have said that they are purchasing an LDS “Christus Statue” for us. I have looked it up online and it looks like the Jesus we all know and love. What I am asking is, Is it ok to display a statue of Jesus (LDS Jesus) in my home. I am aware of the deep theological differences of LDS and mainstream Christianity… I’m just wondering if that would send the wrong message. I’m just plain old confused. Any comments would help me out greatly, Thanks. :confused:
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I would be concerned at a spiritual level, since the LDS Jesus is not the Jesus of Christianity. Their intent is to convert you away from what you believe. Take a few moments to read the Letters of John, particularly 2 John 1:7-11. Since the LDS concept of Jesus is a departure form the truth, it is not of God. Ask them if they would allow you to choose your own statue of the true Christ. If not, I would graciously decline their offer.
 
For the record, the artist himself was NOT LDS, but probably Lutheran or Calvinist of some stripe, being Scandinavian.

In fact the artist lived two centuries ago, and probably predates Joseph Smith. Certainly he can have had nothing whatsoever to do with the LDS faith. His statue is just one that some LDS-ers seem to like.

Put it this way - it really is the equivalent of your parents giving you a print of Da Vinci’s Last Supper or something. Would you have a problem accepting THAT from them and displaying it in your house?
 
RebeccaJ said:
I’d put the statue someplace that makes it Catholic. Even have it blessed.
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I like that statue, but of course the undertone is of another Jesus. How wrapping a nice rosary around it?

I guess you could be positive about it and be glad it’s not the statue of Moroni.
 
Returning_Home said:
I like that statue, but of course the undertone is of another Jesus. How wrapping a nice rosary around it?

I guess you could be positive about it and be glad it’s not the statue of Moroni.
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Fer crying out loud. Read the links and my comments. It is NOT a statue made by an artist of the LDS faith. When it was made the LDS faith probably did not even EXIST.

It is an image of the artist’s Jesus - which, he being Lutheran or Calvinist, is the very same Jesus as ours. It is categorically NOT an statue of ‘the LDS version of Jesus’.

Sheesh.
 
LilyM said:
Fer crying out loud. Read the links and my comments. It is NOT a statue made by an artist of the LDS faith. When it was made the LDS faith probably did not even EXIST.

It is an image of the artist’s Jesus - which, he being Lutheran or Calvinist, is the very same Jesus as ours. It is categorically NOT an statue of ‘the LDS version of Jesus’.
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I read the entire thread and what I meant is that it’s strongly tied to Mormonism; most members would instantly identify it as one of their own, the artist’s own faith notwithstanding. The same goes for many Catholic images; they are often tied directly to the faith.

It’s the connotation it carries that matters.
 
While I’m not an expert, I don’t see anything about the statue that implies any Mormon doctrines or other heresies, so it should be fine. But you should definitely have it blessed by a priest in order to remove any spiritual taint (e.g., prayers that the statue will lead you or your family to become Mormons).

Interestingly, I’ve had a somewhat similar situation. I ordered a print of a work by Carl Bloch, also a Scandinavian artist, and also one whose works are very frequently displayed by Mormons. I considered getting rid of the print when I found out that tidbit, but then I figured that just because Mormons like it, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch:

 
Returning_Home said:
I read the entire thread and what I meant is that it’s strongly tied to Mormonism; most members would instantly identify it as one of their own, the artist’s own faith notwithstanding. The same goes for many Catholic images; they are often tied directly to the faith.

It’s the connotation it carries that matters.
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It’s a statue of Christ - completely indistinguishable from lots of other Christ statues by lots of artists of various Christian stripes. Bland and generic even. It carries no such connotation as you would put on it.

It’s not like the Pieta that straight away stands out and can’t possibly be anything else than Michelangelo’s very Catholic work. Or a painting of St Therese, a Catholic saint and therefore unique to our faith. You see either of those in a house, you KNOW a Catholic lives there.

If it were a statue of Joseph Smith or the Angel Moroni, THAT would be ‘directly tied to their faith’ and ‘instantly identified as one of their own’ and carry a Mormon ‘connotation’.

Not this statue.

Put it this way, there are copies of it in both Copenhagen and outside the Johns Hopkins hospital.

Your Mormon friends, unless they were incredibly ignorant, wouldn’t see it in either of those locations and think ‘gee, I didn’t know Mormonism had caught on so in Denmark/gee, I didn’t know JHH was run by the LDS!’ (which is a laugh - Johns Hopkins was a Quaker after all)
 
It the statue would identify you as a Mormon then that would be a problem, if you do decide to accept the gift I would be sure and get it blessed by a priest as soon as you could.
 
mrmagoo661 said:
Hi,
I am a Catholic living in Salt Lake City. My wifes Grandparents are Mormon and are very much aware that we are Die Hard Catholics. They have said that they are purchasing an LDS “Christus Statue” for us. I have looked it up online and it looks like the Jesus we all know and love. What I am asking is, Is it ok to display a statue of Jesus (LDS Jesus) in my home. I am aware of the deep theological differences of LDS and mainstream Christianity… I’m just wondering if that would send the wrong message. I’m just plain old confused. Any comments would help me out greatly, Thanks. :confused:
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You can always reciprocate that by buying them a statute of Mary, and teaching them how to pray to her. 😃
 
**Why all the fuss over a stature??
We are not Idolators!!! **

It is just a statue, a bit of art, and represents whoever or whatever the viewer sees.

Your wifes Grandparents see a “Mormon” Jesus, I see (when looking at the pictures posted) a “Catholic” Jesus, an atheist would see a mythical character… It all simply depends on the point of view of the looker.

My advise is - Accept the gift. Have it blessed by your parish priest then display it in whatever fashion seems best to you and you wife. After all it is a lovely statue.

Peace
James
 
The artists wasn’t LDS, and his works are displayed at other Protestant Churches, so I don’t see a problem with it.

That being said, it is a sculpture that is closely associated/popular with Mormonism. You might want to place a rosary in his hands, or also have a statue of the Virgin Mary (or St. Francis of Assisi, one of my favorite statues) to send the clear message of your faith, especially since you live in StLC! 😃
 
mrmagoo661 said:
Hi,
I am a Catholic living in Salt Lake City. My wifes Grandparents are Mormon and are very much aware that we are Die Hard Catholics. They have said that they are purchasing an LDS “Christus Statue” for us. I have looked it up online and it looks like the Jesus we all know and love. What I am asking is, Is it ok to display a statue of Jesus (LDS Jesus) in my home. I am aware of the deep theological differences of LDS and mainstream Christianity… I’m just wondering if that would send the wrong message. I’m just plain old confused. Any comments would help me out greatly, Thanks. :confused:
Click to expand...
Everyone seems to be talking about what the statue means: is it s Mormon or Catholic Jesus? Does it matter, because it is just a sculpture? The simple answer is that there is nothing inherently Mormon about the statue, which was made in Europe during the first decade of the LDS Church by a man who died in the same year as Joseph Smith and probably never heard of him. That’s the answer, but I don’t think that it answers the right question.

A more important question is, “What will your accepting the statue mean to your relatives?” Will it mean to them that you honor the LDS beliefs that they might associate with the statue? It might seem unlikely but you might be surprised. My in-laws have no illusions as to haw Catholic I am, yet once when I attended an LDS service, I caused my father-in-law to become deeply dejected when I did not eat the sacrament bread when it was passed around. He might not have known that it would have been against Catholic teaching for me to eat it, but the point is he had previously interpreted my agreement to attend his service as an affirmation of fellowship; that is why he took it so hard. On the other hand, no one else in the family interpreted it that way or were bothered when I passed on the bread. The problem was not serious, and a little explaining patched things up with him fast, but my point is that the misunderstanding could have been avoided if I had explained myself in advance or simply declined to go. If I had said, you know, I can’t eat the sacrament bread because…" the misunderstanding would not have occurred. I don’t know your relatives, so I can’t say how much this might even apply to your situation. Would your grandparents interpret your reception of the statue and a kind of fellowship with them? I don’t know, but that is the sort of question I would ask myself in your position.
 
I have read all of the posts. It is very different if you live in Utah.

When you visit the Salt Lake Temple, there is an 11’ statue of the Christus there.

When you drive down the street, almost every Mormon home has a Christus in their front window on a table so that it can be seen from the street.

Also, if it is not in the window, is on the fireplace mantel, to be seen by visitors to your home.

It is a very LDS thing to do.

It is either an attempt to find common ground or it is an attempt to make visitors to your home think you are LDS.

If you don’t live in Utah you just don’t understand!!!
 
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